Kyla Whann

Mark Ware CD210

The extent of the human capacity to process information uniquely changes the

way people perceive reality. In today’s age one of the most effective means of spreading

information is through mass media. Mass media refers to any impersonal form of

communication from receiver to sender, such as television, newspapers, computers, radio,

books, magazines, and various other multimedia. Mass media is both a shaper and

spreader of culture. The ability to quickly communication over time has evolved from

local to global, and the changes on society by this progress have been vast. However,

Mass communication/mass media can have both negative and positive effects on

children’s social development. It is important that healthy and appropriate care is taken

in regulating the information a child receives from outside influences such as mass

media.

Mass media is a shaper and spreader of cultural standards through the effect they

produce among human socialization. The form and content of mass media can have a

dramatic impact on everyday life because quick access to outside information extends our

ability as human’s to process information, analyze situations, and make decisions.

However, since mass media has such a profound ability to shape and direct the

information people receive, it can also have a severely negative impact on one’s view of

reality. A common example of this is when a young child watches a horror film and now

has a fear of going to bed at night, since he or she now believes that monsters live under

their bed. Exposing a child to too much media is a poor psychological stigma and can

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even be a harmful substitute for genuine socialization. It may accelerate their

imagination, but thereby their interest and ability to be independently creative and

productive will decline.

Mass media has progressed so much in the past century that the ability to

communicate quickly is almost available globally. With the realization of the phone line

and radio waves the national mass media complex was born. Television provided a

whole new window through which every day people were able to gather powerful

information – images, ideas – from people and situations in country’s far away. With

each advance in communications technology has come dramatic changes in society and

culture – in America and internationally. Today’s satellite networks, the internet and

other multimedia programs make an ever expanding collection of information available

from across the world, and from an ever increasing number of sources. The larger

question remains of what truly are the negative and positive effects on society with this

rapid ability to share information, and especially what are the effects on children when

exposed to too much media.

Commercial television, music, and movies have all raised many concerns over the

years about the effects of their content on national socialization and culture, not in small

part because often these mediums often convey information that is not real, to viewers

who believe to one degree or another that it is. Children especially are easily influenced

personally by what they see and hear on television, an obvious vulnerability resulting

from their cognitive immaturity and inexperience. A child can be exposed to a television

show and believe that the scenes, stories, or special effects they are witnessing are real.

They’re particularly easily influenced by commercials as well, tailored by advertising

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companies that understand how to make a product desirable to children. This presents a

difficult philosophical problem, as mass media then becomes a way to dictate to a child

what they should eat, wear, and to whose beliefs and values they should listen and

emulate. All of these are extremely negative stimuli to a child’s independent social

development. Exposing children to such excessive amounts of mass media most often

results in the social mentality of entitlement and group-think, or the “need” to have what

others dictate you should want.

Mass media can be both a shaper and spreader of socialization for its ability to

deliver information to vast populations. With the rise of satellites and the internet, mass

media has evolved into a global form of near instant communication. While such

advancements have brought such wonderful changes, what isn’t different is that children

are easily influenced by mass media, since they are not as cognitively mature or able to

pick and choose what is pretend and what is reality. As such it is important to recognize

where mass media can have a negative impact. The commercialization of mass media

especially has had a difficult effect on child socialization, as it becomes a form of cultural

dictation about what and how they choose to dress themselves, the type of food they

should eat, what and to whom they should listen, and many other things. In conclusion,

the ability to rapidly spread information is an amazing feat, but it is important to be

mindful of what information is reaching the young minds of those still not ready to

comprehend it constructively.