Week of March 31st Blog

This week we reviewed how mass communication and mass production influence our society (mass culture) today.
Media most likely has the greatest impact on our culture today through communication. Many don'd realize how much it engulfs our life, however, it is everywhere. The news channel, billboards, newspapers, ads on the internet, and social networking are just a few examples of parts of the media that form our opinions and raise questions. Some complain that the media has too much power and can filter their content so they can convince the general public to agree with their biased opinions. "Were the media guilty of emphasizing violence and downplaying moral value?" (Culture and Mass Communication 1).  Mass communication became relevant wen the typewriter was first invented. It became realized that now one message could be sent to multiple people. This sparked industrializtion and thus the printing press and other mechanisms that could bust out more messages to the public were created. This had great effects on society at that time. "...the weakening of bonds of kinship, and the declining social significance of the family, the disappearance of the neighborhood, and the undermining of the traditional basis of social solidarity" (Culture and Mass Communication 25). Many forms of mass communication would come that would forever change our society such as radio, television, and telephones. These have become part of our popular culture and broadcast interesting information such as sports games. Some might think that this was purely to entertain the public, but it was really all just about the money. "...timeouts for commercials had extended the average length of a professional baseball game from 2 hours, 57 minutes in 1978, to 3 hours, 11 minutes" (Culture and Mass Communication 30). These commercials could advertise a variety of goods to consumers and try to get them to buy what they were selling. "Coca-Cola and its logo and Levi's jeans have long been popular around the world" (Culture and Mass Communication 36). This all shows how our world has become lost in consumerism and now we don't even realize it happening around us.