Mass media greatly impacts my view of the world. And that’s a belief many of us likely share. Television, Internet, and various forms of social media drive our opinions without us even being aware of it. Worldviews we come to believe are absorbed almost subconsciously. Ten minutes we spend watching national news forms our opinions of global events. Whatever is said during the first few headline reports becomes our knowledge base of an issue. For example, a news report on the war in Iraq will give us some statistics and perspectives. We then take those points and turn them into an opinion. What we have there is media impact on worldview. No longer are we neutral on the violence. We now have an opinion, one that’s driven by what we were told.
Our society struggles for true knowledge when it’s impacted by the communication sources we use each day. Let’s use Twitter as another example. A man apparently commits a crime, and just for fun, let’s say his name is Zimmerman. What happens? Well, one person of significant “status” tweets out an opinion calling for Zimmerman’s guilt. Then it gets retweeted by 15,000 people. Since, according to Digital Market Ramblings, the average Twitter user has 208 followers, that perspective has now reached tens of thousands of people. And that happened all because an influential figure used a media platform to post a perspective. As a result, the views of people who all follow one person online have become quite similar. Anything unique or creative that could have existed is now gone.
This has happened to me, and it happens to many people on a daily basis. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how the opinions of people such as myself can be formed. My generation lives off media. When a suggestion comes up about ignoring social media for a day, there’s an audible gasp among people my age. We can’t live without media. Going a day without an online presence would be like torture to loads of teenagers. I, much like my peers, want to constantly be connected. And that’s going to be extremely difficult to change.
It’s no wonder we have a struggle for knowledge.
O'Connor Media 