Social Effects of Mass Communication

  • The Social Media has had a massive and towering impact on the world at large in a few years’ time frame. The pace of change is accelerating. In ultra-modern society, people are strongly influenced by mass media. Although traditional television watching and newspaper reading are no longer as popular as before. It has revolutionized the way people communicate and socialize on the web. For example, the development in mobiles technology as smart phones has also played a vital role in shaping the impact of social media across the globe. Nowadays, people are living in the world ‘saturated by media sounds and image’. In this report, a general introduction of social change and media influence will be discussed in the first section. However, aside from keeping yourself up to date, there are some real impacts both positive and negative of usage of social media in every society. The positive impacts of social media are that the communication has picked up speed. This could be explained as; social networking sites offer a chance to communicate in a speedy and efficient manner. One can send message through different mediums such as Facebook, Whatsapp and emails in the entire world within seconds. In fact, these messages can be in sent as a text, audio, picture or video etc. which means there is no limitation in communication to any extent. Moreover, social networking offer the opportunity for people to re-connect with their old friends and acquaintances, make new friends, trade ideas, share content and many other activities. Users can stay alongside of the latest global and local developments, and participate in campaigns and activities of their choice. Professionals use social media sites like Linkedln to enhance their career and business prospects. Students can collaborate with their peers to improve their academic proficiency and communication skills. You can learn about different cultures and societies by connecting with people in the other countries. The large and small companies are using media to advertise their products, build customer loyalty and many other functions. Interactions and feedback from customers help businesses to understand the market. As far as the cost factor is concerned it is the cheapest way of advertisement and reaches to masses. On the other hand, the negative impacts are that many introverts and socially reclusive users place too much emphasis on virtual interaction, and ignore the real world outside. The cyber bullying and online harassment has gone at its peak over the years. If you are not careful, unscrupulous people can target one for cyber bullying and harassment on social sites. School children, young girls and women can fall prey to online attacks which can create tension and distress. Furthermore, it has effects on one’s productivity as many organizations have blocked social networks on their office internet as addicted employees can distract themselves on such sites, instead of focusing on work. Some studies also show that British companies have lost billions of dollars per year in productivity due to social media addiction among employees. Social media activism no doubt brings an increase awareness about societal issues, questions remain the as to whether this awareness is translating into real change. Some argue that social sharing has encouraged people to use computers and mobiles to express their concerns on social issues without actually having to engage actively with campaigns in real life. Their support is limited to pressing ‘like’ button or sharing content. If one is not careful what he or she post on the net can come back to haunt them. Revealing personal information on social sites can make users vulnerable to crimes like identity theft, stalking etc. Positive Aspects of Mass Communication There are many social positive aspects of mass communication if we see the greater picture and from an open minds perspective. Cognizance publicity to the distinct styles of media leads to a multiplied focus about what’s happening around the globe. Newspapers, net portals and virtual tech together with cellular phones apps that serves us information feed, results in fast information. now not only this however it helps one in intellectual discussions which are held in suggests on television’s and keeps the discussion very knowledgeable. The present day in every area, be in entertainment, sports activities, or some other information approximately most important events throughout the globe, and information about what’s new, what’s trending, what’s in and what’s inside and out reaches us within minutes in order an end result, it keeps every person up to date if one is genuinely into it they don’t lack at the back of others in dialogue of social troubles and other topics. It additionally makes us aware of the changing social or political situation in not just our country but the complete international. This may assist folks who use social networking sites to have proper records to be mentioned on boards with people around the sector or to write blogs on their very own. The converting economy, forecast approximately upward push and fall inside the charges of products, prediction approximately the growth or decline in recruitments and statistical studies in diverse different fields can assist us plan for the future as an entire and character. An expected drop or upward thrust in temperature, blizzard or rainfall and cruel climate situations are pronounced via climate forecasts within the news media because of which we are well informed and plan the whole thing as a result. In case of epidemics, herbal risks or man-made screw ups, media unfold attention about the associated dangers and protection measures to take. authorities and non-associated corporations operating for an environmental or social purpose can use social media and its form to unfold their message, accordingly making the commonplace human beings more socially aware, environmentally conscious and if something like that breaks down we people can do the social working to help others. Due to rapid unfold of media to all components of the sector, the access to facts, records or something is straightforward and brief. Almost everyone now has access to statistics from everywhere within the world. As a result of technological tendencies, media isn't always confined to big towns. It has reached the worlds remote areas, hence increasing the accessibility of data. With the life of TV accomplishing nearly each household, get right of entry to sources of data and leisure has been increased. The speed and simplicity of access was further boosted by the rapid unfold of internet generation. Today, there are several web sites, television channels as well as newspaper columns and dietary supplements devoted to particular fields like food, traveling, animal life etc. Professional inside the area can provide steering to the readers or target audience the usage of those systems. This modern mass media like mobile telephones and electronic mail, at distant places may be reached in seconds. With the growing reach of media, carrier companies are keen to put it up for sale themselves through those channels. This in turn raises the audiences’ get entry to exceptional services and products, giving them extra alternatives to pick from. Media has served as one of the best means to voice our opinions any and everything happening around us. Blogs are a great way for anyone to express his ideas. Conversations in the form of comments on the social or blog posts, and discussions in online or news forums can help in the exchange of vital information or sharing of views. Media often acts as the link between talented or skilled people and those is search for them. For instance, job portals serve as a link between HR department and unemployed who are willing to work. These days, there are many talent shows on radio and TV that give up and coming artists a platform to showcase their talent. Also, there are websites that allow you to exhibit your art and skills. You can demonstrate your performing art, make a video, post it on one of these websites, promote in your social profile, and see it go viral. Web, TV and print media are some of the most well received advertising platforms. Businesses use these to market their products and increase their reach. Movies, documentaries, and books that paint lives of awesome human beings inspire many of us. Actual testimonies are informed in a way that appeals to the readers/audience. Films like Gandhi and Lincoln proved to be inspirational because they presented the battle in the lives of those heroes. Books just like the mystery and The Alchemist are famous as inspirational reads. Documentaries, telefilms, and television suggest that narrate real memories of a fight with existence's problems, have a similar effect on the audience. Media also facilitates through enabling a small concept or message to spread some distance and wide, accordingly inspiring human beings to come collectively for a cause. A call for assist can attain the loads and also encourage them to make a contribution. Television channels conduct, communicates, suggests and interviews with a success human beings. Knowing their achievements and their experiences proves to be motivational for plenty. Media is often blamed for sting operations, however it shouldn't be forgotten that it is also media that brings the reality into mild. There are numerous instances of news media (print, radio, or TV) giving voice to the poor and the omitted. The common man can voice his concerns and the media ensures that they're heard via the proper humans. It acts as a verbal exchange medium among the common man and the government, through sharing government regulations with people and having their voice attain the governing government. Scams are exposed and millions are saved from losses. Media exposes to the arena, cases of corruption, crime, scandals, and acts of abuse. Their cameras help carry out global's dark realities and make the common man aware about them. Corrupt humans, criminals, and abusers worry the regulation as well as the media, for they recognize it could divulge their reality. Media's strength poses an extreme threat to those appearing incorrect. The media industry has opened doorways to many new careers and led to a growth in lots of others. News reporters, correspondents, writers, musicians, designers, builders, animators, digital camera operators, make-up artists, designers, and engineers; the media industry needs them all. There are specializations in most media careers and thinking about the growth of this industry, the demand for these professionals will have effective upward thrust. With the increase in media channels, there's a rise inside the call for advertising and marketing experts too. Negative Aspects of Mass Communication Where mass media has opened many gates of opportunities for the people, there are also some negative aspects of the mass media. Knowledge can never be neutral or un-biased; it may have positive or negative effect on the minds of the people. For understanding the effects of mass media we have to categorize our media on the basis of gate keeping. Some types of mass media are well censored and controlled amount of information is shared. Whereas some type of media are free for all and people can share whatever information they want. These types of media have more complications than the others. We cannot totally deny the fact that well censored media also play negative role at times. Every media house is working on different motives and they do their propaganda, it may be on the basis of their ideologies or it may be their pay role. According to social and behavior science experts mass media has played a very bad role on the education of pupils. This massive technological revolution has changed the ways of educations and affected the human behavior in return. Before this massive advent of mass media pupil was the receiver of only on sender and human to human socialization was more common. Now days everyone is receiving messages from different sending sources simultaneously and it is causing heavy noise and lack of focus in students. The most common example which has been observed is that students are getting less focused during the class time and are more involved into different activities over phone. The reason is all the focus is divided into different senders and received by only one. This huge flood of the information is causing many problems to our minds. This is effecting formal, Informal and non-formal education platforms. One of the most popular forms of the mass media is television and we can see television how it shapes our perspectives and point of views every day. Psychological and behavior science experts with help of social experiments has come to a point that TV shows has a great impact on the daily life of an audience. It also causes many mental and psychological problems. After the devastating murder of a young child by a pedophilic man a video is getting viral of a TV show of Sahir Lodhi, where young children are dancing on a sexually intimating song. The problem is this is not the only show which has such content and there are many such shows running across the world which are really intimating. Such shows can even cause such deadly pedophilia. Number of mental illnesses and psychological disease are being caused to the people these days. After the great numbers of channels and different type of channels many types of content has been emerged, some may be positive but some are very negative. Recently a group of psychologists has examined some cases and came to point that children are very much addicted to TV and the accessories involved with TV, such as video games etc. It is a kind of addiction and it causes many critical level illnesses and it has been observed that, it is very difficult to break the attachment between the teen and the screen. There are many social problems which are being cause by TV and specially NEWS industry. Where it spreads Paranoia, it is also a great source of giving such knowledge which is based on a very dark perspective. The massive amount of NEWS being reported is desensitizing and making people immune to every kind of good or bad happenings. People have very less emotional behavior and they’re getting frustrated every day. This frustration is causing lawlessness and wildness of the people. The most important invention of this technological era is computer and internet which has made people a new kind of addict and now doctor has discovered a new kind of addiction which is Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). It is also being considered as equal to the substance abuse. Internet has caused number of various disorders being caused by different things on internet. Today’s social media and different websites of social media are using very effective and addictive ways to attract their traffic on their pages. As the economic factor is connected with these pages that’s why people are getting more involved in such pages. People are forgetting their realties and constructing a fabricated and virtual reality and they want to hide from the original reality behind the well profile on social media. Social media with its great attraction power it is making people its addict. People are more connected to their online friends than their real people around; such behavior is causing less family attraction and introvertism. People are more spending time alone rather than spending time with people. Human is a social animal and the way of our socialization has changed and people are more into un-natural kind of socialization. Recent research tells that the massive use of emoji’s over social media is causing less emotional expression in real life. There are different words and emoji’s which are taking place of our default response. For Example if we find anything funny, the most immediate response from our brain is “LOL”. In such a way the emoji’s will take place of our default response by our body. Other than social media the biggest problem of internet is being faced in Pakistan are banned networking sites. We can see one of the most popular subjects of search in our youth is pornography. Pornography has changed the minds of the people very much. After such influence of pornography people are getting sexual addicts and most of them see woman as a source of sex and this factor is playing great role in objectifying of women. The advertising industry is also playing a great impact on human psychology. Most of the things are being sold through women and women are being objectified with that product. For Example: Recently the advertisement of a juice called “Slice” used the drop of slice on the lips of a famous actress. Such ads are objectifying women and they’re showed on TV repeatedly. The content of media can be better if media houses and schools start thinking on the effect of any type of content on the human psychology and the side effect of any content. We need to sit again and re-think on this matter that how we can improve our content and save our future from this disaster. I think psychology and behavior sciences study should be involved in the process of training of a media or IT expert. The only way to stop social media from affecting our minds is that there should be a better gate keeping mechanism. The recent policy of social media websites of showing violent content is something which needs to be appreciated and such steps needs to be taken in future. Conclusion: Social media has its advantages and drawbacks as revealed above. It is up to each one of us to use social sites wisely to enhance our professional and social life, and exercise caution to ensure they do not fall victim to online dangers. Mass Media is just like other things if we will use it in its limit, it won’t cause so many side effects. If we will use it in excess, this will become the biggest disaster of the history. If good gate keeping technology is made in future, than we can manage to save our children falling prey of dangerous games like blue whale which took too many lives. It is clear that media impacts day by day dwelling. Media content contributes to an exchange inside the values of society. It can carry a change in our society in our system of belief, attitude towards lifestyles and character as a whole. It can trade the way we suppose. Its persuasive in nature (for instance, commercials) can have an effect on our mind and conduct. It exposes us to a new world that we will associate with. It might not be incorrect to say that society is fashioned through mass media but it's also authentic that media is a mirrored image of society.