Sociolocy
The Media
How does it affect us?

2/23/2014

The Media Symbolic Interactionism analyzes how our behavior effect the way we define ourselves and society uses the media as a tool to apply those behaviors. The Media is all around us and over the past has affected us throughout history in many different ways. We ask ourselves the age old question, was it the chicken or the egg that came first. That leads us to the same question with the media, what effects us more, is it the media that changes our lives or is it our lives that change the media. The media can affect people in many different ways; socially, culturally, and the very image of ourselves. The media has had a huge effect on us socially. Social media and networks are now the inevitable part of everyone’s life. Even famous celebrities and big businesses have jumped into the social networking craze. Large numbers of individuals wake-up every morning and check their social accounts instead of reading the newspaper (Ali).
Social media does not always have a negative result. The first thing that comes to mind is that social media can help get the word out for businesses. Without the use of the media everyone would not know how good McDonalds’ fries taste oh so corruptive or that the new iphone is coming out. Social media informs the public by using successful TV commercial, radio, and print ads. Social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook also allow writers and bloggers to connect with others to share their expertise and articles with the public.
Social media can also promote cross-culture empowerment. More than two thirds of American adults use social media sites, according to the Pew Research Internet Project. This increase in digital networking allows users across the globe to interact in real time (An). It also plays a large part in our children getting to know the world. In the past children have grown up not experiencing other cultures, but now it is just a click away. For example the Olympics were held in Russia this year and because of social media the American people can support and experience our winter Olympians and what they are experiencing in Russia. Social networking provides society with an alternative way to get students interested in learning by having access to the World Wide Web.
Social networking can also help shy adolescents have a more non-threatening way to communicate with peers because they are not interacting face to face (Barnes). The affect of social media can also have a negative influence on adolescents in that it can be emotional damaging if children are not cautious. It can affect their mental health if used too much by not only giving them the opportunity to become internet stalking and cyber bullied but to also be given a different outlook on life. Their level of contentment can decrease, and their likelihood of getting into trouble or being depressed can also increase; also teens who use Facebook tend to be more narcissistic, antisocial, and aggressive (Barnes). There are ways parents can help their children with those problems, by being involved, monitoring their internet usage and by teaching them the danger that is lurking around every site the kid process to.
Most people accept the idea that the media can influence people. But the degree of that influence, as well as who is most-impacted, when, how and why, have been the subjects of great debate among communication scholars for nearly a century. Media Effects refers to the many ways individuals and society may be influenced by both news and entertainment mass media, including film, television, radio, newspapers, books, magazines, websites, video games, and music (“Media Effect”).
Our culture has had a lot of changes throughout the years. Take a look on women in the past 60 years alone. Women in the 1950’s were made up mostly of stay at home mothers and did not evolve themselves in the news around the world. It was not until the media started to focus on