Profiling the Probability of Media Effects

No matter who you are, the media is going to affect your life in some way, shape, or form as long as you are exposed to it. In James Potter’s book, Media Literacy, I have learned this lesson from an exercise that he advises all readers to conduct. The exercise entails the reader to compose a list of 13 factors that increase the probability of media effectiveness.

For my own reference, I compared how a movie such as Tristan & Isolde, or any love story for that matter, affected my behavioral emotions. I have noticed by completing the exercise that media, especially movies, affect my thought process leading to my behaviors. In movies such as Tristan & Isolde, it is effortless to want to the same emotional connections that the characters in the movie have, particularly when the story seems to coincide with the problems in your own life. I actually found myself making decisions and behaving in ways similar to the movie that I have just recently watched.

If I am personally affected by a movie to this extent, imagine how an impressionable, young teenager may be influenced. Of any age group, teenagers, chiefly females, tend to fantasize most about the perfect relationships and love that will sweep them off of their feet. Therefore, they are going to mock the behaviors and decisions of the characters in their favorite love stories.

After performing this exercise, I realize how impressionable the media can be upon my own life, which makes me realize a few things. First of all, I would like my life with media to become a little less dependent upon the decisions that are made within the media in order to help me make my own. I am terrible at making decisions; in fact I cringe at the thought of making any decisions at all. I never realized until now how much the media really does affect the paths that I take in life. I figure that if it worked in the movies, it might work for me. Most frequently this is not the case at all; however I keep referencing movies in order to attempt to keep my life the way I want it to go. In the years to come, I would definitely like to be less reliant upon the media for my emotional benefit. Second, not only does the media affect me emotionally, but attitudinally is well. My attitudes and opinions are most certainly influenced by the media. The media often times presents situations through a skewed point of view, leaving out important details that may ultimately impinge on the formation of anyone’s opinions, at least I know that this is true in my own personal experiences.

In summation, Potter’s exercise has permitted me to develop a keener sense how the media actually affects my emotional and attitudinal thought processes without me ever being aware of it. It doesn’t matter what age or where you are, the media will always find a way to have an effect on you.