Brainwashed by the Media.

The media has become a daily part of our life. Checking Facebook or twitter every minute to make sure you haven’t missed one tiny bit of gossip, getting home from school and instantly grabbing your phone or even staying up past midnight scrolling through Tumblr. Have you ever wondered while you are scrolling through the internet or reading magazines what it really does to you? It only takes one click of a button and we are surfing the internet on a device that is brainwashing us into believing a load of rubbish about the world we live in today. The media has been specifically designed to trick us into thinking differently about our nation, our world, our people and even ourselves.

The media has changed the way we view individuals.We pick out the tiniest flaws of other people and judge them on it; whether it is to there face or behind there backs.Teenagers are afraid of going to school because of what their pairs may say “She’s not pretty enough.”, “He looks like a freak.”,“What is she wearing?”. Without the picture perfect model material people that are plastered all over daily magazines and the latest websites we wouldn't be judging one another by their appearances or actions.  

Cyber-bullying has slowly been developed by the media. Both Ask F.M and Tumblr allow anonymous comments to be sent to one another, it was first created to leave a nice comment here and there but over the years has progressively changed by its users into disrespectful comments. There once was a quote on Tumblr ‘Anonymous hate hurts us because when we read it, we don’t hear the attacker’s voice, we hear our own.’  People have been so caught up in the media that they think they are living a fantasy, they can not see the emotion in the victim's face, they assume what they say doesn't affect others in any way. Are internet users even capable to distinguish right from wrong now days.

The media also affects young children, according to www.camillecopper.com the average amount of time that children of the age 3-13 spend watching TV a week  is 21 hours; by the time they graduate they have spent more time watching TV than in a class room. Children these days are being exposed to things that are not suitable for their age; they are being influenced to do things or act a certain way but are too young to figure out if it is wrong. They become wrapped up in their own world, slowly cutting out what a normal child should be doing because of all the technology advancements, this ends up affecting them in the long run.

There is no doubt in my mind that the media affects us all in a negative way. Have you ever judged someone because they don’t look as perfect as a model you saw on T.V, have you ever bullied someone because you thought you were ‘cool’ or following the ‘trend’ or have you ever spent a whole day watching TV and playing video games. Media is changing our outlook on life, it is slowly changing the dynamics of society for the worse. Why are we letting it? If we can stop it why don’t we?

Naomi Munro