The Influence of News and Mass Media on Society Daily Behaviour and Lifestyle

The Influence of News and Mass Media on Society Daily Behaviour and Lifestyle

Kholida Hirziana Rusnaleli

STKIP Muhammadiyah Bogor

Introduction

 In this modern era, news and mass media have been becoming the important aspect of all society life around the world. news spreads very quickly. If in ancient times news was only found in print media in the form of paper such as newspapers or magazines, now the news has undergone many changes and developments.

 People can easily access news anywhere and anytime. News is readily available in online media. Even the news printed in newspapers is now starting to be rarely used or read by the public. There are many reasons why online news is more popular than the news presented in conventional newspapers or magazines, one of which is because the news presented on online media is easier and more practical to access, does not require a lot of paper to produce it, and also news will always be accessible. News updated quickly to the public. With the news in the online media, it can also be consumed by the wider community from various circles, freely, easily and affordably.

 According to Eric C. Hepwood, the news is the first report of significant events that can attract public attention. It is right because news can easily attract the reader, because naturally people’s always want to know about something and update their knowledge about what is happening around the world. Through the news we can get so many important and fresh information every day. But news not only provide society the information, but also it can affect or influence society daily behaviour.

 While Mass media means technology that is intended to reach a mass audience. It is the primary means of communication used to reach the vast majority of the general public. The most common platforms for mass media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet.the media and its influential effect on the masses have increased exponentially in the past five decades. Initially, the news and media channels were limited to the telegraph. The technological inventions then found many channels to spread the news to the masses such as the radio, newspapers, magazines, television, websites, and now mobile applications as well.

The mass media have become an inseparable part of society and the lives of citizens and that’s why it is necessary to understand the mass media influence on people. From economy to entertainment and from politics to beauty, everything is now influenced by mass media.

Literature Review

According to the latest research, news can shape society behaviour in a surprising way. Crucially, just a few hours each day reading a news can have an impact far beyond what anyone might expect. News does present a lot of new information every day, that's why the information that enters people's minds will always be updated every day. Indirectly all the information presented by the news can change behavior in daily life and also people's lifestyles. news not only presents information about current events, political issues, or socio-economics, but also presents many other things. For example, news about celebrities and their daily lifestyles, also presents the latest trends that are being loved by many people in several parts of the world. This of course will greatly affect the thinking and also the lifestyle of the community. People will tend to follow the lifestyle of their favorite celebrity. ranging from hairstyles, clothing, to the style of speaking, or acting.

In addition, the news about the corona virus lately has also changed many things. The thing that has changed the most due to this news is that people's lifestyles tend to be healthier and more hygienic. People started flocking to buy antiseptics, soaps, hand sanitizers, and masks. In addition, the community has also begun to implement strict health protocols to prevent further spread of transmission.

The role of news is so strong in changing people's behavior, so it is very necessary to have self-control for all people and supervision for minors in consuming or receiving news so that there will be no negative effects in the future.

While for mass media In the last half century or so, the mass media and its influence on the societies, has grown rapidly with the advance of technology. Software to build website has become a necessary thing in this world.

First there was the telegraph and the post offices, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television  and now the internet and the new media including cell phones etc. There are positive and  negative influences of mass media, which we must understand as a responsible person of a society.

Before discussing the influence of mass media on society it is important to explain the three basic  functions of mass media; they are providing news or information, entertainment and education. The  first and foremost function of the media in a society is to provide news and information to the masses,  that is the reason why the present era is some time termed as the information age as well.

People need news or information for so many reasons, for example it can be used to socialize and on the  other to decide the decisions and give opinions. Entertainment is the other function of the  mass media where it is mostly used to amuse society in present day busy and crowded environment.  Educating the society about their rights, moral, social and religious obligations is another important    function of mass media, which needs no emphasis.

In this globalization era, majority of people in the society depends on information and  communication, so that they can stay connected with the world and do their daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, socialization, travelling and anything else that society have to do.

Society nowadays usually wakes up in the morning checks the phone, internet, social media tv news or newspaper, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eats with their family or peers when it is possible and makes his decisions based on the information that he has either from their co workers, Tv news, friends, family, financial reports, and so on. society need to be conscious of the reality that most of their decisions, beliefs and values are based on what they know for a fact, their thoughts and their experiences. In the work environment usually people know what they sholud do, according to their experience and studies, however on the daily routine life and house hold chores people mostly rely on the mass media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what they should know.

Society have put their trust on the media as an authority to give them information, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on thei children, adolescent and society is so big that society should know how it really works. The media earns billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that society are exposed to, every single day. Society buy what they are told to purchase by the media. After seeing so many advertisement they make society’s buying decisions based on what society saw on internet, tv, newspapers or magazines. These are the influence of mass media especially in adolescents, they buy what they see on internet and tv, what their favorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media has imposed on them.

There are some positive and negative influences in young generation of the society because of these advertisement campaigns in the media. Here is a positive influence example, if there is a quiz show on education that is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among society, people will more likely want to actively participate and watch these quiz shows. These activities are good for the society and will promote literary activities in the youth. However a negative influence in adolescents is the use of celebrity movie stars popularity, the constant exposure of which would seduce the adolescents to copy the same behavior in the real life.

When society watch tv or a action movie they usually see many images of violence and people hurting others. The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially for the children as they see it over and over. The children that are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of distinction between reality and fiction. Another problem is that real war is used as a form of entertainment by the media, society should make their children realize that war is not a form of entertainment and there is no win or lose like in video games, in real war everyone lose.

Adolescents are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their environment, they want to be loved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of beautiful men and women with all the ingredients of a successful person, that society can see in internet, movies and tv. It’s a subliminal way to persuade the masses that if society want to be successful and look like them then people should buy that specific brand or product. Another negative influence in adolescents, especially in the USA, that has grown over the last years is obesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideal image of a successful person is told to be thin and wealthy.

The media has a big impact on society in shaping the public opinion of the society. They can form or modify the public opinion in different ways depending of what is the objective. For example, Media at the present influenced the public about how important to wear a mask when corona virus pandemic. The media told society to keep the distance and life with strict health protocol during the pandemic.

Conclusion 

 News and mass media have a very important role for people around the world, especially in modern times and globalization as it is today. all humans today, can easily find and read news via the internet, so that events that occur in one place can be easily known by other people in any hemisphere. This convenience, of course, greatly affects people's lives, one of which can affect people's lifestyles and behavior. news and mass media do seem like something simple and do not have any impact, but if you look more closely, it turns out that news and mass media play a big role in changing habits, behavior, and human lifestyles in this day and age. People of all ages can be affected by news and mass media. but the people who are most affected are teenagers, who are always in touch with cellphones and the internet every day. news and mass media presents a lot of news, articles, and videos about the lives of celebrities, the latest trends, to health and political issues. With the news, people will easily imitate what their favorite celebrities use, so that it affects them in terms of dressing, style, or even behavior in everyday life.

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