THE ROLE AND INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA

THE ROLE AND INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA

Mass media is information, communication. It seems like a big part of most people's lives. Nowadays just about everyone depends on it to keep their lives moving, considering that its influence has grown with the advance of technology.

There's no doubt that mass media makes our lives simpler. It reaches a large audience. The latest news and information are easily accessible. The Internet and television are some of the best forms of entertainment. It can be also used for educational purposes and so on.

However the fact that everything feels easier to do with mass media leads to society's huge dependency on it. 

We make decisions based on the information that we get from the media. We rely on it and trust it as an authority for the current news and facts about what is important and what is not. The reported information is not always true, though, because the media promotes not only products, but moods and attitudes. There may be a misinterpretation of a situation, news can be manipulated to influence audiences' minds in favour of other people. Misleading messages, wrong interpretation of news - all of this can change the dynamics of the society for the worse. 

Considering that powerful influence, we should be aware of how it works and we shouldn't let it affect the way we act and think.

How strongly, in your opinion, can social media control people's minds? Is it really that bad or am I just overreacting?

Social Networks and life without it

Nowadays social networks baecame very important part of our life. Mostly these networks are used by teenagers. But that does not mean, that adults do not use social networks. Almost everyone uses network, but some people use it rare and some people can't imagine their life without posting picturus on instagramm.

I would like to say, that social networks, which are popular in Russia are different from social networks, which people use in USA for example.
Of course the most popular social network in Russia is VKontakre. Statistic says, that the most popular social network in the world is Facebook. It has 1,200 billions users, and for example VKontakte has only 32 billions users.

Social networks have both: advantages and disadvantages. There are lots of them, so i will write about the most important. Advantage is that you are always in connection with your friends, wherever you have acces to the Net. You also know the latest news about your friends. Disadvantages is that it social networks take enormous amount of our life time. Also we cannot be sure, that our information won't be used by third parties.

So are you ready to let the whole world know information about you?

Life without the internet 

Today to access the internet is easier than ever because now it's everywhere: in our phones, computers and tablets. Some of us already started to live online more than in real life. Of course there are both sides of it positive and negative. 

On the one hand internet is a really useful thing which helps to do your schoolwork, homework, you can read books there and do some other useful things. Also, it's a good way of keeping in touch with friends and family around the world. 

On the other hand some of us just get addicted to the internet and they can't even imagine there life without it, they even know what to do if there is no internet. Some young people don't know how to act in real life and they hardly talk to there families.

In conclusion I'd like to say that all information that we need we can find in books and magazines without the help of Internet. Personally, I think that if there will be no internet we would have more time for some other things like reading, meeting friends instead of starting in monitor. So, is internet that good?

Life without Internet

Life without Internet

   Internet was developed in the 20th century and has become popular since 1993. Today, according to statistics, regularly use the Internet more than 2.5 billion people.

With the Internet people can easily find any relevant information or get the news. Internet helps to communicate with friends, sending emails instantly. On the Internet, we have access to any type of file, allowing us to easily download books, music or movies. Today it is impossible to imagine life without the Internet. But what would change if the internet was not?

   There would be a huge amount of free time without the Internet. The Internet has great benefits, but people do not always spend time on tne Internet with benefit. People go into the virtual world, when they could read a book, do exercise or engage in self-development.

   Now people increasingly prefer instant messaging on the Internet, instead of live communication and meetings. I think it's a lack of internet because live communication allows people to feel real emotions from communication.

   Also, people often write confidential information about themself, which is accessible from anywhere in the world and it is not safe.

   Of course, with the internet people can easily find the information and answer the questions, but in general, I think life without the Internet would be better, because people could not spend the time useless. Time — is an invaluable resource in our lives. Also people would not suffer Internet addiction and would feel more free.

The media

    Information has always played a significant role in all human societies and it happened so that throughout the time some people have discovered talent in telling others the news and corresponding things. Such people who have dedicated themselves to this art are forming now what we call mass media.
    The ways information has been relayed and spread have constantly been undergoing major changes along with the development of the human civilisation, so in the last two centuries mass media has experienced a boom of new opportunities of communicating with people – starting from telegraph and radio and ending with the Internet. These changes have naturally had a great influence on the media of the modern day and nowadays there is a wide range of sources offering a lot of different information. On the other hand, each source has its own specifics and target auditory. However, the media agencies can be divided not only by their type – like newspapers, radio stations and websites, but by their thematics and national belonging, too. Therefore, today almost anyone can get any kind of information from any imaginable media agency by any possible way, and that's why the modern times are called 'the information era' – the age when information becomes ruling the world as one of the most important values.
    However, despite having lots of bright sides, the media is suffering from numerous problems. Some of them appeared in the last few years, some have become even traditional. The most big and common problems are tied with the amount of truth in the reports. Urging to be the first to tell something (this means getting bigger auditory, hence, more money), media agencies may pay little attention to the proof of the presence of the described event and it results in a big amount of false reports. Moreover, some of the agencies can even tell the untruths deliberately – just to get more money.

Emergent.info, an online service which collects information about claims and checks whether they are confirmed, unverified or confirmed false

     The question of truth is also about the real view on the current events – if a news agency pretends to provide an independent overview it can have problems with the government of its state, and the risks depend on the degree of the freedom inside the country. On the contrary, if a media agency decides to provide the state position, the amount of truth in the reports decreases. It can decrease the belief to such agency as well but this happens only when the auditory has access to independent view. If not so, though, the media becomes a propaganda machine which is able to change a whole nation in a rather short period of time as it happened in Nazi Germany in the middle of XX century.

Well-known Russian cartoonist Sergey Elkin comments on the 'zombifying' capabilities of media

    So the media has always been with us along with its ability of influence and it makes no sense asking whether the media is good or bad – such question can do nothing to its presence as well as to the efforts of converting it into one's powerful weapon. From my point of view, while looking on the history of the simultaneous development of media and humanity we should ask ourselves: how should we behave to get only true news and what can we do to make the media not to provide lies and harmful information?

The Internet

"Oh, I'll just check my e-mail for a minute... And facebook ... Hmm... What's on that link... Damn! It's 3 a.m."

You

The Internet has entirely changed the everyday life of average man. Its mission was to ease access to information and connection between people. Is it completed? Of course! No paper mail (ask your grandparents about queues in "Pochta Rossii" offices), no libraries (I mean time spent there, searching information), no paperboys. Life became faster, you say. But did it?

How much time do you spend on the Internet everyday? Hours and hours. How much time do you use it in its proper destination (searching useful information, not kittens)? Umm... Maybe, for an hour per week. Certainly, Internet made access to information faster, now there is more free time. And where do we spend it? Right, on Internet. But not searching for some historical books or biological researches, no. Just scrolling Facebook and Instagram profiles. Hundreds of selfies and cute videos. Oh dear... Inventors of the Internet thought better about people... Internet became an universal way of spending time. Searching for information now requires skills to choose the right stuff from tons of trash, that Google offers you. The speed and gigantic volumes of information there have changed the borders of privacy. People have real opportunities, but have nothing useful to share. So they share kittens and selfies. God only knows whatever will be in next years. So, is Internet as useful, as supposed to be? Obviously, not. 

The idea and opportunities, that Internet offers are really incredible: any people, any information in a minute, second, faster and faster. But the way we use it depends only on ourselves. So don't let yourselves to turn this great possibility into the greatest human timekiller.

Life without the Internet

The Internet has undeniably changed our lives: the way we communicate with each other, shop, get information and many other things. You can do anything due to its power but can it replace real life joys, like simply hearing someone's laugh instead of getting a smiley face as a reply?

Internet is easy to use, it's entertaining and without a doubt the biggest source of information we have nowadays. People can chat and Skype with their relatives that live far away, download any music or movie they like, explore interests of their colleagues, classmates on Facebook or Twitter and find so-called soulmates.

However, despite these advantages, with the help the Internet gives us, it also makes us less sociable and hardworking. For some people, it becomes an addiction - clicking one link to another they don't notice how life passes by around them.

Would you be able to live without the Internet? Would it improve your life?