Impact of media in the society

The impact of media in the society has grown to various sectors like the source of Information, education, Socialization of children and youth, entertainment, Political awareness, Cultural transmission, the catalyst to development etc. Let’s have a look on each of these aspects in detail.

The source of Information

The news items carried by the mass media are instrumental to bring a lot of information required for social life, such as current affairs, government policies, traffic regulations, weather forecasts, examination results, alerts, precautions etc. With the growth of audiovisual media, we are able to get live updates of almost all the latest events and could make our daily lives better.

Education

Along with assisting the formal education system with educational channels, educational programs and features broadcasted or published in various types of mass media, they also provide an informal kind of education to people with predefined objectives. Such informal education includes a wide variety of news based contents like reports, features, photos, cartoons, editorials and articles and non-news contents like advertisements to educate people about the newest trends in their surroundings. Mass media in our city directly participate in the educational system by publishing educational Supplements for students. Education Plus of The Hindu, Also, we have a number of educational TV channels such as national geographic channel and Gyandarshan.

Socialization

In our city, mass media has shown its impact as an agent of socialization. It could empower people to acquire norms and experiences of the group as a whole, to maintain cultural consensus and communal harmony. It helps us to understand the cultural and social norms of various groups in our society. On the basis of this information, individuals honor others and behave according to the common values and thus create an integrated society.

Entertainment

With the advent and growth of mass media, especially television and social media, the city life became much more entertained. Having a monotonous life of troubles and tensions with hectic schedules and stressful events, mass media is a blessing for the city dwellers with all its entertainment content. Newspapers publish cartoons, comics, puzzles and special weekend supplements. The major share of magazine content includes short stories, novels, and comics. Television and radio primarily concentrate on entertainment function through their programs based on sports, film, serials, music, dance, comedy, animation and fashion shows.

Political functions

Usually the mass media, be it television or newspapers, most of their content, is centered on politics in our society. We see our leaders criticize officials and political leaders and advocate for better living conditions during panel discussions on television. Similarly, journalists expose corruption, show up developments and condemn or praise political activities considering their merits. Actually, these actions of the media make our democracy vibrant. Thus, mass media assume a key role in setting the agenda for the entire political system and policy making by forming public opinion on various issues

Cultural transmission

Mass media are the bridge between our past and present. They report day to day affairs which will become the history of tomorrow. The best records of modern history are newspapers of yester years. We get our cultural tradition from history and we follow the best of them. In keeping our culture flowing, media play a vital role. It focuses on the genuine aspects of our culture and points out the undesirable trends.

The current world of globalization considers media as a part of its daily routine and can’t even think of going a day without internet, television and newspaper. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Blogs have become instrumental to exchange ideas so promptly and widely than other conventional media. Whether it is social, financial, educational, and cultural or anything: every field of life is focussed on 4C’s: creativity, communication, connection, and creation. Thanks to the growth of technology.