Students are liable to becoming media addicts

Addiction has become a huge part of society. According to Medical News Today, addiction is “habitual psychological or physiologic dependence on a substance or practice that is beyond voluntary control”. Addiction can range from a large variety of objects such as drugs and alcohol to food and television. There are a lot of things that one can become addicted to. All it takes is an obsessive passion for a certain thing and it affects your psychological state, thus controlling the way you go about other things.

             The debate on whether people can become addicted to media has been argued for quite some time. I believe it is possible for people to get addicted to media. For those that argue that one cannot become addicted to media bring up that people are heavily dependent on media as society has migrated to a more technological based culture, thus needing to keep up, they must be heavily involved with the internet. Most people are like this in today’s society and classifying everyone as an addict to the media would be ridiculous. Though there are people that are dependent on media, there is a difference between being dependent or addicted to something. Once a person allows the media to dictate every little thing they do, they have become addicted. If a person has the urge to constantly check their social media applications such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook in unideal situations like during a test or a meeting, that person is a social media addict. That example ties in with the definition of addiction given earlier as they have psychological dependence on social media beyond their control.

I would like to see limits put on the amount of time one spends with media determined by their needs of it. For example, schools should only allow internet access during school for necessary class related assignments. Using my device in class is more helpful in class than distracting because it provides me with additional help to understand certain information in class that is being discussed I’m not quite sure on. If one is disciplined, using devices can be very beneficial and pay of dividends. 

Media Theory & Research

Propaganda, a strategy that is considered highly effective used to influence large masses of people, is widely used to shape public opinions and thoughts. Propaganda can be used through a variety of ways, such as television, the internet, and radio communication. A highly interactive medium like video games cannot have greater effects on media users than a more passive medium such as television. Television has played a large role in influencing a lot of people in our society. Television fuses together all of the 5 senses that humans possess, which allows it to communicate with different types of people with different ways of soaking in information. Video games do the same thing as well but in a limited formatted. Television includes reality and real situation which people can relate to more and connect with. On the other hand, video games are mostly made up of a fantasy world, which makes it harder for people to connect with and leave a great impact on their lives. Television incorporates all the necessary aspects of mass communication. Video games only present the perspectives of one particular situation, whereas television shows a wide variety.  Some people are not able to play video games as it cost a substantial amount. The cost of television compared to video games is far less as new video games cost as much as $60, not including the cost of the console which is in the range of $400-$600. Therefore, it is easier for people to access television and the more access a person has to something, the greater the chances that product will influence the individual. In conclusion, television has shown to have a greater effect on people than video games as there are many studies that prove this statement correct.

Television's association with violence

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