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Mass Media Society

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Mass Media Society
Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture

Mass media, over the years, has had a profound effect on American society, on its culture, and on the individuals exposed to the media. Mass media is a form of socialization, having a long-term effect on each member of American society. While mass media targets the individual in short-term intervals, the overall influence on them has been established as the consumer moves from one impressionable age category to another. The long or short- term effects of mass media are separate and distinct when its role in America is evaluated. Mass media effects people differently because of varied amounts of exposure and formats.

Mass media has a socialization function in American society, in the culture, and on individuals. Mass media has played a role of socialization in our society over the years: Socialization is a long-term process that every human being undergoes as he or she becomes a functioning member of society. Socialization refers to the internalizing of all of the lessons from many sources concerning ways of behaving that are approved or expected by society, as individuals mature through every stage in the life cycle.

Mass media educates its customers on how to think and to act, as they are conditioned to what the media portrays as suitable responses and behavior to experiences in American life. This long- term process is established over the years as media influences the impressionable age groups, as they are gradually exposed to distinct messages of mass media. These distinct age consumer groups are targeted by mass media, and while the effects of mass media are short-term, the subtle impression is long-term. The effect on American society and culture is more prominent as the change of individuals’ personalities are observed.

Mass media has had a history of having distinct short-term effects upon its public. One of the most shocking and ridiculous examples of mass media’s manipulating

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