Our Media and the Immorality Explosion
| Subject: | 📡 Media |
| Type: | Informative Essay |
| Pages: | 6 |
| Word count: | 1670 |
| Topics: | 🤳 Social Media, Internet, Pornography, ⏳ Social Issues, 🟡 Morality |
essay ASAP?
Table of Contents
Introduction
Morality in the society has been an interesting topic over the years. It is important to have good morals where people are disciplined and respect the values of other people. However, there has been a decline in the moral standards in the society. This is because there is more violence and sexual immorality, and general lack of respect for other people. The media, which propagates such behavior by exposing people to violent behavior, sexual content and bad language use, has been blamed for the explosion of immorality in the society. There is some truth to these accusations because allowing immoral conduct in the media encourages people to imitate what they observe. On the other hand, there are views that completely disagree with the notion that media influences the behavior of the society. The counter argument states that the society was immoral long before the emergence of the media and people should focus on the underlying issues of the morality in the society. The media is seen as a reflection of the society rather than what influences it. Nonetheless, there are various researches that show the modern media is a major contributor to immorality. Illustrating this point is Zakari Rajaatu from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri, in an article on the People’s Daily titled Electronic media and moral decadence in our society. One of the major public health concerns in the United States is the sexual risk behavior among the youth, particularly the adolescents. As the internet connections advanced, people diversified its use from searching for information to entertainment activities. The rise of civilization led to a lack of morality in the society. Hence, people started expressing their sexual desires in this media. However, the society members are disagreeing that there are immorality activities happening in the media.
Definition of key Terms
- Media refers to the communication outlets, while mass media is the communication technology with the intention of reaching a mass audience.
- Morality refers to principles that distinguish between good and bad behavior.
- Immorality explosion is the quick emergence of evil and bad conduct of lack of good behavior.
- Internet is the international computer network offering various communication facilities through interconnected networks.
- Thesis: There is a rise in immorality explosion in our society today highly contributed by modern media.
Body
Aspect of Immorality Explosion in our Media
Media refers to the medium in which information is transmitted to the public that comprises of radio, television, books, newspapers, magazines, and video games. The internet is also a recent addition to the media, and recent developments in technology have made it a popular medium of communication for the public (Yuechun 63). The media has been a good source of information for many, and many people have benefited from its abundance of information. Apart from information, the media is also a source of entertainment in the form of films and a source of education in the various education programming. The media is an integral part of the society because it influences the thoughts, perception, and development of people (Yuechun 63-64). There is so much trust placed on the media that people believe the news it presents. In the same line, the content in the media has the ability to influence one’s behavior.
The media is a powerful tool, widely acceptable as a means to communicate and educate, and as such, it is a powerful tool in derailing the morality in the society. Television among many things is a source of entertainment, but to the developing minds of children, it can have negative effects (Zakari). There are many programs in television that continuously expose people to images of violence, images of sexual immorality and vulgar language. With this in mind, it is alarming to imagine the excess amount of time children sit in front of the television and their unmonitored activity on the internet. Children learn from their environment where they imitate what they see (Elizabeth 152). The violence, bad language, and sexual immorality accessible on the media negatively affect the children. Consequently, they will imitate what they absorb from the media through childhood to their adult life.
The media does not force anyone to do anything, but the truth is that it has the ability to manipulate and victimize an unsuspecting mind. In the contemporary world, there is increased usage of the internet. Mass media enhances the access to diverse information including pornography and other immoral pictures and videos (Florescu 352). The youth have the increased desire of watching and committing illegal acts through the online forums. Carolyn Bronstein, an Associate Professor of Media Studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University, suggests that the new entertainment industry dominated by pornography, and an action need to be taken to safeguard the youth (608). She suggests that people need to take a step back to look at the unacceptable behavior deposited by the media into the society and stand up against it.
Immorality in the media has now become the norm and one can argue that the society has tolerable to it. Violence can be found across all platforms of the media, and one can find it in cartoons, sitcoms, and sports (Elizabeth 127). There is no escaping the negative message that is propagated by the media, and it means that anyone that engages with it is susceptible to negative influence. There is an obsession with violence by the society that has resulted in a media that is driven by violent images, programming, violent language, and violent video games.
Major causes of the issue
Some of the main contributors to this issue include; the wide internet connections in the various social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, increased application of the mass media, privacy and freedom that enables people to post sexual messages, pictures, and videos in online forums such as the reality television and community’s lack of interest in social interaction and improved concentration in the modern media.
Points of view
(Against)
The negative effects of the media on morality is a notion that is opposed by a significant number of people in the society. Violence and sexual immorality, for instance, have been there for a long time before the development of the media. Immorality in the society can be attributed to a myriad of factors, but there are people that use the media as a scapegoat instead of investigating the underlying reasons (Elizabeth 211). Poor upbringing is an example of the immorality envisioned in the society. Children that do not understand the difference between what is right and what is wrong develop into adults without moral direction (Yuechun 64). One that is taught the importance of discipline, patience, obedience, hard work, and respect would not be influenced by the negative aspects of the media. Thus, the content of immoral behavior in the media would be identified as a bad example instead of something that should be emulated. There are many benefits that the media offers the society. Civilization and enhanced freedom through the internet lead to the development and more of positive changes in the society (Yuechun 64). The society uses mass media to learn more about moral issues (Ibrahim 218). Television and another medium of communication are popular media that are helpful to the internet economy (Yuechun 65). Information is a powerful tool that is presented by the media, and what is required is training to identify what to aspire to and what to shun.
(For/ agree with)
It is vital for the sake of direction the society is going to take to recognize the negative effects of media. Some of the points that support the idea that immorality exhibited in the media is a bad influence on the society state that:
- Because of the instant access to information and news through the modern media, people are able to access negative and immoral information (Florescu 352). Because of the wide usage of the internet, there is a big aspect of pornography (Bronstein, 2011).
- Despite the major impact of pornography in the business venture, children in the contemporary society are brought up in a rampant immoral society (Florescu 350).
- The presence of love organizations on the internet empowers the commitment of illegal acts, which makes the society to fall in undesirable exposure to images of naked people and pornography videos (Florescu, 352).
- There are different sexual exploits from the modern media including the television, which have programs with sexual acts (Bronstein, 2011).
Conclusion
Because of the increased usage of the internet and online forums, the modern society is highly exposed to immoral information. The present internet industry generates false reality, which deceives young people in the modern society to adapt more practices of immorality. It is necessary to select the information to be accessible to the certain audience, but not exposing all the immoral information to the entire society since this affects the young population. This research is important in helping the society realize that not everything offered by the modern media is efficient to watch, read, or view. There is a rise in immorality explosion in the modern media, and more research needs to be done in the future regarding this issue. The arguments about the positivity in the information accessed through the online forum are not efficient and people should focus on improving morality in the society to avoid the likely negative impact on the future generations.
- Bronstein, Carolyn. Battling pornography: The American feminist anti-pornography movement, 1976–1986. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
- Elizabeth, Perse. Media Effects and Society. Taylor & Francis, 2001.
- Florescu, Oroles. “Positive and Negative Influences of the Mass Media upon Education.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 149 (2014): 349-353.
- Ibrahim, Yasmin. “Self-representation and the disaster event: self-imaging, morality and Immortality.” Journal of Media Practice, 16.3 (2015): 211-227.
- Yuechun, D. I. A. O. “Brief Analysis of College Students’ Morality Situation in the New Media Time.” Studies in Sociology of Science, 6.3 (2015): 63-66.
- Zakari, Rajaatu. “Electronic media and moral decadence in our society.” People’s Daily.
Offered for reference purposes only.