Media Shape Essay

‘The media’ can be defined as a group that creates pieces of information and circulates it to the public. In this question, ‘shape’ can be defined as what greatly influences ‘who we are’, which can be defined as the values, heritage, behavior and interests of our society, which, in other words, is everyone. The media is particularly influential in our world now, especially since a large number of people consume the media due to the fact that the media is commonly found in our society. However, the media’s messages are almost never impartial, due to the fact that everyone has their own opinions, including the media. Therefore, I believe that the media is able to shape most of the people who consume it, as the media is able to shape society’s

Stereotypes are widely held ideas that are able to affect the way we think, which is part of who we are. The media is able to influence a large number of people easily due to its wide reach and large audience. Some examples of stereotypes that are shaped by the media include racially discriminating stereotypes, gender stereotypes and the perception of beauty, which affects body image. However, I will only be analyzing one of the stereotypes that the media has shaped, body image. The media often presents messages and images that tells us ‘we can be content only if we are slim’ for instance, by presenting models that are photo-shopped to look slimmer than they actually do in order to attract more consumers and present the ‘ideal’ image of a person’s size. Statistics show that

Some of these factors that shape us may include the influence from our families, our religion or our whereabouts, and some of them may play a bigger part as compared to the media. One of these factors, the influence from our families, is an example of a factor that is able to influence us greatly. Since we have been with our families since young, we tend to take the words of our families more seriously as compared to words from the media. For instance, the values that we have been taught since young usually stick with us throughout our lives, such as the fact that crimes are discouraged in our society, and morals, such as integrity and resilience, are of a great importance. Sometimes, the media encourages crimes and deem morals as something of no importance, but since the majority of us have been taught that they are things that we should never commit, we don’t end up listening to the media. Therefore, the media is not the main source that shapes who we are, as there are many other factors that determine who we