when was tv invented?
• it was only in 1952 that televisions were introduced into Canada, which eventually replaced the radio as the most common household medium. In short, the forms of mass media we see today—namely digital media—are quite new in the history of human evolution.
the media is now a feature of daily life
how does the media operate? Who coined the term mediasphere? why?
the media operates like an atmosphere covering the planet
• John Hartley coined the term mediasphere to highlight the media as
something big enough to cover the plant, coherent enough such that each tiny part may interact with all the others, and small or local enough to affect each individual person.
what audience does mass media? what does media mean?
- Mass media are forms of communication that target large audiences
- the word “media” is plural of the word “medium,” which means a middle layer. In this way, media operates as the middle between producer and consumer of information
forms of old media?
• books, newspapers, magazines, cinema, music, radio, and TV as traditional forms of media
forms of new media?
• modern media technologies as new media. Modern media technologies include the Internet (which has revolutionized the delivery of many traditional forms of media), social networking sites, web apps, YouTube, podcasts, blogs, and smartphones.
what did the telegraph allow for?
- 1837 that the telegraph was invented, and into the 1840s when it was widely used.
- the telegraph allowed for instant communication over long distances. Though the telegraph was not a form of mass media, it did speed up news reporting like its close cousin the telephone, which was invented in 1876 by Canadian Alexander Graham Bell
why was the radio important?
- first form of broadcast radio invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895.
- important invention because it meant that media producers no longer had to physically distribute their products
- nor did consumers have to travel to get information (Croteau, 2008, p. 10). The invention of the radio has also withstood the changing media landscape
why is the television important?
- Introduced in Canada in 1952, by the end of the 1950s the majority of North Americans had a television in their home.
- TV remains the most heavily consumed form of mass media, despite TVs themselves becoming obsolete through the consumption of television online.
phones as a form of media
- 2002, the first Blackberry was introduced, where users could access the Internet, send and receive emails, and text other smartphones
- the Apple iPhone had taken the lion’s share of the market despite other competitors also introducing their version of the smartphone
- are of the market despite other competitors also introducing their version of the smartphone. In the United States, 91% of the population owns a cell phone, and 53% of these phones are smartphones (Croteau, 2008). As your text states, there are 480 million newspapers in daily circulation around the planet and yet “eight times more people subscribe to a mobile network” (p. 123).
why is the internet important?
“the Internet changes everything” (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016, p. 121). As a relatively new addition to the mediasphere, most Canadians spend more time on the Internet than they do in front of a TV. The World Wide Web started in 1990 as a simple user interface that has since changed how we engage in media. One of the biggest changes with the advent of the Internet is that users can now produce (and help produce) the media through such venues as personal websites, blogs, YouTube videos, personal networking sites, and comments sections on online articles. This kind of audience participation was much less possible in the early days of print and broadcast media.
facebook as a form of media
- One of the major changes with the introduction of Facebook (and other social networking sites) is that users could now personalize their online experiences. Now, at least a part of peoples’ online experiences entails social engagement and interaction with friends, family, and other community members.
- As people become more displaced due to changing work demands, social networking sites enable a greater degree of social proximity.
what are youtubes functions
• YouTube has a dual function: it is both a distributor of popular culture (e.g., music videos, commercials, etc.) and a creative outlet for the masses.
what readings of mass media do sociologists differentiate?
• Sociologists differentiate between dominant and critical readings of mass media and emphasize the importance of the latter.
describe a critical focus
a critical focus on the mass media enables us to look beyond common sense assumptions at one of the most omnipresent agents of socialization in contemporary society.
describe a dominant point of view
• A dominant (common sense) understanding of the media is that they simply inform us of the world around us: it introduces us to new products; it operates as a form of entertainment; it offers a variety of viewpoints; and it exists as “window onto the world,” representing an already-existing reality.
what does media shape our opinions on?
media as an agent of socialization that shapes our opinions about particular topics: it can stereotype various groups of people, normalize violence, and promote commercialization and consumption
4 negative (controlling) effects of mass media
• Mass media filters information, sets agendas, centralizes power, and finally, distracts viewers from important social and political issues.
critical socialization of media
- Critical sociological questions of the media include how the media constructs the “truth” of an event, how are we encouraged to care about certain issues over others, and whose interests does the media serve?
- With a variety of media available, many of us may presume that the media also offers a variety of viewpoints
what dis noam chomsky argue about the media
• Media theorist Noam Chomsky (1989) argues that one of the “necessary illusions” of the mass media is that media producers are in competition with one another. While there exists some competition between mediaconglomerates(see text page 127), there isn’t as much competition as they’d have us believe.
media ownership description
• Media ownership in Canada is minuscule in comparison to the centralization of media power in the United States. Your text outlines the “big five” of Canadian television: the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Global, CTV, the French-language networks, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
what is commercialization of culture
theprocess through which brand names and corporate values infiltrate our everyday life
• The commercialization of culture can be seen in a wide range of contemporary examples like billboards on highways, bus shelters, and in bathroom stalls. There is an incessant string of advertisements on the radio and television, in magazines, and onYouTubevideos andFacebookfeeds
when was advertising invented? why?
• Advertising was invented at the end of 19th century (alongside urbanization) to deal with the problem of low consumption, and ultimately, created a culture where personal identity became fused with commodities
what does exposure of ads lead to?
udies have consistently found that an increased exposure to advertising leads to an increase in materialistic values.HovlandandWolburg(2010), for instance, found positive correlations between the number of television watching hours and the importance of having nice things, the importance of high income, the frequency of thinking about finances, the importance of a high paying job, and the acceptability of getting rich even if others are poor. It’s easy to see advertising and consumption as individual
what 3 things is consumer behavior?
onsumerbehaviouris socially embedded, institutionally organized, and enmeshed in complicated relations of power.
• The effects of commercialization areextensive—bothpersonally and politically.
