Influence of Mass Media on American Culture

Mass media includes technology platforms that are designed to reach a mass
audience. For more than a century, it has been the main means of communication that has
been used to reach large sections of the public. Some of the common mass media platforms
include magazines and newspapers, television, radio, and the internet (Bodroghkozy, 2018).
Mass media has a major social, political, and cultural effect on the general public because
most people rely on mass media platforms for news, entertainment, and information
regarding social, political, and economic issues (Bodroghkozy, 2018). This paper examines
the evolution of mass media over the past century as well as the impact various developments
in that evolution have had on American culture. It will also look at the concept of media
convergence and how it affects people’s everyday lives.

Major Mass Media Developments Over the Last Century

Mass media has greatly evolved over the past century. At the beginning of the last
century, the only mass media platform was print media (newspapers and magazines)
(Bodroghkozy, 2018). The public relied on journalists and writers working for local, regional,
and national newspapers to provide them with the latest news on various events and general
information.
Newspapers remained the only mass media platform until the 1890s when radio was
invented. Radio not only increased the number of people that information could reach but
also significantly increased the speed of the information’s transmission (Bodroghkozy, 2018).
For instance, with newspapers, one could only learn about a given news event many hours or
days after the event’s occurrence. However, with radio, people received news within minutes
of the event’s occurrence.

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The radio was later followed by the television. Unlike the radio, television allowed
information to be presented in both audio and visual form. The television, together with the
radio and newspapers, reigned as the primary mass media platforms until the 1990s when the
internet emerged. As a mass medium, the internet is multifaceted as it contains multiple
communication configurations (Bodroghkozy, 2018). One can read newspapers, listen to
radio, and watch television on the internet. Additionally, the internet has led to the
development of many new media forms. These new media forms include social networking
sites, virtual worlds, podcasts, and blogs (Bodroghkozy, 2018). The new media platforms are
characterized by immediacy and lack of oversight to verify the accuracy of the information or
the information sources.

How Mass Media Developments Influenced American Culture
Culture refers to shared beliefs, attitudes, practices, and values that characterize an
organization or given group (Bodroghkozy, 2018). Throughout the past century, mass media
has had a major influence on American culture. Radio played a major role in popularizing
various forms of music to American audiences. For instance, jazz music became popular
primarily through the influence of radio (Bodroghkozy, 2018).
As television became important in the 1940s and 1950s, it also became a major
cultural influence. For instance, television commercials and programs have been cited as
being major contributors to an increase of materialism (Bodroghkozy, 2018). Additionally,
television, together with films, played a major role in exporting American culture to other
countries. Some people have also argued that television, film, and video games have
promoted gun culture and violence (Bodroghkozy, 2018). The internet, on the other hand, has
democratized tastes with the number of people setting trends in fashion and entertainment

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significantly increasing thanks to platforms, such as YouTube and Instagram. Thus, the
internet has played a major role in America’s cultural fragmentation.
Media Convergence and How It Affects Everyday Life

Media convergence is the process through which technologies that were previously
distinct come to share resources and tasks (Flew & Liu, 2016). For instance, one can use a
smartphone to read a newspaper, listen to radio, and watch television and movies. Media
convergence has led to increased multitasking in everyday life (Flew & Liu, 2016). For
instance, a person may listen to radio while simultaneously read a newspaper article on their
smartphone. Media convergence has also allowed people to receive information in a
convenient manner (Flew & Liu, 2016). With smartphones, one can watch or listen to their
favorite television or radio programs, and read a newspaper from whichever place that they
may be.

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References

Bodroghkozy, A. (Ed.). (2018). A Companion to the History of American Broadcasting. John
Wiley & Sons.
Flew, T., & Liu, B. R. (2016). Media convergence. In Postcolonial Studies Meets Media
Studies: A Critical Encounter (pp. 25-42). Transcript Verlag.