Many people in our society feel that they have become so immune to the media that they no longer realize the actual affect it has on them. Many of them see it as their only way to discovering the world. Meaning that they get to see, hear, and perhaps feel things that they would never feel, had it not been for the media. Hence the expression often used to describe the media, "the window to the world". People feel that they are wise and independent individuals who do not need the influence of media to get through their daily lives. However, they do not realize that every time they make an assumption, a judgment, or a stereotypical remark about someone, they are subconsciously being influenced by the views and norms portrayed through the media. Throughout the body of this essay, and with proof of research, I will prove that the mass media has shaped our society's ideologies, norms and beliefs.
The media has been purposely used for decades to influence people. To tell people what is the right, wrong, good, bad, accepted, rejected, normal, and abnormal ways of behaving based on your gender. For example, the media has created the perfect mother/wife, specifically being the white, middle class, Christian, housewife. Everything about this woman is portrayed as "perfect and normal". When many people are exposed to images like this, their minds slowly began to adapt these ideologies, and soon they start believing that this is the way a woman should be. They start to refuse any other images of woman; because they have not been exposed to it. This affects people of all ages, but it begins with children as soon as they start comprehending what they are seeing on the television. And naturally, when something has been ingrained in a child's head, it just grows deeper and deeper within them as they grow into adults, making it harder to change their perceptions.
There are so many different types of media that we are surrounded by today.
