HOW DOES MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE YOUNG PEOPLE? (Final exam)

The media, in this case television, has a big influence in society habits. The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. We buy what we have been told is good. After seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on TV, newspapers or magazines and what we believe is a product that we can trust. We also purchase products based on what everyone else is buying because of their decisions which are also based on the media.

The media, which surrounds us and is an essential part of our life, affects people’s health because it influences people to smoke cigars as celebrity movie stars do. Constant exposure of sex images, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousands of junk food ads also affect our health. Another fact is that young people who are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, copy the standards of beauty created by Communications Medias causing them to fall into eating disorders  such as anorexia, bulimia and obesity.

Another effect on media is the increase in violent behaviors. Violent series and movies, which have a predominant presence in T.V schedules,   train people, especially young people who are most vulnerable, to solve problems with violence.

A third fact is that media influences the public opinion. For example, after the attacks of 911 the media gave a huge coverage of the event and blamed Osama for the attack, as they were told by the authorities. This shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism, the same happened with the war on Iraq. The problem is that if by chance the media received inaccurate information then the public opinion supported a wrong cause. This is an example of the power that public opinion has and its capacity to influence people. Other ways to influence are with polls and trends, especially in political campaigns. The candidates that can pay for more TV and media exposure have more influence on public opinion and thus can receive more votes.