Chapter
7: Mass Media and Social Media
I. What Is the
Media?
A. Media refers to
channels of communication.
TV, radio
and newspapers are media.
B. Mass media
includes the means for transmitting
information from a single source to a vast number of people.
Broadcast model: from the center
radiating out
1. Through most of human history, communication took place on
a small scale, typically through face-to-face contact.
2. In the fifteenth century, the invention of the printing
press introduced the technology that, by about 1800, would support the creation
of mass media.
3. Newspapers were followed by radio, records, movies and
then television.
Leads to the
development of mass culture
4. Dominant companies produce(d)
content, then broadcast it.
C. Social media is
media that allows people to communicate
with one another, to share information, and to form communities based on shared
interests and goals.
II. Media and the
Message: Media Bias and Media Literacy
A. Media not only transmit information, media shape and alter the reality they present
B. Canadian social philosopher Marshall McLuhan claimed that
“the medium is the message.” In other words, the medium cannot be separated
from the information itself. All technology, McLuhan maintained, shapes our
social reality.
Like all technology, media has “latent functions,” messages
that aren’t explicit, as well as unintended consequences.
C. Mass media and social media now overwhelm us with vast amounts of information. W
A. Media not only transmit information, media shape and alter
the reality they present.
C. Mass media and social media now overwhelm us with vast amounts of information. Information overload. Makes it more difficult to develop trusted sources.
D. Many media sources span a range on the political spectrum,
with some outlets leaning left, others leaning right.
New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal: newspapers of record. Claim objectivity and neutrality.
1. Evolution from
CBS Evening News, local newspaper, perception of neutrality, objectivity.
2. General decline
of centers of authority in the society, connected to rise of social media.
Broadcast model leads to shared cultural experience, encourages cultural solidarity. Beatles. Internet and social media radically change that, network design favors not central authority.
Both encourages and is a reflection of a fragmented culture and society.
Confirmation bias
III. The Historical
Evolution of Mass Media and Social Media
A. Historically, communication was personal, as illustrated
by the town crier in colonial times.
B. The invention of the printing press in 1440 led to early
newsletters. Newspapers emerged in Europe in the seventeenth century.
1. By 1860, some 3,000 newspapers were published in the United
States.
2. Just as radio began to attract newspaper readers a century
ago, so internet technology is reducing interest in print media today. Many
newspapers are transitioning to online publication.
Decline of local media.
C. Radio emerged at the end of the nineteenth century,
initially as a “wireless” type of telegraph.
1. The first commercial radio station began operating in
1920. The number of stations and the manufacturing of radio sets increased
quickly thereafter.
C1. Movies:
golden age of Hollywood. Studio system.
D. Television’s increasing popularity after World War II drew audiences away from radio and regular movie viewing.
1. By 1955, half of U.S. households had at least one TV set.
2. Cable television, beginning in the early 1970s, provided a
wide range of viewing choices.
Move from radio and records to centrality of visual element. MTV.
E. Computer technology supported the global internet, giving
rise to social media.
A. Based on peer to
peer model, embedded in design of Internet
1.
Social media is
supported by computer technology.
3.
Rise of the
Internet: the “accidental revolution”
a.
What is the
Internet? Essentially, a shared protocol (TCP/IP). Metcalfe’s Law.
2. Unlike mass media, which transmit information from a
central location, computer-based social media is a diffused network.
1. Computers were first “linked” in 1969.
4) Smartphones and rise of the Cloud: 2004: iPhone
3. Move from PC to smartphone. By
2023, there are some 6 billion smartphones in the
world, all linked together.
Media consolidation
refers to the trend by which an
increasing share of the mass media is owned and controlled by a small number of
individuals and corporations
3. Unlike public institutions, private media giants are
fundamentally in business to maximize profit, even if their actions are
socially and psychologically destructive.
4. Social media include various social-networking apps. Some
2 billion of the world’s people are connected using Facebook
(created in 2004).
5. The digital divide
refers to the fact that half the world’s people make use of the internet and
half do not. Global Map 7–1 (p. 174) shows the share of the population using
the internet for various regions of the world.
6. While there are small differences in internet use in the
U.S. population by race and gender, age is the strongest predictor of use: 99
percent of young adults are online, compared to just 60 percent of people older
than sixty-five.
IV. The Effects of
Social Media on the Individual
A. Social media are widely used in the process of presentation of self. We now present ourselves to the world through the construction of an online self
RW vs VR
B.
Dramaturgical
analysis, developed by Erving Goffman, consists of
the definition of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
E.
A. The presentation of self, the effort of an
individual to create specific impressions in the minds of others, is a central
focus of dramaturgy.
B. An individual’s performances include dress, props, and
manner.
1. Erving Goffman’s analysis, based
on face-to-face interaction, can be extended to include online presentation of
self.
1a Unlike RW (Real World), self is disembodied and fragmented. Multiple selves,
idealized self.
2. Online information is largely from a single source—that
individual. Therefore, identities encountered online are subject to
idealization and outright distortion.
A1 Online construction of self image: Who do I
think I am? Who do others think I am?
1 Mead:
social construction of self: who do others think I am?
4.
Many people fashion
themselves to attract large numbers of “likes.” Especially among young people,
social media now play a major part in the formation of self-image.
5.
Instagram influencers: fame is available for all! Leads to low
self-esteem for not being able to match up to an impossible standard
6.
Social media allows
the construction of a perfectly designed idealized self
a.
Photoshop, etc.
B. Social media use is linked to a decreasing capacity for
empathy.
1. Sherry Turkle’s analysis links
the use of an impersonal screen to a declining capacity to take the role of the
other and feel what they experience.
1aa Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), spending time
staring at a screen, dominates our waking hours. Radical transformation
of consciousness in a very short period of time.
1a. Low context nature of disembodied interactions (no facial
expressions, body English, tone of voice, etc., just emoticons) dehumanizes
interaction.
2. Turkle observed young people
“tuning out” of face-to-face interaction to check online information.
Taking the role of the other is learned behavior
C. Social media can encourage conformity.
1. Research has long confirmed that people tend to conform to
the opinions of others.
2. UCLA research shows that people respond more positively to
photos shown with a high number of “likes.”
D. Social media affect our attention span.
1. Research shows that social media encourage people to
engage in multitasking.
2. Multitasking divides our attention, reducing typical
attention span.
3. People checking their phones in the movie theater or the
classroom.
E. Social media can support cyber-bullying.
1. Survey research shows that about one-third of young people
between the ages of eleven and fifteen have been victims of cyber-bullying. Use
of the Internet to embarrass, abuse or manipulate
another person.
2. A larger share of girls (41 percent) than boys (29
percent) report this experience.
3. About 15 percent of young people report engaging in this
behavior, with no significant difference by sex.
4. Easier to be really cruel in a disembodied environment. Cultural cancelling online.
F. Social media and addiction.
1. How people feel they are being judged affects their brain
activity; stimulation of the pleasure centers of the brain carries the risk of
addiction. Surfing the algorithms.
1a. Feel incomplete without your phone.
G. The end
of privacy
1.
Google, Facebook, Amazon, Youtube,
Microsoft etc. central to business model is data mining of users.
Targeted
recommendations all over the place
2.
Sophisticated algorithms guide media consumption, shapes perceptions
. The surveillance society.
Michael Foucault’s Panopticon. All is observed, nothing is truly private. The past is now
permanent.
V. The Effect of
Social Media on Relationships
A. Social media allow people to reach one another virtually
anywhere, without knowing another person’s physical location.
“Death of
Distance”
1. Users of social media report less experience of social
isolation.
2. Some 80 percent of U.S. teens report feeling “better
connected” due to social media.
B. Social media allows intense interaction; one consequence
is that parents can now monitor children anywhere and at any time. Parental oversharing. Online predators.
C. Social media is now widely used for dating.
1. In 2015, about 15 percent of U.S. adults reported using
dating sites.
2. Research shows that people who meet online marry sooner
than those who meet in other ways, and that they are
also more likely to divorce.
3. Online Dating: What
You See May Not Be What You Get.
People can present themselves in idealized ways that may mislead others.
D. Effect of
availability and nature of online pornography on RW sexual interaction.
VI. The Effects of
Social Media on Society
A. The internet is now a major source of popular culture.
B. Research suggests that a significant amount of mass media
and social media glorifies violence and encourages risk-taking.
C. The “shallow culture” hypothesis claims that social media
use encourages a superficial and morally shallow way of life.
1. Research links the amount of texting people do to the
importance they attach to superficial qualities such as physical beauty and
being popular.
2. Critics claim that social media foster a
“hyper-sexualized” world in which young people—especially women—come to value
looks and sex appeal over traits such as intelligence.
3. Movies become video games. Music is judged by the video. Instagram and Tictok influencers
dominate the culture.
D. Social media are now an important part of the world of
work.
1. Most of today’s workforce uses computer technology.
2. About half of U.S. adults report using social media to
find work.
3. Many employers monitor social media; people should not
post material that will threaten their job status.
4. All increased in Covid.
5. Online education
E. Media has important political implications.
1. FDR was the first president to make use of mass media,
giving radio talks called “fireside chats” to rally the nation toward ending
the depression.
2. 1960 Presidential debates.
3. The 2016 presidential election and the Trump presidency
raised the importance of social media in communication with the population.
4. Social media leads to proliferation of conspiracy theories, increased political, social, cultural fragmentation, weakening of trust in science, traditional authority in general.
VII. Theories of
Social Media
A. Structural-functional theory points to various functions
of mass media and social media.
1. Agent of socialization.
2. Advancing uniform culture as well as fragmented culture. Youtube videos
with billions of hits.
3. Increasing social integration to virtual communities at
the same time contributing to social isolation, anomie.
4. Agent of social control.
B. Symbolic-interaction theory links media to the social construction of reality.
The social
construction of reality is the process by which individuals creatively shape
reality through social interaction.
Meaning of what we do is defined within the interaction.
What's a joke. How do you flirt.
Learning how to play the situation. All transformed in
a disembodied environment.
1. Social media are central to presentation of self.
2. Media and social media increasingly define the reality we
experience in the world.
C. Social-conflict theory links media to social inequality.
1. Just as a small elite controlled
the means of production in the agrarian and industrial eras, so media are
controlled by a small elite in today’s postindustrial society.
2. Media consolidation
refers to the trend by which an
increasing share of the mass media is owned and controlled by a small number of
individuals and corporations
Often
more powerful than government
3. Unlike public institutions, private media giants are
fundamentally in business to maximize profit, even if their actions are
socially and psychologically destructive.
D. Feminist theory links the media to the domination of
society by men and the subordination of women.
1. Fifty years ago, almost no leading roles were performed by
women.
2. Alison Bechdel’s “Bechdel test” evaluates the importance of
women in films. Many of today’s most popular movies fail this test.
E. The future of the media.
1. The amount of available information continues to increase.
1a. Both concentrates and decentralizes power.
2. Social media link us to people far and wide, sometimes
reducing the attention we give to people in our physical presence.
3. Culture becomes more complex, but may also become more
superficial.
4. The rise of the screen as the great social mediator is
radically transforming individual consciousness, social interaction and social,
cultural and political institutions in a rapid and uncontrolled manner, for
better or worse.