Effects of Media on Society and Solutions for it

Media, the plural of medium, generally refers to the content that spreads and
communicates a specific message to people. It comes in many shapes and forms, it
can also spread in different shapes and forms. It can propagate in written documents
such as articles and magazines, and it can be in an audio format using something like
the radio. It can be visual using a television. The rise of the internet and technological
advances has made digital media a source for all kinds of media, where you can find
written media, audio media, and visual media while using your digital devices. Not
only that, but the growth of the internet in our lives has made the spread and
creation of media very easy. When one spreads media, it can reach a large audience
and will do so quickly if they share eye-catching and needed media. This rise in media
propagation has fueled the rise of social media in our lives and made it stable in
nowadays life. This rise in social media has brought unexpected consequences to
society that are yet to be understood. Hence the investigation of the effects of social
media on society is essential as their consequences may be more severe than one
may think or know. This paper will focus on the effect of media on society, especially
with the advent of social media, and how that is showing new consequences that
humanity has to traverse.

Not all information here is correct. Social media are the platforms that hold all
the news about almost everyone. They propagate information and media in mass.
However, not all media that exist and are spread on social media are accurate.
Sometimes people get misinformation only through this media, and it spreads like
wildfire. The common term for media of this sort is fake news. Fake news is used to
exchange information that may intentionally or unintentionally cause harm or
promote a particular issue where issues can arise in situations. This can range from
moral concerns to political concerns. They come in the forms of false information
intentionally shared to cause damage or untrue information unintentionally shared
to cause harm. We can see this happening during significant events in our history. An
example of this is the Apollo 11 moon landing which some people called fake and
created all sorts of conspiracies to prove that the moon landing did not happen
(Hazarika & Kumbhakar, 2022). The scientists who worked on the moon landing had
received negative criticism from these people and these scientists had to go out of
their way to disprove the conspiracy. Another example of this happening was at the
beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic. The same thing happened when groups of
people said the virus was a bioweapon created by the Chinese Government (Nie,
2020). In the United States, a group of parents and anti-vaxxers created conspiracies
about the covid vaccines and spread them to the public. A conspiracy that spread
was that the vaccine could make children severely ill and kill them (Romer et al.,
2022).

Media doesn't stop at false information, and the ramification of false news and
information doesn't end with simple knowledge lacking. It can even propagate
violence in some cases. This is of course a very serious issue that stems from the
spread of violent and hateful media. In the case of media causing violence, it can be
caused by a few things. One prominent way violence through media is through the
polarization of individuals and directing and growing their hate towards a different
group of people. This can lead people to rile up and use violence on likely innocent
individuals all because the media they consumed earlier propagated that behavior
and encouraged them to do so. It isn't only the polarization of individuals using
media that may cause violence to propagate. There is also basic violent media, and
by that, it just means media that is inherently violent. The violence in media can
shape itself in multiple formats and affect people in a multitude of ways, these ways
can range from dissociation to violence, depersonalization & incitement to
aggression (Selvi, 2021). These effects cause some heinous crimes and actions by
people that are affected by such violent media. Some of those incidents are argued
to be the saddening school shootings that happen in America primarily. Many argue
it is because of the violent media the kids consume and hence why they have the
guts and willingness to do such atrocious acts of violence. And while some other
things probably affected such people to do their heinous violent acts, violent media
surely played a role in its propagation even if slight. This is all to say that violent
media can and probably affect at least some people by making them more violent
and aggressive.

This brings about the question of how these consequences of the impossible-to-
avoid media can be mitigated and solved. The first issue covered is related mainly to
misinformation on the internet and media. This included the propagation and
creation of fake news. The effects of such media can be detrimental to a person's life.
Precautions have to be taken to lessen and lower their negative effects if not remove
them completely. One such precaution can be simply mentioned as fact-checking
(Fraser Hall Library, n.d.). Fact-checking is important when consuming media as it is
one of the most important barriers to stopping misinformation. If a person can fact
check, they can fact check the media they see and clear out all the misconceptions
and misunderstandings, lowering the negative effects of media on society.
Concerning that also, a person has the responsibility to stop the spread of
misinformation (Settlement.Org, 2021), if a consumer of media were to see a post
they know is false, they should feel the need and not continue resharing it and stop
the propagation of misinformation. In addition to all of that the context behind the
media is quite important too, one must look at the story’s agenda, and what the
author wants the consumer to see. What point does it want to give and what
emotions does it evoke? Studying this agenda should help consumers of media set a
standard of what might be misinformation. Relating to the context of the media too
is the act of being wary of stories that play on emotions. They can be true and a lot
are. But if someone were to manipulate someone through media they can easily do it
by playing with their emotions. This all goes to show that as a consumer you have the
responsibility to fact check and stop the sharing of misinformation, and also
understand the context and agenda of the media one consumes.

As for the solutions regarding the violence propagated by polarization and

violent media, it's a hard area to navigate and find solutions for, as the issues are
connected with other external problems which add up and end up causing a domino-
like effect that ends with the consequences we see today. But that doesn't mean
some solutions and precautions can't be taken into consideration when surfing
through and ingesting media. One of the said solutions is to emphasize and make the
consequences of one's action clean. Often when faced with the consequences of
one's actions the person about to commit a violent act may back off. Another way is
to monitor the time spent on violent media consumption (Caroline, 2015). Doing so
is, of course, proving to be quite difficult with today's applications and algorithms
often going against said solutions but self-control has to come from the consumer
first before the applications. In addition to the previous solutions proposed, a couple
more can also be done to mitigate the violent media and lower its effect on oneself.
One such way is to regulate the sources of media one consumes. Following the right
people and liking the right stuff is key to curating your media content nowadays and
hence why one has to pay attention to such details and make sure of what they are
engaged with. Moreover, if violent media is to be met, rather than be affected by it
negatively redirecting the media and reforming it into an educational or beneficial
form can be quite advantageous in lessening violent media’s effect (Alonzo, 2019).
This is related to the first solution in that reforming a person's idea of the media can
allow them to see the consequences of it clearer and hence further stop further
actions or undesirable effects. Thus, one must try their best to monitor their time
consumption in media, understand the consequences of their actions in the real
world, regulate their media sources and redirect the content, and reform it into a
positive effect rather than a negative one.
 In conclusion, media is powerful and ever-reaching. It comes in many shapes,
ways, and forms, and as it evolves and changes, it becomes easier to propagate and
create. This comes with a multitude of advantages and disadvantages. This affects
our society in many different ways, how it affects it negatively was discussed and
possible solutions for them were suggested as a means of lowering the negative
effect of media consumption on people. This is important as media consumption has
become a daily activity for most people whether they like it or not. Hence, the ways
to lower its effects can be helpful. Overall, allowing media to control your narrative
and actions is a personal matter, it can be stopped simply by the consumer.
However, everyday media is integrating itself into our society, the harder it gets to
see the thin line between media and reality.
References