Free Essay Describing the Effects of Electronic Media

Television influence on society

Media has brought about a significant alteration in the manner individuals think. Media have provided an outstanding platform for them as people are capable of presenting themselves to the world and contribute in their way to the fluctuating global situation. Technologies such as television have played an essential role in development like the fight against racism and majorly in the advertisement. There have been significant changes, sparked by engagement in television. As such, companies like Coca-Cola has taken advantage of this and extensively advertised their products on the global market.

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Television is an electronic media which acts as a medium of communication. It's a channel through which communication about an individual, brand or organization can be transmitted, a source of information from a media house to the public. Television is a pictorial medium of communication information that is passed through sound and images hence more vivid creating an impulsive nature of the targeted audience. One can relate more to a product. Television has become a major industry all over the world especially in the United States. Television can affect one's image and behavior from the displayed models of different brands and fantasies created from the images which are repeatedly advertised to create an impact during advertisements. This can lead to behavioral changes that may stick from childhood to adulthood (Keating, 2011).

Every household in America has television sets and approximately sixty-six million teenagers spend 6-8 hours a day watching television. Psychologically television is very addictive causing anti-social behavior and laziness as most time is spent watching and can also be a health hazard regarding obesity and eye problems. Media houses educate the public in the direction of their findings. Violence in individuals can surface in cases where violent programs are repeatedly watched especially in cases where children grow up in such an environment. The child will grow up without an empathetic nature portraying aggressive behavior both in childhood and adulthood. In the US, by high school graduation, the average student in high school would have seen eighteen thousand murders and pornographic programs hence media houses are encouraged to rate programs depending on the age bracket and parents too are invited to review and monitor what content their children are being exposed to (Keating, 2011).

Coca-cola advertising

Let's take the example of a soft drink advertisement, say Coca-Cola. Sensationalism in advertisements over the past 20-30 years has increased gradually. It affects your mood towards the product. Public interest has been overshadowed by human interest. Good public relations (PR) are essential in the marketing of any brand and creation of massive public awareness among consumers. Coke aired an advertisement on how beautiful America is with other nations singing of its beauty in other languages. This had a negative and positive impact on the consumers, some felt no connection with the advertisement since America was being praised for its beauty in other languages instead of English, while others took it as being beyond racism.

The Coke advert on American Idol which is aired on television and watched by a significant number of viewers had excellent ratings; people related the drink as being cool from the fact that its favorite celebrities were consuming the drink hence taking it would mean an individual is as cool as them. This goes to show that people's behaviors are influenced by what they view on television it gives them a connection to what is being aired. Consumer's choice changes.

Television as a promoter of antisocialism

The different characters in a program and how we follow different programs influence how we see ourselves and others in different societies we live in. Television can in one way promote antisocialism but can also nature interpersonal relations. This is through bonding with each other while watching a particular program or sports show. Groups of individuals get together to watch mostly sports and give different opinions. Television is nowadays interconnected with the internet making viewers interact with their favorite television personalities creating friendships with various individuals across the world.

Television is also a platform from where our cooking and eating habits are influenced by watching cooking programs, for example, the TV chef and food activist, Jamie Oliver who brought to the limelight the poor food quality most American eats on his show Food Revolution. (Kraidy, 2002).

Creation of family values

TV is also a channel through which values can be created from the different reality shows that are aired for example the Shark Tank shows how TV affects the American Culture. It instills into people the desire to pursue success and learn entrepreneurship, that is our culture Smartens Up, but at the same time others may lead people into feeling they are better of such as, Honey Boo. Some programs may build a promiscuous culture while others a committed culture in marriage. Some shows portray that it's okay to jump from one relationship to another such as Two and a Half Men which can lead to adultery in marriage while others show the importance of a good moral relationship such as War Room. Therefore, programs on TV have an influence on changing the society's attitudes about a sensitive issue. Modern Family is a hit show which portrays the life of a gay couple with an adopted child. In the 90s this would have caused a great stir but upon airing many programs of gay couples. This goes to show the impact of TV on the society's perception of the homosexual community and their acceptance.

Also, TV has led to the society acceptance of everyone regardless of their color and race resulting in the reduction of racism. Many programs have been aired to show how people suffered in the era of racism and creating awareness of the negative impact it has on the society as a whole. This has led to the society leaving inequality without prejudice fostering peace and harmony (Kraidy, 2002).

Conclusively, there is a good relationship that exists between the television and the societal behavior. More people remain dependence on television and all that it offers. And with its multipurpose, the effect to the society is on the rise through its means of information, education, and entertainment. America remains one of the societies that is significantly influenced by the television and companies like Coca-Cola remains influential as much as electronic media is concerned. Even though studies have shown that there is the negative impact of electronic media, the benefits overshadow the negatives.

References

Keating, S. (2011). A study on the impact of electronic media, particularly television and computer consoles, upon traditional childhood play and certain aspects of psychosocial development amongst children.T International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education,T 2(1), 294-303

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of culture through the media. T Encyclopedia of communication and information, 359.