Television, Cell phones, and other media have intertwined with our everyday life. I found the video we watched in class on Monday very interesting and its focus on the mean world syndrome that media has instilled with us. Mean world syndrome is the idea that the more negative information and news that you are shown and influenced by the more dangerous you will the world is, and on a personal level, the more likely you may think that you have the chance of becoming a victim. To expand from this it has been found that the more you feel as though you will be victimized the more likely you will be (a self-fulfilling prophecy). Gerber expressed that the more television that you watched (the more media you were exposed to), the more paranoid and fearful you may become; the cultivation theory. What is most fascinating about this theory is that even though the crime rate is shrinking drastically, the majority of people believe that it is increasing and that there is a higher chance of the day to day violence.

Something else that I found very interesting was the idea that we are all born into a mediated environment. We have all constantly been exposed to media since the time that we were born, there is no “before” for us, especially our generation, just “now” the media current effects on each individual, the only thing we have to compare is comparing each others screen usage.

In the chapter we read this week we focus on ethics, what the media deems right and wrong, as well as who decides. It appears to be that it is the media’s “responsibility” to inform the general public of what is going on in our world. As the book pointed out, and I agree, I think the harshest consequence to a journalist or broadcaster is the public opinion. If the public finds out that you lied or shared an extended truth, it is your reputation and company that will get hurt, less than the consumers who will most likely stop watching or trusting that specific source.

While each is entitled to their freedom and speech, professional codes often enforce or simply recommend not misrepresenting information to their consumers.  We all have grown up hearing “not everything you hear or see on the internet is true”, while this has been preached to us from a young age I think that false information can still be quite harmful to those who may be easily persuaded, something we all may be prone to at times.

-Grace Hanlon