What is Media?

What is media? Media is the main means of mass communication. What is new media? Defining new media is not easy because it is a very broad term, but more or less, new media refers to the new means of communication such as television, social networks, emails, etc. Anyway, it is often said that the media transformed the world into a global village where the world is linked by the means of the new media. Distances became relatively shorter and communicating with someone became easier. What are the effects of the media on our society? Does the media impact the world negatively or positively? Will turning different regions of the world into one global village have its disadvantages?

The media, like television and radio, increases the awareness of people in the society. It helps inform people about what is going on and what is happening around them. In addition, they aid to improve our general knowledge. Also, newspapers update us with the latest news. They deliver all kinds of information whether it’s political, intellectual or entertaining such as sports fashion, and so on. Everything that the society faces will be published in the newspaper. Thus, it serves as an incentive to people to read in order to stay updated with the situation in the country. Thanks to the media, we can know anything that happens in the world within minutes, better yet seconds. For example, news channels such as ‘MTV’ and ‘Al-Jadeed’ created new applications to update people whenever something happens whether it is urgent or not. They also found a new way to communicate with people through social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Media helps the person to express himself freely through social networks. For instance, a person can log in to Twitter, meet new people, express his thoughts, and explore different topics and different points of views of other people. Other types of media such as magazines entertain people in different ways. There are different types of magazines for different types of people. Every person has his/her own interests like politics, technology, science fiction and so on. For example, fashion magazines let people know what is trendy and what is not, what is new and what is old. We must not forget a very important role of the media, which is educating people through books or websites. Some schools and universities reach out to their students through the Internet.

As useful as the media can be, it does have a few negative effects on the society; especially on teenagers, where some forget their heritage and traditions when exposed to new cultures. This happens mostly in Arab countries. Most importantly, media drove a lot of people away from their religion. It is forbidden in the Islam religion to wear shorts and drink yet in Lebanon you can find a lot of Islam’s that do so. When Arab teenagers discovered the western societies and how they behave and act, they started acting and dressing like them in many ways. Girls started dressing like the girls on television.

Teenagers started drinking. The nightlife expanded where all teenagers started to go clubbing. It disrupted their behavior and the way they talk to their parents. Moreover, movies that are released and television programs show characters using drugs, abusing alcohol, and performing intimate sexual behavior; all of that have negative impacts on different people in the society. Due to these negative impacts, teenagers refuse to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Although teenagers are old enough to take responsibility for their actions and differentiate what is right from what is wrong, their parents must guide them. Television programs caused a lot of disturbance in the families. For example, the famous actor ‘Mohannad‘ in the Turkish series ‘Noor‘, he caused a lot of fights, misunderstandings between married couples, and a lot of divorces.

Although it looks like media took the world by surprise, but it plays a major role in our lives. It has its positive and negative aspects, but man cannot live without it, not after it made his life less complicated and facilitated his work. It is a very useful source to our society if used in the right way. Many countries have reached prosperity with the help of media and its worldwide branches. Yet, we find ourselves battling the negative aspects of media. So will man be able to diminish them? Or will we end up with uniformed people, all following the principles that media project?

Reference:
. N.p.. Web. 3 Oct 2013. <http://us.macmillan.com/uploadedFiles/PalgraveTrade/Non-Menu_Items/Theorizing_Global_Studies_cha01.pdf>.

Oak, M.. N.p.. Web. 3 Oct 2013. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/positive-effects-of-the-media.html>.