Our own thoughts VS. Media Influence

Media in today’s society is our life line. It comes in many different forms to match your personal pleasures. There is magazines, newspapers, internet, television, news, radio, and of course social media sites. I am sure I missed many examples but I think we all get the point. Every day we are connected to media through technology whether it be our televisions, radios in our car, and probably the most common in today’s society our cell phones. Through these advancements in technology we are able to consistently check media and see and hear it at a moment’s notice. There are many issues that arise with this. Media can affect relationships, consume our time and most concerning influence our opinions and thoughts.
Most often we see the influences that media has when we see news reports on legal cases or tragedy’s such as bullying and natural disasters. When we hear or see negative media about a specific subject we have already formed our own opinions or thoughts about we may become swayed but information the media provides that is not always accurate. Also we may conform to social norms and begin to change our opinions based on what society believes acceptable behaviors to be (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). A perfect example of this is Jurors in a legal case. Twelve men and women are chosen to decide the fate of an individual who may have committed a crime. These jurors in severe cases are directed not to speak to anyone from the media they are not allowed to read newspapers or watch the news or discuss the case. This is solely to make sure their opinions are not influenced by media.

Schneider et al (2012) give a great example of this when they discuss how drugs in the 1980s became a big concern because of the media’s coverage of it. This is what is called agenda setting meaning that the media will influence what we feel is important in society. According to Schnieder et al (2012) “The media did not influence weather people thought the use of drugs was wrong , media coverage of the drug issue resulted in people thinking that the drug issue was an important one.” Issues such as these were distributed through media which has developed as technology has developed.

A perfect example of how media can influence our opinions would be social networking. Facebook is a great example of this. In this week’s lesson in PSYCH424 from Penn State we learned about how affective Facebook has been on influencing society. According to this weeks lesson “People who were once isolated due to their beliefs or interests not fitting into their local community/culture can now find others who share those beliefs or interests and reduce their own loneliness.”(PSYCH424, PSU Lesson 9, Page 3). This seems great, right? Not always sometimes we become so lonely that these people can influence our thoughts and opinions. Facebook used to be just a site to catch up with friends and family however as it has grown it has now become a site to share other media sites, pictures, and opinions. For myself when scanning Facebook posts more than 50% of them are now ‘you may be interested in” or advertisements or links that people post about news, natural disasters and information from news outlets that are sometimes not credible sources. Many people take these links and articles seriously even though they are incorrect and will form opinions about a situation based on that.

Recently there was several attacks on Canadian military. Several service men were killed, the media right away insisted that the attacks were in the name of Islam. This alone became a dangerous influence on the community the attacks occurred in as well as on those who worship as Muslims. This is much like when the attacks of September 11th occurred in the United States. We needed someone to blame someone to be held responsible so of course when they media begins to plant ideas we right away attach to them. The media solely has been responsible for the opinions we have formed of Muslims in today’s society and sadly we have conformed to their influence and without knowing much about the religion we group those who are Muslims together treat them different than others and for negative opinions of them. In a media article published by CBC news in Canada the National Counsel of Canadian Muslims denounced and denied any involvement in the attacks and indicate they to as Canadians felt attacked and that anyone performing acts of violence is not a representation of Islam (CBC News 2012). However why is it that we choose to believe others who speak about these individuals rather than those representing the religion? Often we need to detach ourselves from media and others to form our own opinions.

References
Ottawa shooting: Canadian Muslims denounce attacks. (2014, October 23). Retrieved from CBC News Ottawa: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-shooting-canadian-muslims-denounce-attacks-1.2810489
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2014, October). PSYCH 424 Lesson 9:
Media/Communications Technology. Retrieved from
https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa14/psych424/001/content/10_lesson/01_page.html
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., & Coutts, L. M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, INC.

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