I would say yes and no to the question of, "Does media have an effect? ". Because there is such a variety of media, it can reach billions of people without hitting language barriers. Almost everything now can easily be translated into practically any language necessary. With that said, I still would consider whether everyone around the world uses media as often as Americans do.
Like you have said before, Mr. Stevens, every day that we wake up we could have a high number of media sources we've come in contact with before even making it to work/school. This isn't the same everywhere else. I think media has a huge effect on Americans. If I use myself as an example, I could say that without being in college and learning how to critically think for myself I would weigh the opinions of CNN or some newspapers very highly in my every day judgements of the news. Why would I do that? I think it's because I would assume that they know better than I do, seeing as I'm only twenty-one. I would also think that there are many others like me that would do the same.
Another obvious reason I have to argue towards saying that media does have an impact is that television is still going strong throughout the years it has been around. Throughout all of the changes the world has made since the beginning of television, it still holds its' own very well. If it didn't have an effect, would it still be as successful? I think not. A lot of people I know watch tv every day. That's a lot of time they are giving up. Yes, I fall into that category too. But I personally use TIVO, so I can catch up all in one day if I need to.
We are better off for media having an effect on us, I believe. We get the news faster and understand what's going on quicker, which then helps us react faster to solve the problems. Getting knowledge faster can never be a bad thing to me. But also, people that shouldn't get information faster are getting it as well. For instance, terrorists learn things they need to know for their operations a lot quicker now. They can find out practically anything they need to from the internet or television. That can be very dangerous, as we learned on Sept. 11.
On the bad side, certain types of media have been blamed for situations that have had negative outcomes such as Columbine. I thought of this right away when we were assigned this topic. After the shooters were identified and the country had time to point the finger of blame, a lot of them pointed at Marilyn Manson. Simply because both of the shooters listened to him they said his song lyrics had a negative effect on them and quite possibly could've brought them to killing other students. Personally, I don't agree with that statement. But I didn't run any tests to back myself up either. His songs could've hurt the situation, no doubt.
If I had to make a final decision to whether or not media has an effect, I would say yes. Sometimes it can be a negative one, but I think with all of the progress we have seen through media it's worth it. We really wouldn't be where we are today as a world, without the technology we are blessed to have.
