Comments on: Negative Influence of Media on Society

by: Samantha

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:16:19 +0000

I know that media has quite alot of negitve affects on people but don’t you think you have gone a bit far the way you have tried to ‘fix the problem’ this is the world we live in just go with the flow!

by: Morgan

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:57:49 +0000

I agree with everything you said. Ever since I was 13 years old, I have been told to look a certain way, to eat certain food, and to dress a certain way. I’m not overweight, but I’m not super skinny. The media has affects on girls everyday and it only gets worse. There are websites that lead girls into becoming anorexic or bulimic.

It’s very hard to drive by a fast-food restaurant when you’re hungry and it’s cheap and not get anything. It’s hard when you are trying to stay on a diet and a cheeseburger commercial comes on. It’s hard to be comfortable in your own skin when everyone tells you that you have to be a size two. Ever since high school, I’ve been studying these effects and your absolutely right. I believe that we have a certain amount of control, but when you are told over and over and over what you should eat, then you are going to start believing so. I’ve written papers and made speeches about these affects and others that are similar, and I appreciate that your website is here for people to read and to (possibly) come to a conclusion that they may need to change their outlook on where their life is going.

by: matt

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:59:11 +0000

Personally I feel the fact that people respond to a person (revealing their personal views) in a negative manner on a subject is itself an example of negative effects in mass media. It goes back to the age old saying “if dont like what you see or watch, turn it off or change the channel”. I agree with most of what Mr. Hankerson writes. I haven’t had television in my house for 3 years and I dont regret a minute of it. However, I take it further by accepting the negativity of mass media and forming my own perceptions. I may read billboards because honestly some of them are pretty darn cute. It doesnt mean I go into defense mode and turn into a zombie obsessed with the idea to purchase what the billboard is saying. Furthermore, I couldnt care less what the latest entertainment headline is, however I do not think negatively of those who follow the gossip. That is their choice and right.As long as they are not calling me at 3:00 am and telling me what was on celebrity rehab, fitness club or the celebrites latest bathroom visit, I say live and let live. If anything kudos to Mr. Hankerson for having a well written point of view using the negativity of the mass media internet to begin with. I believe its purpose was to invoke an awareness to a different way of thinking. The best way to think outside the box is to turn off the box. My turn to step down from the soapbox.

by: exclusive_female

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:04:30 +0000

Im writing topic about this and I’m university student. Is this credible? I do not have much time so I will appreciate your quick answer. Thanks in Advance

by: Greg Hankerson

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:42:27 +0000

I myself am under the age of 1000, interesting age huh? And it seems you contradict yourself Dr K. Ads have no effect on you, except to make you crave something. That sounds like an effect. And we are what we eat. Watch enough cheeseburgers on TV and you are more likely to eat one. Eat enough cheeseburgers and you become one. But yes, we all have a choice. So make a good one for you.

But my weak arguement isn’t being graded for school, although several people have used it in their college papers and I have 20k hits on this page now. It was just a thought that I expounded on. Thanks for the comment!

by: Dr K

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:00:19 +0000

Funny how your original topic was Negative Influence of Media on Society but you trail off into the issue of obesity… This is a simple fallacy called “Red Herring”, it is where someones starts off with one topic and partway through, the arguer goes off on a tangent, raising up another issue that distracts the audience from what is really at stake. This is a sign of a very weak argument.

This goes torwards the original topic-
People know what kinds of things are on the media: sex, drugs, violence, advertisements, etc. It is the person choice at whether or not they want to see these things. And there is also this amazing thing called Parental Control. For those of you who don’t know what this is then here’s a summary. EVERY television show/movie on TV has ratings, ususally these say V-violence, L-language, SC-sexual content, etc. With Parental Control you can set it to where any TV show with one of these rating is blocked by a password (that you make up). Now, the Parental Control doesn’t have a setting to block advertisements, but I myself am under the age of 18 and can honestly say advertisements have no affect on me. Sure, some of them might make me crave a cheeseburger now and then, but it is MY CHOICE on whether or not I get that cheeseburger. The advertisement in no way whatsoever makes me get that cheeseburger, I make myself get that cheeseburger.
The first person to comment (Erik Kepler) has a good point. Sure the media can be very influencial, but you can easily resist the media. So in my own opinion, I say NO, media does not have a negative influence on society.

by: JL

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:12:30 +0000

This is interesting.

I espeicially liked your conclusion.

I used a bit of it (Conclusion) for my essay,
But i put your credit on it.

That’s fine, right?

I didn’t hand it in yet;
So I can change.

by: Chelsea

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:43:06 +0000

I completely agree with the points made in this article! However, I also believe that music and television even without advertisments is still very influential media. Don’t get me wrong, I do not believe that people should completely cut off television, movies, music, etc. from their lives. I just think that advertisments are not the only form of media.

by: Kreeti Gogia

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:53:20 +0000

I think your post is very apt.It is true that throughout our day we use different media and are highly influenced by it.Well that’s the job of media persons! I’m a first year mass media student myself,so I can identify with what your saying.Well right now im working on a project on ‘Media-Psychology’ and will be using your post as one the case studies.

by: BoB

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:56:14 +0000

Y is u so stoopid?