Posts Tagged: trends

Since I am a history enthusiast on the side, the historical aspects of mass communications intrigued me in this week’s readings.  Only humans use symbols to convey concepts and ideas either through spoken language or written visual imagery.  Early communication records are visual pictures scribbled on walls that depict the world at that time.  Obviously, we are unsure of very primitive spoken language since this was harder to record.  However, we then advanced to written language using symbols that have evolved over time into an alphabet we recognize today.  Symbols were first used either to convey things in the world or ideas and then morphed into representing sounds that could be put together to make words.  In our modern world, there are times when simple images work better to convey a message than written language.  For instance, people across all cultures and languages recognize a figure walking on a yellow street sign but not everyone would understand a word written in a different language.  Ancient techniques still work best when communicating to massive audiences with different backgrounds.

Mass communication is a result of the Industrial Revolution and is considered a more modern development in the history of human interactions.  Although we have had written language dating back thousands of years, large-scale reproduction of these symbols was not possible until the invention of movable type and the printing press (only 500 years ago).  Before this time an audience was relatively small and restricted to geographic location.  Communication earned the term “mass” when ideas were spread quickly by reproductions of written language.

For centuries mass communication was a one-way method from communicator to audience.  With the advancements in new media we are able to receive immediate feedback from an audience, which in turn creates a two-way conversation never before possible in such large masses.  Mass communication was not possible until technologies were developed to reproduce our written (or drawn) works in large quantities for distribution.  Before modern times communication was much more personal. As we use the term mass media today, it refers to communication that is “mediated or enhanced by technology.”

Today, the defining characteristics of mass communication (scale, direction, impersonality/anonymity, simultaneity, transience and audience) need to be rethought from a digital perspective.  There is no one-way flow of information anymore.  Computers blur the number of recipients and the ability to provide feedback as an audience member.  Confusion among researches expanded as they discovered the Internet didn’t fit traditional ideas of mass communication anymore.  We now have to recognize the difference between the sending and receiving of mass messages and those received through interpersonal and small group mediums.

Although communication grew to larger audiences over time thanks to technological advances that spread ideas more quickly, people still learn directly from others.   However, social norms, trends and customs come from the mass media.  Movies and YouTube videos play a role in people’s motivations. Magazines and print paint a metal image of how women see themselves compared to others and what trends are popular for the upcoming season.  Bloggers have brought various subjects or events to the world’s attention and influenced public officials.  It is evident that mass communication not only has an effect on people, but it is also a powerful source of social norms and behavior.