Impact of the Media on Society :: Television Media TV Essays

Impact of the Media on SocietyMedia technologies argon becoming an pregnant aspect of todays society. Each and every day, people interact with media of many different forms. Media is commonly defined as being a enthrall of communication. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that media is made up of completely unbiased schooling and that the media companies do not impose their own take for upon the information being supplied to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it is obvious to assume that it has affects on people. According to the text book Media Now, media effect are changes in knowledge, attitude, or behavior that result from exposure to the mass media, (386). This leaves us with many unanswered questions about media and its influences. This paper will look at how the effects of media are determined and explore the main affects on todays society - violence, prejudice, and sexual behavior. In order to u nderstand how media can affect society or individuals, it is first necessary to look at different approaches that can be taken to analyze the media. According to the book Media Now, there are two main approaches that are used the deductive approach and the inducive approach. The deductive approach is when a social scientist first comes up with theories or predictions through systematic observations of the media, and and then uses the results of their research to support the theory or prove it false. An inductive approach is slightly opposite because this method looks first at peoples interactions with media and with each other, and then creates theories from the real-life situational research. The inductive approach tends to be used more frequently because its theories are based off real instances. Another difference in the ways to approach researching the effects of media is how some social scientists are interested in quantitative information while others are more interested in q ualitative information. Quantitative information is when the desired results are as many as possible, while qualitative information is when the desired results are made up of the best, most useful information. totally of these approaches and methods of research influence how social scientists determine the ways that media effects society and individuals. The kinds of studies done by these social scientists create detailed profiles of media and its content, and identify trends overtime. For example, one determine found that exposure to alcohol advertising and television programming has been shown to be associated with positive beliefs about drinking and alcohol consumption (Austin 2).