Media And Its Effects On Society - 1709 Words

Violence is much more socially acceptable in today’s society than it was hundreds of years ago, which is mostly caused by technological advances. As technology expanded, so did our generation’s tendency for violence. With all the breakthroughs in social interaction using technology, the media has become a large contributor to society. Coinciding with the first amendment to free speech, the media is a very valuable and powerful tool in spreading information when used for important purposes. However, many people abuse this power and sometimes spread the wrong message. Due to the vast amount of people promoting the wrong values, our society suffers the consequences through the immature minds of those who are easily swayed. Therefore, this†¦show more content†¦Just a few decades ago, producers of a reality show would immediately cut out these violent scenes, but now they have become instigators in order to produce these scenes. But it is not just pseudo-reality tha t affects people; actual violence shown on the news is also a factor. â€Å"Some of the best evidence of a violence effect for news is found in studies of the so-called Marilyn Monroe effect—that highly publicized suicides are followed by an increase in suicides among the populace over the course of about two weeks. Collectively, the studies on this relationship suggest that news coverage of suicide produces a 2.5% increase in actual suicides† (Huesmann Taylor, 2006). So regardless if it is pseudo-reality or actual reality, violence is prevalent among us, especially in television, because of the massive amount of time people spend watching it. Movies have also played a significant part of the media. Many popular movies are extremely violent. One of the popular movies that came out over the past few years, which is directed towards young teenage audiences, is the Hunger Games. It is about a post-apocalyptic world where a nation is divided into twelve districts. Two young representatives in each district are chosen at