After reviewing some of my classmates blog posts, I've realized that almost all of them have a very similar point of view in response to the impact of mass media on my worldview. Though most of my fellow students had a very similar opinion, I did find myself surprised to find the very few that did not feel like mass media impacted their world significantly.
Those that did have like minded opinions with me, stating that the mass media has a huge impact on their worldview had very similar opinions as to why it did. Keithsnellks stated that “The psychological power of Facebook, and all other forms of mass media, whether it is social, informal, television or news, is now at its peak. We as a society have now accepted mass media as the primary source of information, and this is a very crucial point to understand”(http://keithsnell.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/1f25-post-1-media-impact/). He points out that because we are so reliant on mass media that, of course it has its influence on us. Furthermore, he notes in his article that even just a “...short burst of violence, absurdity, and subliminal stereotyping…” has a tremendous impact on our mind. Keithsnellks has a very similar opinion to me and we both made very parallel points about how and why mass media impacts us.
Going through several blog posts I noticed some individuals had similar posts to me, however had different points to defend their statement which i found engaging and interesting. Dallas Diez discussed thoroughly how mass media has influenced us in very negative ways, such as violence. She addressed the increase of gore and explicit activities that have now become the video games of the day, whereas when our generation was younger, the most violence we endured in a video game was super Mario smashing his head on blocks in order to make a dime (hard working man he is). She also goes on to say how the media has so much of an impact it instills beliefs or viewpoints that may have not initially been our own decision. she states “mass media has been known to influence their reports and manipulate the information to conform to the different governments’ standards as well as to portray certain characters as being good and bad.”(http://dallasdietz.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/1f25-post-1-media-impact
-dallas-dietz/) The manipulated information has such a toll on us that we are brainwashed to thinking that -take for example politics- Obamas a jerk for wanting to implement universal health care in the states (I personally think it would be in America's best interest to do so), however, we only hear one side of the story and don't get exposed to the whole picture.
Although it seemed like everyone took the side of “yes, media impacts my worldview” there was still some individuals who thought that it doesn't. Allen Roger seems to think that the media has no influence on him stating that “I don't really pay much attention to the news, and I never really gave a crap about the bible or religion”(http://arcpcf.blogspot.ca/). He continues to say how although media doesn't impact his worldviews,“it does often justify them”. (http://arcpcf.
blogspot.ca/). I'm not here to bash anyone's posts but i found his individual highly hypocritical when he eventually states how he has read the lord of the rings series and its influenced his opinion on power and control. He distinctly states how the mass media has influenced him (books), and i found that those who thought mass media did not have an impact on them, did not have strong enough reason to prove so (how hipster of them to go against what they really know).
If anything i believe that individuals blog post has only solidified my belief that mass media has a huge impact on us. Some may be daft to realize it, however there is no escaping the effects of media and whether you like it or not we are all cyborgs of the media world, continuously being told what to and what not to like.
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