LO6 Media effects negative effects and active audience theory

 There are many different media effects created via the use of media products. For example there is the effect from different media products, there are many theories that have been thought off for example there is the active audience theory, this is when people use media for escapism, surveillance, building personal relationships and also building personal identity. These methods that the human race use in media is for their own person reasons meaning they are able to recognise the difference between reality and a fantasy, this theory was discovered in 1972 by Denis McQuail. There is also the theory that Stuart Hall discovered in 1980, his theory was the encoding/ decoding model, this was then broken down to preferred reading, negotiated reading and also the oppositional reading. These are all examples of the active audience theory, there is also the the passive audience theory, this includes the hypodermic syringe discovered by Adorno and Horkheimer in 1947. I personally do not believe media to have the violent effect on certain people as people state there to be. 

The media effects is an outdated concept for there has been developments in why media is used and the different types of media that is used. This relates to the active theory uses and gratification theory, this is when the media is used for people’s personal reasons and that they are able to recognise reality to fantasy. This theory is related to the idea of media being used for escapism, surveillance, building personal relationship and even building an identity. Media’s like Call Of Duty, News channels i.e. BBC News another media product would be Instagram that is highly common at the moment to use. This theory implies the idea that the view on media has changed or needs to for it can be highly positive for people’s lives for some people can start business over the media platforms and some may use it to release stress and any rage they have from their days. They can do this throw video games and talking to friend online (especially in the present day with COVID-19 and lockdown making seeing people difficult). The statistics of media have as higher negative effect then a positive effect is highly outdated and was discovered when the media was in its highest peek of first released. 

Another active theory that states the statement would be the encoding and decoding theory. This is when the audience takes different readings based on their personal upbringing, culture, political stand points. There are 3 positions the audience may take on a media product being preferred reading, negotiated reading and then the oppositional reading. Proffered reading is when the audience generally accept the dominant viewpoint of the story and agree with the story line. However, the negotiated reading is when the ideology (allows the value of the media product) of producers messages is agreed with in general, although the message is renegotiated or picked apart by the audience and they may disagree with certain aspects of the media product. The last reading is the oppositional reading, this contains the idea where the producers message is understood, but the audience with the ideology perspective in every aspect. For example with one of  The Sun’s products about Muslims being dangerous the preferred reading is that the muslim religion would feel offended and it is shown that the British are dangerous to the religion. The negotiated reading is that people think it is bad to portray muslims in that way because not all are like that, and finally the oppositional reading is that muslims will feel offended with the title and see that it is only the papers that portray this sighting and use these specific offensive words. 

One more active theory that shows that the media effects debate is outdated is the fandom theory, this is an amazing way for fans or other uses the express their feelings and opinions on media products and ask any questions the the creator of the product. For example, a very popular app at the moment would be TikTok, this is an app where u can create content, follow other people, like, comment, follow, go live, share and duet people’s post and give your opinion on them and how you feel about them. This is also a media platform where people can make friends and find people that may not live near them but they connect with and make them feel involved and appreciated for what they do. This app can also be used as an escape mechanism for people if they want to just ignore their lives for a while and find interesting content hat interests them. 

On the other hand there are theories that go against the theory and believe that there is more negative impacts then positive impacts on the audience. For example the hypodermic theory discovered by Adorno and Horkheimer in 1947, this theory is that media products have an negative impact on people for the media can be highly powerful and can influence people in a negative way and can make some people fulfil crimes. An example of this is through this article https://www.cleancutmedia.com/news/teenager-kills-mother-shoots-father-over-halo-3 where a teenager kills his parents from not being able to play a video game called Halo. This theory does not support the statement and shows it to support the idea that media can have negatives impacts. 

Another theory that is against the statement would be the cultivation theory, this is was discovered by Gross and Gerbner, 1976 stating the fact that if violence is shown and incorporated into teenagers lives via video games and movies then violence will be normalised to them. This is an negative impact for then some children may grow up and become violent towards people and commit crimes towards people trying to recreate the, and become copycats. An example of this happening would be when someone tried to copy the Child’s Play 3 movie (https://www.newsweek.com/nine-horrible-real-life-crimes-were-inspired-movie-or-novel-583828).

The last theory that disagrees with this statement would be the desensitisation theory, this is when the audience becomes used to graphic and violent images owing to satirisation in the media. This is a negative impact on younger people’s mental health for some people may feel trapped and may get the idea that the world is a horrible place to be for they may only see the negative side to world instead of all its great qualities. This can further progress to them wanting to possibly commit suicide, isolate themselves and even harm themselves to make themselves feel in control. This is because somethings the media doesn’t show the positives in the world and only shows the negatives creating the negative image. 

In my opinion I do not believe the media is as haunting and negative as people may believe, I do agree there is negative impacts of the media but there is also many positives of the media. For example there is the positive impact that people can be influenced to do better in life and people can feel at home and at ease with people for you can pursue yourself to be someone you may be too afraid to be in real life. This can be dangerous for some people for there are catfish people who lie about their identity, but it can also be a coping mechanism for some people to be able to pursue themselves to be happy and do crazy fun things when in reality they are suffering and finding it hard to cope. From the comments and likes some people may get would make them gain confidence and feel important to the world and make them feel like they have a place and people care about them. I believe the media can be horrible but it can also be highly magical and work miracles.