Mass Media Shaping American Values Essay

764 Words2 Pages

Mass Media Shaping American Values
Traditional American values such as hard work, freedom, and team work, confidence and standing up for ones beliefs have been drastically shaped and changed by the mass media. The mass media is any type of media outlet and just listening to it and being exposed to it changes people attitudes and perspectives more then we realize. The traditional values that we have always clung to, as a nation may not be as intact as we would like to believe these days.

Hard work, as Americans its how we define ourselves. Its what built our nation and we believe that we continue that tradition; but do we? Mass media includes some of the giants that can be held responsible for American spending less time outside and more time on the couch. TV, movies, and social media are constant outlets telling us how to do things the easy way by putting in the least amount of work. They also …show more content…

If the founding fathers didn’t stand up for the things they believed in we would have never separated from Britain and established our own country. However, today it seems like retweeting a cause you believe in or watching the new makes people think they are politically active or active in a cause. For example, “These days, however, most Americans think that just sending out a tweet or a social media post counts as advocacy” (Schwartz 1). When in reality they never had to leave the comfort of there home to make this stand. But, studies do also show that the more active people on social media for a cause may actually be more likely to get involved with the cause even farther and take action. “ But while calling yourself an activist for sending out a supportive tweet seems a little lazy, there are indications in the study that social media posts do translate to more involved behavior”(Schwartz 1). Depending on perspectives mass media can either hurt or help people will to stand up for their

Show More
Related

  • Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted

    1494 Words  | 3 Pages

    Malcolm Gladwell’s article "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted" raises a significant question about the prospective contribution of web-based social networking to the advent of progressive social movement and change. Gladwell bold declaration that "the revolution will not be tweeted" is reflective of his view that social media has no useful application in serious activism. Contrasting various elements of the “high-stakes” lunch-counter protests in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960’s with the “low-stakes” activism achieved through social media, Gladwell concludes that effective social movements powerful enough to impose change on longstanding societal forces require both “strong ties” among participants and the presence of a hierarchical organizations. In contrast, Gladwell characterizes the social networks as an interwoven web of "weak ties" that is inherently devoid of a hierarchy. Gladwell’s prerequisites for social movement are firmly based in strong body of sociological evidence, but his views regarding the nature of online social networks are laughably lacking in foresight and obstructed by a misleadingly selective body of evidence.

    Read More

  • Social Networking: Why It's Really So Popular By Clayton Pangelinan

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, social movements have continuously formed because of a person who had the courage to stand up against the injustice they witnessed in every day live. When I was a child, I remember feeling as if it takes a superhero-like person to start a social movement. However, I have found that through the use of social media today, any person with a passion for making a change can spark a social movement. Social movements are a powerful way to help people believe that their voice matters and they should stand up for what they believe in. Before the advancement of technology, it took a lot longer for social movements to become prominent in society’s media outlets because of the difficulties of not having enough time in one’s life to

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jonathan Franzen's 'Liking Is For Cowards'

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    In my opinion, social media is a way to bring the world closer and an assertion of consumer choice can be used for promoting issues that matter. A human rights activist can make an unknown story reach hundreds of thousands of people by the ‘simple click of a button’.

    Read More

  • Influence Of Entertainment Media On American Values

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    I tend to see things differently than anyone else. I do not think entertainment media does shape American culture and values; I think American culture and values shape entertainment media. The events we live through on a daily basis; war, poverty, homelessness, crime, sacrifice, random acts of kindness, these are the things that shape the American culture. Our values begin at home, things our parents, churches, and society instill in us. As we go out on our own, sometimes those values can change because we learn that life is not black and white, it also comes in many shades of

    Read More

  • Media Influences On American Culture

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Media has had many changes in the past years. Growing up I remember my mom saying that we were lucky to have color televisions now. She would say that when she was younger she would have to hear her stories and games over the radio because back then there was no televisions. Another way of getting entertained was reading stories. The newspaper and the radio was the only way of getting news back then. I thought it was funny when my mom told me that since they were one of the few families that had a television in the neighborhood, she would charge the kids 10 cents to watch television in her house. This was actually a pretty smart thing to do.

    Read More

  • The Media’s Decreasing Morals As Seen Through Television

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today’s world, it is not rare to walk into the living room and witness a man being violently shot in the head…in a television set. The general public seems to be constantly asking themselves where morality and values on television have gone. Taking a look back in time, it is easy to point out how violence in the media is much more evident than it was fifty years ago. Both in the past and now, the media has an ethical duty concerning the general public. Television’s content today has gotten incredibly dirty and contains content to detrimental for children. There have been advances in technology attempting to stop the violence from entering households with children. However it is still the responsibility of the media and the television industry to control the amount of immoral content shown on the air. While the media is only keeping up with the public’s distasteful demands, it has a responsibility to restrain the amount of offensive content because of the effect it is having on today’s audiences.

    Read More

  • Social Media Slacktivism

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today’s young adults live a life caught between two worlds: the physical realm of human interaction and the digital universe that sits just a mouse click away. This is an age in which entire relationships are formed over online digital platforms, and a single person’s opinion can be broadcasted worldwide in a matter of milliseconds. Lately, the freedom of expression that social media has given young adults has provoked interesting behavior among users of such social media platforms as Facebook and Twitter. The term “slacktivism” was coined as far back as 1995 by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark as an expression of doing something in support of an issue or cause that requires minimal personal effort (Kain, 2012), and is now used to describe this new behavior; where everyday activists have taken their causes to the Web in search of exposure and support, and users have found a passive way to support the causes that they claim to believe in. Every day, hundreds of new slacktivist-oriented pages and videos sprout up across Facebook and Twitter, and slacktivist supporters rush to “like” the cause and pass it along to other friends in their network. This, however, is not the only form of slacktivism. It is also evidenced in the statuses of the numerous members of the Facebook and Twitter community. The role of the “status update” and the “tweet” has evolved from reporting a person’s physical activities, into a platform for launching whatever propaganda a user deems worthy of sharing with his or her social media community. It would seem that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are providing users with a false sense of ego, and that this – in turn – has contributed to the monumental rise of slacktivism and consequential degradat...

    Read More

  • Slacktivism And Social Activism

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Corvese argues that although slacktivism allows the public to be informed of an issue it does little to help the cause. Slacktivism is known to be a “Satisfying and convenient for the individual to show concern for an issue, those in need of support received little benefit” (Corvese 600). Pictures through social media informs viewers about current topics but the likes and shares that the viewer has provided no benefit to the cause. Although a minority of people don’t help the cause that they share over social media the majority in reality do. Thanks to research people know that those who claim they support an organization through social media are just as likely to donate to that cause as people who don’t. In addition, they are also twice as likely to donate their time to the cause compared to those who don’t proving that slacktivism is not just a lazy form of advocacy but an effective form to garner support from the

    Read More

  • Mass Media Influence

    1642 Words  | 4 Pages

    The influence the mass media has in todays America is the strongest it has ever been. Never before has any country been more brainwashed by the images and voices of those behind a television or computer screen. Millions of people all over the country tune in everyday with blank stares on their faces, waiting to hear the 6 o’clock news or watch the newest Fox sitcom. In a sense we have become slaves to the screen, we allow our selves to be manipulated by all the information it provides us, which often times can be very harmful. Worst of all is the affect the mass media is having on the children of American. Like adults children are just as glued to their screens, if not more, as their parents. Today the American children live in a world in which

    Read More

  • The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    This summer if you were on social media you heard about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The concept was simple, just film yourself dumping a bucket of ice water over your head, challenge your friends to do the same, and donate ten dollars to the ALS Association. Opt out and donate one hundred dollars (Madison). Many Americans did not know what ALS was and by putting this challenge on social media has brought tons awareness to this devastating disease. Activism used to be taking action to bring social change, people in the 1960s used to gather in front of community centers and protest and or speak about their issue or cause. Now even though people still gather together it is much easier to use the internet. Hundreds of social media applications

    Read More

  • Movement Infrastructure

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    This can support the development and dissemination of collective action frames (Bennett & Sergerberg, 2013) and provide an arena for the sharing of strategies and success stories. Third, they allow for peripheral participation, which can lower barriers for recruitment into a movement. This may be especially important for a boycott like the opt-out movement, where success depends in part on mass participation. Mobilization is a critical challenge for movements. Social media platforms may allow for more flexible participation, giving more marginal movement actors the ability to participate at lower levels than more committed

    Read More

  • Online Revolution Slackivism

    1208 Words  | 3 Pages

    Online activism can make an impact on a moderate scale; but is that enough. Malcolm Gladwell postulates that answer is no; he suggests the only way for a cause to truly crate a change is that if the group is completely invested in it, has a centralized hierarchical network, and those involved are willing to or at the risk something losing something, to succeed. Social media on the other hand is developed on a de-centralize network formed of week ties; this being

    Read More

  • Mass Media And Ideology Essay

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mass media gas grown and changed throughout history with its use and affect on the crowds. Television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet are all part of the means of mass communication, meaning mass media. It is the most affective way of spreading a message/idea, and it directly shapes and reforms the way history will play out. It can also be seen as a source for record keeping, hence history is stored in these forms of mass media. One will be able to see the difference between what happened, what was said to have happened at that time, and what actually happened. When looking at mass media it is important to look at it as a timeline; separating the different types of media. The first to boom was printing press, which allowed newspapers to spread. This allowed people all over to know what was going on across that certain region of publication; then came radio, television, and now the Internet. By each innovation, more people were reached by the message,

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Social Media On The Political Debate

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    In addition to this primary source, a variety of articles that discuss the use of rhetoric on social media, as well as the use of social media in a political context, will be addressed. Many articles may discuss social media and its implications on society, and privacy, but fewer deliberate the effects social media may have on impacting citizen’s political perspectives. The use of language on social media, especially in younger generations, tends to be rudimentary and as a result may not be adept at representing the issue. This tends to leave the discussion open to personal interpretation and often leads to misinformation. By looking at the use of rhetoric on social media in general, as well as the use of social media for political discussion, I intend to develop and support this theory.

    Read More

  • Mass Media Influence in Shaping People's Ideas about Society

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.

    Read More

More about Mass Media Shaping American Values Essay

Open Document