Do We Seek Information or Life's Meaning in Our Media?
For decades, media experts have studied the communication process and mass media from the point of view of "media effects." This model views the communications message the same way we think of transportation: a message travels from a source to a receiver (from the TV to audiences). The message received might be different from the message sent because the receiver brings all kinds of personal biases to the media reception. Media people thought of this interference as static because it got in the way of the message.
Some imaginative media experts even spoke of the "hyperdermic needle theory. " Audiences were injected with messages the way we got our vaccinations or flu shots.
A new view of all this is emerging, however, largely due to the growing academic and professional interest in the field of popular culture. As we learn more about anthropology and previous cultures, we are becoming more aware of the potent meaning and impact of the culture of our day. And today's culture is obviously permeated by media -- more thoroughly than those of the past.
We now have young adults and parents (and a U.S. President) who have never known a world without television. Have they simply been injected by a media dose, or have they constructed the meaning in their world by interacting with video stories?
Some experts now believe that we construct the reality of our lives, the meaning of our world-view, by interacting with media stories. Just as previous generations have grown up to fairy tales (which helped them relate to their developing view of reality), people are now constructing their reality by relating to video stories: fictional TV stories, news stories, and advertising stories (which are known as commercials).
In other words, TV sets -- and increasingly it will be computer screens carrying video — are the new fireplace we gather around to hear, see (and experience) stories, and this interaction helps us create our world-view.
This newer view of the communication and mass media process stresses interactivity — two-way communication. While passive "couch potatoes" do exist, it's probably true that most viewers are actively engaging with the stories and constructing their own personal understanding of reality in the light of them. (One is reminded of the power of the parable in Scripture; people altered their lives as these stories changed reality's meaning for hearers).
What does all this mean for parents, teachers, leaders? It means that all media forums are potent: TV networks, but also advertising, MTV, telephones, computers.