Effects of Mass Media

HUM/186
September 10, 2013

Effects of Mass Media When a person thinks about what, he or she needs to do for the day, the first thing he or she does is reach for his or her cell phone. Mass media and mass communication is a must have in America today. Media shows people in magazines and newspapers what he or she could look like or act like, what the latest trend is out. Also he or she can call a family member or friend from across America on a cell phone, or e-mail pictures, and writing a letter over the Internet. Mass Media has had a lot of major developments in the last century on American culture. The question that is asked is, is American’s becoming lazy or just working more efficient. Some of the major developments in the evolution of mass media during the last century were the printing of newspapers and Magazines. Printing newspapers and magazines first started in the 1800. It did not become popular until the 1900. It is believed that it became more popular and was a huge development because people of younger age were more educated. He or she could read more books and magazines. By the 1900 century there were more than 5,000 magazines in America. Newspapers and magazines affected American culture because it gave people a reason to be more educated, and it put out the news of wars and new and upcoming interests in America until America came out with the radio and television. Radio and television first came out in early 1900. The radio gave people a new listen to news. People would get updates faster than newspapers, and it played music, and put out alerts. The television was more expensive visual news. It only had one channel. It was to broadcast news to everyone. It did not evolve until mid-1900. Radio and television influenced American culture because it exposed Americans to marketing with commercials, violence, and the start of celebrity idolization. Cell phones and Internet inventions changed American culture to the extreme. They both made it easy to transfer media at a click of a button. Cell phones did not evolve into media transfer products until early 2000. The Internet started out slow with a dial-up connection in 1990 but by late 1990 into 2000 internet became faster and faster at download speeds and upload speeds. The influence on American culture was exposing people to new sources of mass media, social networking, blogging, and online education. The problem with some of mass media is not all Internet sources are credible. Any person can put information on the Internet. A person can do research on a website and discover if the source is credible. People will always have opinions and the Internet has given people the action to put his or her opinion on a website. It influences Americans to think a certain way. For example If a person was shopping for a lawn mower and goes on a website. It has a review section that gives a customer the option to