Mass Communication: Breakdown Between Mass Media And Their Audiences

Mass communication is the breakdown between mass media and their audiences. Today we live in a media-saturated culture, so we need to understand the impacts of media and the pervasiveness in order to steer through the world effectively. The reasons why Mass communication is essential: shape how we relate to each other, shape our cultural values, and influence our self-identities. Mass media includes television, radio and music, the Internet, video games, newspapers, magazines, books, cellphones, and movies, as well as the industries that support these platforms, like advertising and public relations. However, how do the media impact us?

Media influence essential aspects of our lives, such as childhood obesity, violence, the cheapening of democratic, discourse, sexual socialization, and stereotyping of gender and race. There are similarities between Interpersonal and Mass communication. There both are ambiguous, take place in specific context environments, and symbolic. We need to accept that we live in a media-heavy culture and use those media to communicate, then we must also accept the fact that communication, culture, and mass media are all linked. To fully grasp the authentic influence of media, we must first understand its power in the culture.

Media Messages help us develop a self-identity, help us define our culture, its values, traditions, and beliefs through the narratives they tell, give meaning to people, concepts, and things and, in turn, we behave according to those meanings. Media addition – consumers are unable to function without their media. Media industries shape and reshape several forces, including hypercommercialism, globalization, convergence, fragmentation, and concentration of ownership. There are six companies control 90% of media content in the United States; they are Comcast, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, CBS, and News Corp. We are exposed to about 5,000 commercials each day.

Contents are shared over many places. As media industries globalize, the world becomes a smaller place. Western media have had the most impact, globally. Influencing and invading other countries through mass media. There are four mass communication theories they are: social cognitive theory, social responsibility theory, critical cultural theory, and cultivation theory. Cultivation theory – deals with television effects and argues that television has long-term effects, which are gradual but significant, for example, an increased belief that the world is a cruel place, because of the violence in television. Television is the window to the world which cultivates realities for people who watch it.

Social cognitive theory – suggest that people model the behaviors they see in the media. Through identification – copying the behavior but not directly replicating it and imitation – direct replication. Most teenagers copy their favorite music artists, whether it is carrying guns or doing drugs. Take observational learning into account; it suggests that bad behaviors punished in media content are less likely to be copied than unpunished acts. Due to increasing media consumption habits, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have established guidelines for protecting kids against marketers who target them. Kids are not as cognitively developed as adults, do not have the same level of critical thinking skills, and cannot always distinguish fantasy from reality.

Media also makes people angry with others, and the media promotes alcohol consumption. Research indicates that excessive computer use is rewiring our brains and causing a condition known as Internet Addiction Disorder. While the average American spends 6 hours each day online, those who suffer from Internet addiction spend 40-80 hours per week with the Internet. Many countries treat Internet addiction as a genuine psychiatric problem, and the American Psychiatric Association has added “Internet Addiction Disorder” to its authoritative list of recognized mental illnesses. Mass media causes a distraction d for many parents and educators; it’s a source of real concern because young people deny their brains “downtime.” Young people exhibit impatience and distraction in the real world. Young people are unable to focus on relevant information and educational tasks for long periods.