Media Influences

Entertainment Media and Its Influences
Entertainment Media and its Influences
HUM186
December 16, 2013

Entertainment Media and its Influences Entertainment media has shaped American Culture and its values in many ways. One of the ways is that media has educated many on how to be more healthy and to have a better lifestyle. It has also encouraged people to become more creative by making emphasizing what culture is all about. We as a society is shaped by the ever changing entertainment industry and often our lives are all geared towards how the rich and famous are living by attempting to keep up with who they are dating, wearing, eating, etc. Entertainment media is everywhere. It’s the largest form of entertainment and needless to say the most common throughout the American culture today. Although entertainment media has created many benefits it has also brought many challenges to the American culture as well. One of the most drastic challenges would be the way we interact with others in our everyday life. During, the many years of entertainment media, things have changed for the positive. I believe that with all of the changes, there has been mostly positive outcome from the media, but there has been some negative aspects as well. For example, the life of a celebrity can sometimes influence one to alter themselves to attempt to mimic or somewhat feel as if they are closer to living the “American Dream”. Weight loss, plastic surgery and drug usage are common issues because of this particular way of thinking which is often encouraged by what is seen through social media. The television and radio helped to create our culture by having an impact on the way books, newspapers and magazines are designed and created and ironically the television is one of the biggest influences on American families today. Most people spend more time watching television and playing video games, therefore, spending less time interacting with others, which results in poor social and communication skills. Our family values and morals are changing with each passing day. With all of the sex, violence, and destruction shown on TV there is an effect on the kids today. Video games can be a benefit and it can bring challenges. Video games can allow you to communicate with people from around the world or in your own back yard. They can also teach you to be a better problem solver. The challenges that video games brings are they a lot of people that play video games, do nothing else. They do not contribute to society, but instead just sit at home. Thus creating a lazy child, this in turn makes lazy adults.

To conclude, there are many advantages and disadvantages to entertainment media. There are positive and negative aspects and it is hard to pinpoint which option outweighs the other but it’s safe to say there are more negative influences towards the American culture causing us to believe that there is a certain way of life we should all stick abide by which is the typical all American image and family. This causes a multitude of problems because of what is portrayed in the social media today.

References
Hicks, Carole D. “Television’s Impact on Society.” Soul Food. 28 March 2008. Web.

References: Hicks, Carole D. “Television’s Impact on Society.” Soul Food. 28 March 2008. Web.