Mass Media — Shaping Opinions Of The Young People

The variety of media exposure that the youth of today has in the form of television, movies, music, videos and video games, and the Internet — has a profound influence on their views of themselves and the world around them. While media offers them many opportunities to learn and be entertained, some media images and messages have been linked to health concerns such as aggressive behaviour, substance abuse, poor nutrition, obesity, unhealthybody image, risky sexual behaviour and media dependency.

There are positive influences in the form of sports and community service. If a particular sport is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among the peer group of the youth, they will more likely want to practice the sport and be accepted with the “in” group. The result is that while they have fun, they also develop a respect for the sport and enjoy the benefits of good health. However, a negative influence on teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, the constant exposure to sex images, the excessive images of violence and the exposure to thousands of junk food ads.

The media has a huge impact on society and also in shaping the opinions of our youth. They can shape the public opinion in different ways depending on what the objective is. For example, after the attacks of 26/11 the media gave a huge coverage of the event and exposed the guilty. This shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism and also highlighted the role of the common citizen. The problem is that if media received or projected wrong information then the public opinion supported a wrong cause or was swayed in favour of the wrong, this is the power that the mass media wields on opinion formation.