To What Extent Is the Media Playing a Destructive Role in Society Today?

Joni
GP Media
To what extent is the media playing a destructive role in society today?
The media is ever so prominent in our society today. Inexorably intertwined with our lives in the form of quotidian newspapers, television, social networks and more, it is the medium through which we receive knowledge on world happenings and gain insights and ideas regarding various topics. Hence the media is not just an indispensable element of the modern world in gaining information but greatly influences what and how we think. A popular form of media comes in the form of entertainment, probably the form of media most of us subject our own self to the most. We share this intimate relationship with the media which therefore allows it to exert a powerful control over us, in both positive and negative ways. Today, some have begun to view the media as a menace to society and I agree with this statement to a large extent.
The media contributes to the thwarting our self-esteem and perception of beauty and success. The media is rampant with beautiful and attractive celebrities, and this probably leads to the beauty equals to success ideology. Hence, people may become superficial and adopt the philosophy of style matters over substance focus more on their appearance than their character. Hence, many may even adopt extreme measures to attain such beauty, such as extreme dieting, which may lead to eating disorders. Studies have also shown that 87% of sufferers agreed that the media has redefined what they perceive as beauty to be slim and hence wish to be slim by acquiring such unhealthy eating habits. With eating disorders, their health and work productivity will be jeopardised. Thus, the media has diminished their self-esteem, sold them as slaves to the ideals of beauty and trapped them in a Pandora’s Box of eating disorders, denying them the rightful of joy of appreciating one’s own body.
The media recognises scant boundary when it comes to sexual references and content, arousing sex curiosity blindly to all ages. Media producers are liberal when it comes to sexual scenes. Research shows that 62% of people say that sex on television shows and movies influences adolescents to have sex when they are too young. Sexual messages are universally portrayed in a positive light with little address to the potential risks of unprotected sex and scant mention of responsibility. This may lead the young to think that sexual practices are desirable which can lead to sexual promiscuity, which often precipitates negative impacts such as premarital sex, underage sex, and unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Deluded adolescents often end up bound to burdens such as sexually related ailments and unplanned pregnancies that may waylay their road to their dreams. Unplanned pregnancies may create dysfunctional families and problematic youths. With sexual promiscuity, the sacredness of marriage is removed along with the sanctity of traditional post-marital sex. Hence, the media is destructive to society as it often compromises the quality of our lives in many aspects, since it often leads to sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies and most of all, debases the sacredness of marriage.
The media glorifies the destructive tool of violence. Study findings indicate that there was a significant correlation between violent media exposure and aggressive behaviour, aggressive ideas, arousal, and anger. Most of the violence in the media comes from the heroes themselves who in the process of saving the day and eliminating the antagonist, use violence in the good old name of justice and heroism. Therefore, violence is portrayed to be attractive and admirable. Classic examples include ‘James Bond’, ‘Indiana Jones’, and even the seemingly innocent cartoon ‘X-Men’. Often, it is these figures that tell viewers that violence is acceptable as long as it is applied on the villain. Hence, the use of violence would be fallaciously justified, despite violence being undesirable. This forges the propensity of using violence to solve disputes- a typical start of a riot, or at a larger scale, politicians using the military as a chess piece- a typical start of an international conflict. The media is thus destructive as it suggests that violence is acceptable when violence often leads to the irrevocable destruction of man and their lives.
The media contributes to the sexual discrimination of women. In one way, it is the manner in which women are portrayed in movies. Often, the lead actor/hero of movies and television programmes are males and the woman remains the attractive sidekick. This may give rise to the misconception that men are dominant in the workings of the world and that the role of women are to support the men and look attractive, which often leads to sexual discrimination. Pornography, rampant online, very often leads to the sexual objectification of women, the regard of females as a tool to provide for men’s sexual pleasure, with an inadequate regard for the women’s personality or sentience. Pornography helps to reinforce the sexual notion that deems women not as people but as sexual objects, debasing them as a person. For instance, pictures of semi-naked women (hardly ever men) are used in advertising to sell products. Society’s acceptance of pornography leads to the objectification of the opposite sex, and hence sexual discrimination which is very unjust.
However, the media should be given credit to some of their positive attributes.
The media educates. In the form of newspapers, it informs us of the current world happenings, such as the US political war fares, African revolutions, China’s growing economy so as to let us be aware of the world we live in. There are articles that provide opinion regarding various issues so as to enlighten citizens and improve the way we think, such as that from “The Opinions Page” on the “New York Times”. These articles depict to us the direction in which the world is moving and allows us to develop intellectually in response to its publications. The media gives us ideas of other countries’ culture, allowing us to be exposed to many parts of the world. Hence, the media does contribute to in society by allowing citizens to find out what is going on in the world.
The media as a form of recreation helps to alleviate stress from the drudgery and toil of work. Usage of the media can help us to distress. For instance, many youths surf the World Wide Web and explore various websites for leisure and entertainment. Many people use social networking sites to stay connected and chat with their close acquaintances and free their minds from their works. The movies and television, a common and indispensable element or practice in a family, serves to provide a family-bonding time for families as it is something all family members can enjoy together after a day’s hard work.
However, these benefits of the media are often overrated, and the positive effects of the media pale in comparison with the negative ones. Surely gaining information from the media and recreational reasons cannot make up for the negative repercussions on society?
Hence, I largely agree that the media plays a destructive role in society even though it too has its benefits. Its negative role outweighs its positive ones. Most users of the media unselectively believe in what the media portrays, for since the media is often underestimated as an inconsequential aspect of our lives, they are not critical users of the media, and may unknowingly absorb its negative impact. Since the media mostly acts as a negative influence, I largely agree that the media plays a destructive role in society.