Mass Media and Me
Yesterday, foreign rebels held hostage an overseas worker. Today, a new girl diva released her top-rating single. Tomorrow, our country may suffer the fate similar to Argentina’s.
These are events that had occurred, are occurring, and can recur in our endless cycle of history, episodes in the daily drama involving both the renowned and the unknown, events that may be remote from our lives as young individuals.
Yes, as youth busy with a lot of things, we are apt to become forgetful of the events taking place in our surroundings. Most of the time, we render ourselves oblivious to these issues as we focused only on our tasks as students the while we luxuriate in the pleasures youth legitimizes for us.
But we can never deny the import of being aware of our society? Of course not!
Thanks to the mass media that brings to our awareness the different forces interacting in the society. Thanks to the mass media that acts as a magnifying glass to show us pictures of life in its very dynamic forms – with its joys and sorrows, triumphs and defeats, abundance and famine. Thanks to the mass media that render us aware, giving us, the youth, images of the remonstrations by militant groups, the inefficiency and dishonesty of some public officials, the deprivations of the poor, the indulgences of the rich – all these as brought to us by televisions, by the commentaries brought to us by radios, and sometimes by the acidic words of columns of newspapers.
Without the mass media, our government could not have negotiated swiftly with the Iraqi rebels that held the life of Angelo dela Cruz in tethers a year ago. We would have lived melancholy lives amidst our sad predicaments if not for our friendly radio and its reverberating sweet music. We could not have started living austere lives if there are no newspapers revealing to us the real state of our nation, and elucidating for us the facts about the continuing deepening fiscal crisis. Mass media imparts to us vital facts that are requisite for our physical and social survival, through reliable and up-to-date news and reminders. Mass media, in ways, provides readers, viewers, and listeners resorts for relaxation, meditation, and learning, through lifestyle columns, educational shows, and even soap operas. Mass media relays to us sentiments and prognostications.
These things, in addition to an endless list of victories and defeats, of celebrations and tribulations, come to invade our consciousness, stirring us from our deep slumber, indifference and insensitivity as it calls us to action against the ills that plague humanity. Yes, thanks to the wide-seeing cameras, the sensitive recorders, the mighty pens!
However, amidst the benefits that the power of mass media effect on us youth, we, young people, must also be wary of the fact that it can harm us. It is disheartening to learn that based on recent statistics, an average child sees 12,000 violent acts on television annually, that 75% of the music videos played on TV contain sexually explicit materials, while commercials for healthy food make up only 4% of the food advertisements shown during children’s viewing time. The mass media that exposes us to pleasant realities also displays the atrocities and immoralities that a large portion of mankind upholds. How this monstrous giant can invade our consciousness and influence our behavior is beyond the ken of young persons like us.
This is not what mass media should be. Being the powerful ubiquitous instrument that shapes young people’s mind in particular, mass media should be a channel of truth, the voice of the people, a catalyst for change and progress. But with the sad truth that it is not always what we want it to be, young people like you and me must be able to tame this monstrosity. By being selective and prudent in the use of this tool, we will gather the benefits that we rightly deserve from so great an influence in our life.
Nonetheless, as a Filipino youth, I call our parents, teachers, and elders to expose us to mass media that promotes not a culture of death but a culture of life. I wish you would provide us your guidance, give us your attention, and protect us from the harm that violence and sex on television can do. If your positions warrant authority, allow not savagery and malice to pervade movies and television shows. Put your foot down on malevolence of public role models. Create the yardsticks that will limit us from being exposed to such wickedness. Teach us to search for abundant but noble sources of information and opinion. This is my plea, for I still believe in the powers, goodness, and life-changing effect of this gift of the modern times, the mass media.
Being a child of the twenty first century, I feel blessed because of mass media that exposes me to the realities that human life faces today. I have always been guided by the lessons imparted by the educational and informative TV shows that I used to watch nightly, freshened by the latest updates on our society’s daily bustles emanating from my radio, and edified by the sentiments espoused by the editorial pages of newspapers. I am grateful for the advanced technology that arms my growing up and intellectual formation. As I scan the horizons spread before me, I know I can push my frontiers in confidence because mass media will always be my reliable aid. As it is, so it will be – mass media and me.
These are events that had occurred, are occurring, and can recur in our endless cycle of history, episodes in the daily drama involving both the renowned and the unknown, events that may be remote from our lives as young individuals.
Yes, as youth busy with a lot of things, we are apt to become forgetful of the events taking place in our surroundings. Most of the time, we render ourselves oblivious to these issues as we focused only on our tasks as students the while we luxuriate in the pleasures youth legitimizes for us.
But we can never deny the import of being aware of our society? Of course not!
Thanks to the mass media that brings to our awareness the different forces interacting in the society. Thanks to the mass media that acts as a magnifying glass to show us pictures of life in its very dynamic forms – with its joys and sorrows, triumphs and defeats, abundance and famine. Thanks to the mass media that render us aware, giving us, the youth, images of the remonstrations by militant groups, the inefficiency and dishonesty of some public officials, the deprivations of the poor, the indulgences of the rich – all these as brought to us by televisions, by the commentaries brought to us by radios, and sometimes by the acidic words of columns of newspapers.
Without the mass media, our government could not have negotiated swiftly with the Iraqi rebels that held the life of Angelo dela Cruz in tethers a year ago. We would have lived melancholy lives amidst our sad predicaments if not for our friendly radio and its reverberating sweet music. We could not have started living austere lives if there are no newspapers revealing to us the real state of our nation, and elucidating for us the facts about the continuing deepening fiscal crisis. Mass media imparts to us vital facts that are requisite for our physical and social survival, through reliable and up-to-date news and reminders. Mass media, in ways, provides readers, viewers, and listeners resorts for relaxation, meditation, and learning, through lifestyle columns, educational shows, and even soap operas. Mass media relays to us sentiments and prognostications.
These things, in addition to an endless list of victories and defeats, of celebrations and tribulations, come to invade our consciousness, stirring us from our deep slumber, indifference and insensitivity as it calls us to action against the ills that plague humanity. Yes, thanks to the wide-seeing cameras, the sensitive recorders, the mighty pens!
However, amidst the benefits that the power of mass media effect on us youth, we, young people, must also be wary of the fact that it can harm us. It is disheartening to learn that based on recent statistics, an average child sees 12,000 violent acts on television annually, that 75% of the music videos played on TV contain sexually explicit materials, while commercials for healthy food make up only 4% of the food advertisements shown during children’s viewing time. The mass media that exposes us to pleasant realities also displays the atrocities and immoralities that a large portion of mankind upholds. How this monstrous giant can invade our consciousness and influence our behavior is beyond the ken of young persons like us.
This is not what mass media should be. Being the powerful ubiquitous instrument that shapes young people’s mind in particular, mass media should be a channel of truth, the voice of the people, a catalyst for change and progress. But with the sad truth that it is not always what we want it to be, young people like you and me must be able to tame this monstrosity. By being selective and prudent in the use of this tool, we will gather the benefits that we rightly deserve from so great an influence in our life.
Nonetheless, as a Filipino youth, I call our parents, teachers, and elders to expose us to mass media that promotes not a culture of death but a culture of life. I wish you would provide us your guidance, give us your attention, and protect us from the harm that violence and sex on television can do. If your positions warrant authority, allow not savagery and malice to pervade movies and television shows. Put your foot down on malevolence of public role models. Create the yardsticks that will limit us from being exposed to such wickedness. Teach us to search for abundant but noble sources of information and opinion. This is my plea, for I still believe in the powers, goodness, and life-changing effect of this gift of the modern times, the mass media.
Being a child of the twenty first century, I feel blessed because of mass media that exposes me to the realities that human life faces today. I have always been guided by the lessons imparted by the educational and informative TV shows that I used to watch nightly, freshened by the latest updates on our society’s daily bustles emanating from my radio, and edified by the sentiments espoused by the editorial pages of newspapers. I am grateful for the advanced technology that arms my growing up and intellectual formation. As I scan the horizons spread before me, I know I can push my frontiers in confidence because mass media will always be my reliable aid. As it is, so it will be – mass media and me.
posted by Renzo Guinto at
5:47 AM
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