What is Media?

Research is a fundamental part of understanding and evaluating concepts that pertain to all effects or related issues of a certain observed situation. Given that idea, one must look into several outside "sources of error," mainly referring to outside influences. What better outside influence is there than the media? The media consumes us to purchase nonessential items, drives us to make brash decisions, and exposes weaknesses to curb our perspectives.

So if the media influences every part of our lives and "research," why is it considered a limiting factor or outside influence? Why is the media "factor" not simply considered a null constituent such as the force of gravity, considering it is always around? The logic I generated from this relates to the notion that the media affects every person differently, whereas gravity exerts a consistent 9.8 meters per second-squared force. Then how does one measure how the media effects individuals?

The best method proposed for such an undertaking is to group individuals by commonalities, particularly by gender, age, and ethnicity. For my particular "research," I engendered four media-related questions, expressed to four different individuals: two teenagers (one African-American male, one Hispanic female), one white middle-aged woman, and one white female senior citizen. All members featured in this "study" mentioned that they felt the media was anything that displayed or relayed information or entertainment. This included all forms of communication, particularly involving radio, television, billboards, newspapers, and the internet. However, all members felt the media was bias in all aspects, whether pro or con to each individual's politics and ideals, and some went so far as to suggest that the media is the primary instigator in influencing the country's political theme and cultural bias.

For the older members of the study, the media proved not only a means of information relay but also a method of evaluating others opinions and creating one's own based off them. For the teenagers, there was a substantial impact of the media's constant bombardment of information of brand names and "self-images" portrayed on the average teenager. These "images" are some of the most important characteristics of a teenagers life--whether they acknowledge the fact or not--mainly through involvement and belonging. Ultimately, this makes sense. While the two older members used newspapers, pamphlets, and the radio for obtaining information and gaining knowledge, the teenage students mainly used the television and other audio/video materials for entertainment. Again, no surprise, students who continually learn in the classroom need that escape from "work" and utilize the entertainment portion of the media, whereas the adults continue to further their educations through mediums through which they can manipulate.

Conclusively, the "research" I conducted reflected what I already suspected about the media: gender, ethnicity, and especially age is greatly affected by the media. The media is everywhere and anywhere--there really is no escape from it without completely secluding oneself from the rest of humanity. (Unfortunately, with population explosions and resource demands, escaping entirely from humanity may only yield an isolated hut somewhere on Antarctica.) So if the media is always around, why is it such a significant issue? It is through the media that we are ultimately united and definitely divided: the media forces us to choose sides and evaluate opinions of others, causing us to form alliances with groups and enemies against factions. With the media, there is neither middle ground nor a definite side; neither a benefit nor a malignance; as long as free speech is possible, the media will continue to be a free-flowing force that will both impregnate and deplete us with our culture, our history, our ideals, our lives.