What’s up with our Media?

The Media Effect Model?

We all know that the media influence us in one way or another. The impact of it is based on who they are trying to target specifically. For example, take a look at this trailer below.

Yeap, we have survived it! The infamous 2012 movie that was giving us a visual treat of what majority of us believed in- the doomsday. That’s the media effect theory. A lot of passively believed that 2012 was the end of the world because the Mayan Civilization were proving via their Maya Calendar that 21^st December 2012 is literally the last day. Surprisingly as the date got nearer and nearer, we kept on passively believing with little to no considerations and arguments.

Most of us blamed the media for accounting for such belief, I mean almost every day we saw news about how the world is going to end, whether people are prepared and many more. It almost seems like the media was injecting all these messaged and instilling fear about the whole 2012 phenomena. And yes, there’s also a name for this theory called the Hypodermic needle theory/ Magic Bullet theory (whichever is easier to remember). In other words, the effects of the media on individuals is depicted in either positive or a negative nature influencing our behaviour.

 

Something’s not right about the Media Effect model

Sorry, what’s that? Oh, you didn’t believe the 2012 thing? Oh, and you feel that the media effect seems inaccurate?

Well, count me in because I feel as such too, in fact, a British Sociologist named David Gauntlet thought that the media effect theory is flawed and I’m going to explain three reasons of his that best intrigues me.

Number 1: Backwards Approach of tackling social problems

Taking the 2012 as an example, I mentioned that after the apparent ‘survival’ of the doomsday, people started condemning the mass media for feeding on that idea with movies and frequent talks shows. This state the Backwards approach in which we held the media accountable for and relating it to our behaviour. However, it should be looking at the root of our said behaviour and asking why are we thinking as such and what is making us believe the mass media?

Everyone has their own identities, cultures, backgrounds and experiences that shape their way of thinking. In this context, we have always been informed of natural disasters and its consequences. We have seen and for some, have even been affected by them. Scientists letting us know possible tsunami or earthquake occurrences make us think that hey there might be a possibility of the world ending. I personally feel that watching ‘2012’ was a possible visual imagination of how natural disasters can be fatal. Hence, to analyse a social problem, we should understand and study the people involved first.

Number 2: Considering children as an inadequate audience

Children are at their development stage – still learning and maturing. At their time of age, they have their own way of thinking and opinions which should be heard too since in this 21^st century, children are becoming smarter. However, this media effect theory targets children as well because of their developing nature. Most studies conducted for the younger audience, seem like they were in fact supposed to be proven as victims of media influence i.e the Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment showing children are violent due to what is being shown to them and completely disregarding as to why they are behaving as such. I feel that nowadays children are being more open-minded and are not afraid to share out what they have experienced thus they need to be heard to observe their behaviour as a potential contributing factor.

     

Number 3: Based on Artificial Studies

Most of the studies done to prove the media effect theory are actually very simplistic and mostly in controlled situations. For instance, in laboratory or classroom settings, usage of inanimate objects and so on. The question of whether if the experiments were to be done in a real life setting, would the results be different and how different pops out and I feel that studies should consider the reality aspect as well. I mean violence portrayed in movies are different from real life acts and so will be the way to handle situations. The thin line between fantasy and reality makes a huge difference and only the reality matters.

And yes there are many more reasons why the theory is flawed but for me, these 3 reasons stand out and if changed accordingly, there will be more insights to the media effect theory showing a better outlook of media.

 

Hey Media, Can I ask you a few questions?

– Has media really changed now than it was before?

– Why is the media influencing us to believe in something when media is supposed to be a tool for critical thinking?

–  Do situations decide when Media should subjective or objective?

And that’s all I can think of! Remember, don’t believe everything you see, investigate.