How Far Did Developments in the Mass Media in the 1960’s Promote Cultural Change?
How far did developments in the mass media in the 1960’s promote cultural change? In the 1960’s, mass media improved and expanded greatly due to the scientific developments being made at the time and media became a much greater part of people’s lives than it ever had been before. The power of television, radio, newspapers and magazines had a huge influence on the way people lived in the 60’s and the expansion of mass media was the starting point to creating a modern Britain which would revolve around technology.
In the 1960’s, the introduction of the colour TV had a huge impact on people’s lives. Suddenly, families could afford to buy a TV and they no longer needed to go out for their entertainment- it was at home. By 1967, nine in ten homes owed a TV and 97% of adults watched at least 12 hours of TV a week. It was new, exciting and appealed to everyone because now people could watch a huge range of different, colour programmes. The news became increasingly important because now it was different and fascinating: because the entire family would congregate to watch the TV it was bringing them together and giving them a common subject to discuss. There was now a common subject amongst people of all classes and the social divide between people was now lessened due to the wide availability of the TV. However, it could be argued that the TV also had a negative effect on people’s lives: the attendance to the cinema and live sporting or theatre events decreased rapidly as the TV was an easy release from boredom. Although it did bring families together, the quality of their bonding time was now lessened because they were sat watching the TV without conversing as they had before and TV dinners had a huge effect on families sitting down together to eat a meal. Now that the TV was the main source of news and entertainment, huge advertising campaigns were launched which fuelled consumerism and tempted audiences into buying their goods. The televisions share of
In the 1960’s, the introduction of the colour TV had a huge impact on people’s lives. Suddenly, families could afford to buy a TV and they no longer needed to go out for their entertainment- it was at home. By 1967, nine in ten homes owed a TV and 97% of adults watched at least 12 hours of TV a week. It was new, exciting and appealed to everyone because now people could watch a huge range of different, colour programmes. The news became increasingly important because now it was different and fascinating: because the entire family would congregate to watch the TV it was bringing them together and giving them a common subject to discuss. There was now a common subject amongst people of all classes and the social divide between people was now lessened due to the wide availability of the TV. However, it could be argued that the TV also had a negative effect on people’s lives: the attendance to the cinema and live sporting or theatre events decreased rapidly as the TV was an easy release from boredom. Although it did bring families together, the quality of their bonding time was now lessened because they were sat watching the TV without conversing as they had before and TV dinners had a huge effect on families sitting down together to eat a meal. Now that the TV was the main source of news and entertainment, huge advertising campaigns were launched which fuelled consumerism and tempted audiences into buying their goods. The televisions share of