Media Influences On American Culture

Effects of Mass Media

By

Jacquetta Brown

September 14, 2015

Media Influences on American Culture

Allyson Wells

The evolution of mass media has changed so much in the last 20th century. We

started off with newspapers or something that they called periodicals. This is how most

people received their information. In the early 1900’s you really didn’t have any type of

way to inform people but through the newspapers. By having the news on paper could

find out what was going on around the world and also by magazines. By the time the

1940’s came around radio was introduced and this took over how media was received.

You were able to hear things about the wars that were taking place and other events.

By the 1950’s TV was introduced

and not only did people hear what was going on
around the world but now they could see what the reporters were talking about.
Television brought sound and picture into play whereas newspapers were just printed
information and people had to imagine what was taking place at that time. By the 1960’s
satellites were born and now this is giving real time movements of events that were
taking place all over the world.

More channels were introduced and you could get more

and more news in different parts of the world. Also with having different forms of media

people were now able to choose from how they would like to receive their news whether

it was from TV, radio or the newspapers. Fast forward 50 years later you now have new

technology where you able to see information via internet. With the internet coming into

the picture we were able to have telephone lines and modems connect which allowed

us to use the internet and communicate with different people around the world. Now

that technology has advanced most newspapers are no longer printing but putting their

articles on the internet where people are likely to see everything online. I think with

media advancing over the years each new was has changed the American culture just

within the last 20 years. 20 years ago we had the internet and we need a modem to

communicate with someone in a different state or with someone in a different country.

The only way you could communicate with someone via internet you had to make

sure
you were in a location that would allow you to log in with their information and then you
were able to communicate. Television reporters could travel and also give real time
news from anywhere. Now today we have Wi-Fi which allows you to be anywhere Wi-Fi
is available and you can communicate with whoever you wish. When you are talking
about media convergence it is defined as the process of putting together
telecommunication and computers and then turning those into one form of electronic or
digital.

The way it has affected everyday life by now being able to shop online or listen

to music, watching sports or different television shows without even leaving your home.

We are able to do so much today just because of the way technology has changed over

the years. We were not able to do this 20 years ago and we also have Facebook which

is another form of social media that we are able to communicate with people that we

haven’t seen in a while. We can email which gives us the opportunity to communicate

with others. Another affective way of communication is chat. There’s different websites

that have chat and rather than talking to a live operator we have the chance to speak to

them via chat. Also Twitter, YouTube are some other forms of communication that has

changed. We are able to watch people put videos online. Something that we have now

that we didn’t have a few years ago and that is eBooks which allow us to read books

online. We can use eBooks for school or for entertainment purposes as well. TV has

changed as well. We are now able to record different programs, change the way the

TV
fonts, TV sizes, and also watch TV in 3D. Media technology has changed just within the
last 10 years and will continue to change. I think with technology growing and changing
we will soon be able to speak to whatever it is that we want or maybe even push a
button.

Reference:
Adoni, H. and H. Nossek (2001) ‘The New Media Consumers: Media Convergence and the Displacement Effect’ , Communications 26(1): 59-83
http://nms.sagepub.com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/content/6/6/707.refs

Emery, M. and E. Emery (1988) The Press and America: an Interpretive History of the Mass Media (6th edn). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall