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Audience theory 2: blog task

1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?

I think that media aren't the only cause for people to act violent, but it has an influence on the way that people anti-socialise. With phones and social media we're simply forgetting how to act around people face to face.
Although if it comes to media like video games, I do agree that is has an influence on the violence in society. 

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples. 


Today teenagers on social media are mainly focused on apps like Instagram or Snapchat, where there are a lot of people using the modeling theory. We see all the men and women on social media, with perfect bodies sponsoring a tea or candy to loose weight or have stronger hair, and seeing them use th products makes us buy them.
A lot of young people is playing video games, mostly violent ones. I think that is one of the main concerns in XXI century. Kids aged 5 or 6 watch their older siblings play video games, shooting and stabbing other people. Kids are very vulnerable to influence, they learn how to act around people. It's no surprise that after 5 years of playing violent video games, a 11 year-old boy comes to school with anger issues.

3) Research five examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics?



Backmasking- The adding of subliminal messages in rock music, but recorded backwards, so as to not draw attention to themselves. It was a major moral panic in the late '70s.

Gay Recruitment- The organized effort by the LGBT community to bring in new members through coercion and indoctrination. It became a moral panic in the late '70s, after popular singer Anita Bryant campaigned against a Florida anti-discrimination law by declaring that "homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children."

EbolaThe intentional transmission of the deadly Ebola virus from the dark continent of Africa to unsuspecting white people.

Smoking Weird Stuff- Kids like to get high. And when they can't get their grubby hands on weed or meth, they're rumored to smoke things like fake pot, synthetic drugs like "bath salts," organic human waste, or ground up Smarties. Every year, a new fake drug is pumped up by the media and fretted over by parents.

The War on Christmas- The secular, liberal attempt to destroy Christmas through the banning of religious symbols, prosecution of outwardly practicing Christians, and the removal of anything that makes Christmas anything other than a non-denominational winter holiday.

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society?

The example provided in this article is regulation or censorship. People make others fearful of the Internet and new digital technologies.

5) How does the author suggest that technopanics should be addressed - rather than through government regulation?



6) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online?

I think the government shouldn't regulate anything that we see on media. We see the internet as a reliable source of information and with the influence of the government it wouldn't be possible. Of course They should regulate some of the things, maybe inappropriate for children. 

7) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? 

I think I has some influence, especially on older people watch news on television. Teenagers, who were born in a digital age are quite use to things being exaggerated on the internet.

8) Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? How would you define 'heavy internet use'?  

I think it's definitely a problem. The 'heavy internet' use is a problem that touches mainly people under 30. It's a huge overuse of the internet. People became so dependent of media that some of them forgot how to function normally. 

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