why i choose mass communication essay

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Essay on why i choose to study mass communication?

In this day and age, it is more important than ever to be well-informed. With the advent of social media, anyone can share their opinion on any topic with a large audience. However, it is not enough to simply have an opinion – one must be able to back up their claims with evidence. This is where mass communication comes in.

The importance of mass communication

In a world that is increasingly reliant on technology, it is more important than ever to study mass communication. With the ability to connect with people all over the globe, mass communication is a powerful tool that can be used for good or for bad.

As someone who is interested in pursuing a career in mass communication, I believe that it is important to understand the impact that this field can have. While there are many positive aspects to mass communication, there are also some negative ones that should be taken into consideration.

By studying mass communication, I hope to gain a better understanding of how this field works and how it can be used to improve the world we live in.

The benefits of studying mass communication

In today’s world, mass communication is more important than ever before. With the advent of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, the ability to communicate effectively has become a critical skill.

Studying mass communication can give you the ability to understand and analyze the ever-changing landscape of the media. It can also help you develop the skills necessary to communicate effectively in a variety of settings.

Whether you want to work in television, radio, print media, or new media, a degree in mass communication can give you the foundation you need to succeed.

The different types of mass communication

There are many different types of mass communication, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of the most common:

1. Television: Television is one of the most popular forms of mass communication, reaching millions of people around the world. It is an effective way to communicate messages, but can be expensive to produce.

2. Radio: Radio is another popular form of mass communication, especially in developing countries. It is a relatively cheap and easy way to reach large audiences, but can be limited by its range.

3. Print media: Print media includes newspapers, magazines, and books. It is a relatively slow way to reach people compared to other forms of mass communication, but can be very effective in communicating detailed information.

4. Internet: The internet has revolutionized mass communication, providing a fast and easy way to reach people all over the world. It is a great tool for sharing information and ideas, but can be overwhelming due to the sheer amount of information available.

Mass communication in the real world

It is said that mass communication is the study of how people communicate with large groups of people. This can be done through different mediums such as television, radio, movies, the internet, and more. There are many reasons why someone might choose to study mass communication.

For one, mass communication is a very powerful tool. It can be used to influence the way people think and act. It can also be used to persuade people to buy products or services. Additionally, mass communication can be used to educate people about important issues.

Another reason to study mass communication is that it can be a very exciting field. There are always new technologies and mediums being developed that make the field of mass communication ever-changing and dynamic. Additionally, mass communication offers many opportunities for creativity and self-expression.

So, if you’re interested in a field that is both powerful and exciting, then mass communication might be the right path for you!

I believe that mass communication is a field with immense potential. It has the power to connect people and change lives. I want to be a part of this industry because I believe in its potential to do good. I am excited to learn about all aspects of mass communication and how to use them effectively. I believe that this field offers endless opportunities for creativity and personal growth. This is why I have chosen to study mass communication.

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Why Study Mass Communication?

Good communication skills are critical to our success, from personal interactions with friends and family to business relationships that require communicating ideas through individual correspondence, presentations and the mass media.

Five Reasons to Study Mass Communication

Channel your multiple interests and talents into one discipline that can be applied to virtually every aspect of your personal and professional life.
Gain competencies that can be applied to any work setting, including critical thinking, analysis and problem solving, and writing and speaking skills.
Expand your understanding of the world and mass media and prepare to tackle the most complex global, cultural, political and business challenges.
Pursue a career in traditional communication fields such as advertising, journalism or public relations or use your skills in healthcare, financial services, information technology, federal agencies and nonprofits.
Learn to choose and use the most effective communication tools and strategies to promote messages, products and programs.

Gain hands-on experience creating your own productions. Take advantage of the journalism, multimedia, video and audio labs.

Get help financing your education. a number of scholarships are available for majors in the department..

58 Mass Communication Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best mass communication topic ideas & essay examples, 🔍 most interesting mass communication topics to write about, 🔎 simple & easy mass communication essay titles.

Movies as a Medium of Mass Communication Over the decades of its development, the phenomenon of a movie has changed significantly, especially with the introduction of new genres and the discovery of new ways of conveying a particular idea visually.
Ethical Issues in Mass Communication and Advertising The following are some of the primary ethical issues that mass communication and advertising need to observe in modern society where media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
Communication Theory: Mass Society Theory (MST) Originally, the theory was used in studies by conservative thinkers to explain the declining impact of family and community after the rise of industrial society.
Telegraph and Its Impacts in Mass Communication The invention of electricity was very instrumental as it led to the discovery of electric telegraphy by William and Charles in the 19th century.
India Movie Industry as a Medium of Mass Communication India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is therefore charged with the development and regulation of the broadcasting, print, film and other media on behalf of the state.
Global Mass Communication: Web Television The Web TV and IPTV are a powerful enabling force that enables the use of similar ideas in different corners of the world.
The History of Mass Communication: New Opportunities and Challenges for Society In the history of mass communication, it is possible to distinguish three main stages: ethic-legal paradoxes, techno-legal time-gap, and surveillance society, The new media is characterized by technological changes and changes in ideas and ideals […]
What is “Two-step Flow”? What Implications Does It Have for Our Understanding of Mass Communication? It should be known that there has been an implication of our understanding of mass communication as a result of this theory based on the fact that it has redefined our predictions on the influence […]
Larry King: The Pioneer of Mass Communication The ‘Numbers Guy,’ as he was referred to by callers while hosting the Larry King Show, makes one of the greatest broadcasters in media history despite not having taken a course in mass communication. Larry […]
Social Media as a Component of Mass Communication The reasons for such a claim are justified and refer to different opportunities that social media and the Internet give their users. During that time, social media helped me to stay aware of the current […]
E-Media Fast: Mass Communication Theory The level of my media usage had risen to a point that I could not spend a day without the use of any of the media sources.
Mass Communication Law and Ethics As the hotel employee did not clean up the water out of a fish tank that resulted in an accident, the hotel was to be responsible for that situation.
The Study of Mass Communication and Popular Culture The contributions of the French sociologist emile Durkheim to the formation of sociology are rather sufficient, as the scientist has studied the ways in which societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in the present […]
Mass Communication Impact on Modern language Within the frames of another tradition, the impact of mass communication and mass culture on language and mass consciousness is analyzed in a different critical way.
Mass Media Communication: Personal Analysis Finally, when I do the same in the kitchen in the morning, I am occupied with preparing and eating my breakfast; therefore, television serves as a background and I cannot be focused on the information […]
Global Music: Mass Communication The era of globalization had a dramatic impact not only on the economic development of the countries but also implied cultural exchange while distributing national music around the world.
Mass Communication and Public Policy One example of the websites that help to exchange ideas but negatively is the In the real sense, there several public interests in conflict when the information about the funding of a politician is disclosed […]
The Implication of Chaffee and Metzger’s Article “The End of Mass Communication” With the development of computer-based communication technologies, the university should focus on this issue in determining the impact of technological changes on mass communication and the need to change the courses offered at the Lindenwood […]
Americans: Global Awareness and Mass Communication
How Technology and Convergence Has Changed the Face of Mass Communication
Basic Ideas and Theories of Mass Communication
Bringing Cultural Change Through Mass Communication
Criteria for Professional Journalism and Mass Communication Programs
The Uses and Impacts of Mass Communication
Celebrity Phenomenon in an Era of Mass Communication
Debating Mass Communication During the Rise and Fall of Broadcasting
Demystifying Mass Communication Majors Into the Magazine Industry
Digital History: Leading the Rise of Mass Communication
How Mass Communication Approach Can Change Into Perspective
Improving Physical Fitness Through Methods of Mass Communication
Incorporating Mass Communication, Philosophy, and Sociology in the Education of an Athlete
Internet Addiction Between Mass Communication and Nursing Students of Segi University
Language and Mass Communication: Omnivore’s Dilemma
Mass Communication and Its Effects on the Audience
Linking Mass Communication and Academic Art
The Relations Between Mass Communication and Culture
Mass Communication Between People and Communities
Relations Between Mass Communication and Social Policies
The Parallels Between Mass Communication and Graphic Design
Historical Analysis of Mass Communication During World War II
The Link Between Mass Communication, Media, and Culture
Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion Controlling America
Relationship With Smartphones: Mass Communication
Mass Communication Theory and Practice: An Overview
Social Learning Theory: Are Children Being Corrupted by the Mass Communication Industry?
Experience in Using Social Media for Mass Communication
Sustainable Consumption and Mass Communication: A German Experiment
The African Americans Throughout the History of Mass Communication
The History and Evolution of Technology and Mass Communication
Theories, Concepts, and Models in Mass Communication Theory Foundations and Future
The Uses and Gratifications of Research of Mass Communication
Understanding and Evaluating Mass Communication Theory
The Role and Impact of Mass Communication on Sexuality in TV Programs
Review of the Origin and Evolution of Mass Communication and Technology
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Why You Should Consider A Career In Mass Communication
January 30, 2023
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Why You Should Consider A Career In Mass Communication — Mass communication professionals usually create, send, receive, and analyze messages to people through written, verbal, and media. Mass communication aids in transferring information efficiently to large audiences. So if you are the type that loves how information is circulated or is interested in the aspect of sending information to people, then mass communication is for you.

It covers numerous aspects ranging from journalism, printing, online media, videography, public relations, and many more. The course will help you understand everything in transferring information and broaden your career options. Even though we are in the modern era where social media has dominated a significant portion of mainstream media, magazines and movies still play a vital role in information transmission.

There is a tremendous increase in the internet’s presence, most companies are going digital, and people can now access TV easily. Studying mass communication is relevant now and in the coming years, especially with how society is increasingly depending on media platforms; whether you study to be a traditional journalist or digital journalist, you will still find work to do, and aside mass communication offers many other tempting benefits that make it one of the best career options to choose.

Reasons Why You Should Consider A Career In Mass Communication

Below are some reasons why you should consider a career in mass communication.

1. You will have endless career options

Mass communication has varying sectors, which means you have numerous career options. The courses will train you with the best media skills required to thrive in the industry. The world today solely depends on the media to get information, so you will have boundless opportunities to explore along your career journey.

For instance, you will find countless mass media platforms helping companies to promote their business and to increase their opportunities. Companies are regularly creating profiles on notable media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and then hiring mass media professionals to help them manage their accounts.

During your studies, you will cover subjects like jobs advertising, promotion, branding, audio and video production, broadcasting, corporate communication, and many more. These subjects offer a variety of opportunities for you; you can choose one that you enjoy doing and focus on it.

2. You don’t need experience

Even if you don’t have any background in media, you will succeed in this field. If in your high school, you didn’t do well and you are worried about this, don’t be. Your success is attributed to your determination, so once you pay attention, put your mind, body, and soul and give in your all, you will surely achieve your dreams.

3. Hands-on project

Some people enjoy working with people and companies and collaborating on a project. If you are the type, mass communication is the best for you. During your course time, you will be involved in several hands-on projects where you will get adequate knowledge and experience about your course, and get to know new people that you share a common mindset with. You will also be familiarized with many things related to mass communication, even before you graduate. This will make your course of study easier since you already have practical experience.

4. It’s filled with fun, exciting activities

Most mass communication teachers are innovative and fun. Your classes will be filled with many exciting activities. Your lecturer can organize a small practice for you to get experience with him supervising you. Also, your subjects will never be dry, you will always find the topics engaging, and you will never feel bored during your classes. Moreover, every experimental learning leaves a lasting impact on the students.

5. You will have a fantastic experience

Like other courses and career fields, in mass communication, you will also be joining a team of people that you will work with and will be tested based on your endurance and your commitments. So as long as you are passionate about what you are doing, you will receive boundless experience, which will lead to many possibilities. You will be introduced to a creative workforce and get in-class experiences which are all excellent in many ways.

6. It offers different career options

Do you know you can study mass communication but work in another industry? This is one of the reasons people opt for mass communication because it will give you adequate experience to thrive in different industries. Most companies are looking for employees that have strong verbal and written messages skills, enough experience to work in every environment, and problem-solving and analysis skills – mass communication will infuse all these skills into you. Once you have some of these skills, you can start applying for jobs in magazine companies, newspaper channels, FM radios, and other companies that deal with media and information. Possessing many skills and knowledge can help you thrive in whatever field you find yourself in.

7. Traveling opportunities

Another reason why you should consider a career in Mass communication is access diverse traveling opportunities. Most mass communication departments are incredible when it comes to learning. Learning doesn’t always happen in classrooms. There are times you will travel to many areas to get practical knowledge. The department is constantly ready to take students on adventures where they will meet new people, learn new things and get more experience.

8. You will get to interact with notable personnel and celebrities

Mass communication will allow you to meet countless celebrities and notable personnel. Sometimes, you can interview and interact with them. For instance, if you are a reporter, you might meet your country’s president and interview them. Journalists and information transmitters are considered the eyes of society. They will be the ones that will convey information between the government and the citizens, giving you a huge amount of power, money, and fame.

Career Opportunities After Studying Mass Communication

Having looked at some of the reasons why you should consider a career in Mass communication, below are some of the career opportunities available for those that study mass communication.

1. Television & Film Director/Producer

Today, the media is one of the areas that is skyrocketing in popularity. Creative producers and directors are sought-after by many notable media companies. Once you hold a certificate in mass communication, you can explore several opportunities in the television industry. You can also go for other areas where you can earn passive income, like scriptwriting, video editing, graphics design, 3D designing, animation creation, and many more.

2. Event management

Event management is another field with many career opportunities increasingly getting recognition. If you love organizing, managing, and planning events, this field is for you. Students eager to experience the nuisance of the industry can go for events management. This is a field where you don’t even need to hold a certificate to venture into it. You can start as a student, which means you will be earning some money in your free time, simultaneously doing good in your academics.

3. Public relations officer

A degree in mass communication will prepare you with essential skills like communication, problem-solving, negotiations, and interpersonal skills desired for a public relations officer role. Top-notch companies globally are continuously looking for talents that can successfully represent their brand and create a strong network and connection for them in the business world. This leads to the demand for PR officers, so with your degree and other extra skills, you can land this role and earn a considerable income.

4. Journalist

The main aim of studying mass communication for most students is to become a journalist. As a journalist, you will be responsible for delivering concrete and genuine information to the audience based on your research, documentation, and interviews. You will become the mirror of society because they depend on you to get information about their country and whatever is happening around them. During your course of study, you will be taught all the relevant skills that will help you deliver quality information to people.

5. Digital marketer

Mass communication courses will teach you subjects like adverts and many more. This is because they want to groom you into becoming whatever you want, including a digital marketer. Digital marketing involves an online advertisement for companies. Since we are in the 21st century, where the world is slowly shifting to digitalization, you will find a job in this area. You can even decide to become a remote worker where you will work from anywhere in the world and work with top-notch national and international companies.

Mass communication is a field that deals with delivering information to the public. A mass communicator is considered the mirror of the people. There are many reasons why you should consider a career in mass communication, including you will have access to endless career options. It’s filled with fun and exciting activities, you don’t need experience sometimes. Also, mass communication is filled with many opportunities, including you can become a television and film director or producer, event manager, public relation officer, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is mass communication a good career.

Yes, it is. Mass Communication is a good and promising career option that allows to apply for different jobs such as journalist, PR officer, Digital marketer, radio announcer, etc

Is Mass Communication lucrative?

Mass Communication is a marketable course, therefore, you can use the knowledge and skills gained as a channel to land well-paying jobs.

https://www.thehighereducationreview.com/news/top-reasons-to-pursue-media-mass-communication-studies-nid-794.html

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ESSAY SAUCE

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Essay: Mass communication

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Mass communication plays an extensive role in an individual’s daily life. Right from the second you wake up till you go to bed after saying goodnight to your wife, kid, parents, siblings or friends, you are surrounded in a world built just for you by the media. With the help of technology, there has been a drastic shift from the telegraph, and then the radio, newspapers, magazines and now to the internet. Our daily activities depend heavily on the information that is provided to each one, and the way that is communicated to us, be it entertainment, hard or soft news, personal relationships, travelling, or even healthcare. This could relate to the decisions made at the workplace which may be based on the information that come from television, newspapers, the internet, friends, family or any other related individual. The mass media works like a pull factor; it just drags you into its world, and makes you believe that whatever you do, you see and you hear is true, and the most trustable. They come to you, not just to provide information, but also to lead you into their world, which ultimately makes you realize that most of the decisions, values and beliefs are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. Magazines: The Power of Words and Images The magazines are not just something we are reading, it’s something that’s changing the way we see and think about ourselves and the world. With all the tips on how to act and how to look, we are falling under the magazines trance. Our self-esteem and self-image is gradually failing, because of the influence and the role magazines play in our lives. Magazines are filled with beauty products, weight loss tips, photo shopped models, and the ideal perfection. Most photos in magazines are altered so that wrinkles, fat, and pores disappear. Teens are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to be loved and be successful. The printing media creates the ideal image of beautiful men and women with all the ingredients of a successful person, you can see it in movies and TV. Newspapers and the News: Reflection of a Democratic Society Newspapers today have a great influence through the news that they print, or do not print, and the colour which they give to it. Newspapers provide a wholesome intellectual food, trade contacts and also job opportunities. It is through the newspapers that marriages are arranged, and lost things are found. People pay homage to their dead relatives through the obituary notes in the newspapers. Perception of crime is highly dependent on local news reporting. When we are exposed to crime stories from our own area we are more likely to feel afraid of crime, while crime stories from other places make us feel more secure because our cities are relatively safer. Print media is often called on to act as the government’s watchdog from the political point of view, but it can just as often be used to help governments’ direct public opinion. They have been around for centuries, spreading information and opinions, and helping people to form a view of the world. Some people believe that printed media uses this influence in ways that hurts the public in order to increase sales and ad revenue. Television and Radio: Broadcast and Beyond Many critics think that TV and radio are responsible for pulling down society. Others argue that television contributes to a shared culture, which exceeds geographic and ethnic restrictions. Violence on television distorts violence as being good and acceptable. Today’s television programming is violent and influences children’s behaviour and views on violence. Children become immune and numb to violence, acceptant of violence as a way to resolve problems and wanting to imitate what they observe on television. Not all profane language is censored on television and radio. The more times swearing and profanity is used on television and radio, the more it can be seen as normal. There are television shows and radio channels which help expand the imagination of not only kids but adults as well. The Discovery Channel, History Channel, the Food Network etc are some examples which encouraged people’s creativity and artistic abilities. Movies: Mass Producing Entertainment If you are a fan of movies, it certainly had influenced you a lot in your decisions, thinking, mood, views, etc. Films are produced on every topic of life, classic, action, suspense, thrill, history, romance, mystery, biography, research-based, animals, and others. Every topic of a film has different influence to the audience. A romantic movie will give you romantic influence. It may give you some tips on how to persuade and please your partner or the person you love. On the other hand, there are films that will serve as your sources of information and knowledge. Research-based movies give you influence of research and inventing new things. A historical movie tells about the ancient times and their lifestyle which urges man to adopt or in some manner, influence from them. Classic movies give classic arts and lifestyle. These films are usually the sources of students for research purposes and it also serves as a means of broadening their knowledge about different things because it is more lively and perhaps, entertaining. The Internet: Mass Communication Gets Personal The Internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age, and with the explosion of wireless communication in the early twenty-first century, we can say that humankind is now almost entirely connected. Communication is no longer done face-to-face, but on Messenger, Skype or simply via webcam, sometimes even among people who are in the same building, or even in the same room. Intense use of the Internet increases the risk of isolation, alienation, and withdrawal from society, but can also increase sociability, civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures. It all depends on the individual. People use the Internet to help them achieve their real-life goals. And rather than technology’s changing people’s social and psychological reality, people change their use of technology to facilitate their creation of a desired social reality. Internet users should closely examine their behaviour, to ensure that excessive time online will not negatively impact their personal well-being. We shouldn’t throw our computers out the window, but neither should we charge on blindly into complete dependence on the Internet. As with many things in life, it seems that moderation and balance are key to maximizing the Internet’s positive effect.

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15.2 Functions and Theories of Mass Communication

Learning objectives.

Identify key functions of the mass media.
Explain how the media functions as a gatekeeper.
Discuss theories of mass communication, including hypodermic needle theory, media effects, and cultivation theory.

How does mass communication function differently than interpersonal communication? Do we have relationships with media like we have relationships with people? To answer these questions, we can look at some of the characteristics and functions of mass communication. One key characteristic of mass communication is its ability to overcome the physical limitations present in face-to-face communication. The human voice can only travel so far, and buildings and objects limit the amount of people we can communicate with at any time. While one person can engage in public speaking and reach one hundred thousand or so people in one of the world’s largest stadiums, it would be impossible for one person to reach millions without technology.

Another key characteristic of mass communication in relation to other forms of communication is its lack of sensory richness. In short, mass communication draws on fewer sensory channels than face-to-face communication. While smell, taste, and touch can add context to a conversation over a romantic dinner, our interaction with mass media messages rely almost exclusively on sight and sound. Because of this lack of immediacy, mass media messages are also typically more impersonal than face-to-face messages. Actually being in the audience while a musician is performing is different from watching or listening at home. Last, mass media messages involve less interactivity and more delayed feedback than other messages. The majority of messages sent through mass media channels are one way. We don’t have a way to influence an episode of The Walking Dead as we watch it. We could send messages to the show’s producers and hope our feedback is received, or we could yell at the television, but neither is likely to influence the people responsible for sending the message. Although there are some features of communication that are lost when it becomes electronically mediated, mass communication also serves many functions that we have come to depend on and expect.

Functions of Mass Media

The mass media serves several general and many specific functions. In general, the mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions:

Information function. We have a need for information to satisfy curiosity, reduce uncertainty, and better understand how we fit into the world. The amount and availability of information is now overwhelming compared to forty years ago when a few television networks, local radio stations, and newspapers competed to keep us informed. The media saturation has led to increased competition to provide information, which creates the potential for news media outlets, for example, to report information prematurely, inaccurately, or partially.
Interpretation function. Media outlets interpret messages in more or less explicit and ethical ways. Newspaper editorials have long been explicit interpretations of current events, and now cable television and radio personalities offer social, cultural, and political commentary that is full of subjective interpretations. Although some of them operate in ethical gray areas because they use formats that make them seem like traditional news programs, most are open about their motives.
Instructive function. Some media outlets exist to cultivate knowledge by teaching instead of just relaying information. Major news networks like CNN and BBC primarily serve the information function, while cable news networks like Fox News and MSNBC serve a mixture of informational and interpretation functions. The in-depth coverage on National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, and the more dramatized but still educational content of the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery Channel, serve more instructive functions.
Bonding function. Media outlets can bring people closer together, which serves the bonding function. For example, people who share common values and interests can gather on online forums, and masses of people can be brought together while watching coverage of a tragic event like 9/11 or a deadly tornado outbreak.
Diversion function. We all use the media to escape our day-to-day lives, to distract us from our upcoming exam, or to help us relax. When we are being distracted, amused, or relaxed, the media is performing the diversion function.

Just as a gate controls the flow of traffic, the media acts as a gatekeeper, allowing some messages to travel through and others not.

Jacqui – Gates – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The Media as Gatekeeper

In addition to the functions discussed previously, media outlets also serve a gatekeeping function , which means they affect or control the information that is transmitted to their audiences. This function has been analyzed and discussed by mass communication scholars for decades. Overall, the mass media serves four gatekeeping functions: relaying, limiting, expanding, and reinterpreting (Bittner, 1996). In terms of relaying, mass media requires some third party to get a message from one human to the next. Whereas interpersonal communication only requires some channel or sensory route, mass media messages need to “hitch a ride” on an additional channel to be received. For example, a Sports Illustrated cover story that you read at SI.com went through several human “gates,” including a writer, editor, publisher, photographer, and webmaster, as well as one media “gate”—the Internet. We also require more than sensory ability to receive mass media messages. While hearing and/or sight are typically all that’s needed to understand what someone standing in front of you is saying, you’ll need a computer, smartphone, or tablet to pick up that SI.com cover story. In summary, relaying refers to the gatekeeping function of transmitting a message, which usually requires technology and equipment that the media outlet controls and has access to, but we do not. Although we relay messages in other forms of communication such as interpersonal and small group, we are primarily receivers when it comes to mass communication, which makes us depend on the gatekeeper to relay the message.

In terms of the gatekeeping function of limiting, media outlets decide whether or not to pass something along to the media channel so it can be relayed. Because most commercial media space is so limited and expensive, almost every message we receive is edited, which is inherently limiting. A limited message doesn’t necessarily mean the message is bad or manipulated, as editing is a necessity. But a range of forces including time constraints, advertiser pressure, censorship, or personal bias, among others, can influence editing choices. Limiting based on bias or self-interest isn’t necessarily bad as long as those who relay the message don’t claim to be objective. In fact, many people choose to engage with media messages that have been limited to match their own personal views or preferences. This kind of limiting also allows us to have more control over the media messages we receive. For example, niche websites and cable channels allow us to narrow in on already-limited content, so we don’t have to sift through everything on our own.

Gatekeepers also function to expand messages. For example, a blogger may take a story from a more traditional news source and fact check it or do additional research, interview additional sources, and post it on his or her blog. In this case, expanding helps us get more information than we would otherwise so we can be better informed. On the other hand, a gatekeeper who expands a message by falsifying evidence or making up details either to appear more credible or to mislead others is being unethical.

Last, gatekeepers function to reinterpret mass media messages. Reinterpretation is useful when gatekeepers translate a message from something too complex or foreign for us to understand into something meaningful. In the lead-up to the Supreme Court’s June 2012 ruling on President Obama’s health-care-overhaul bill, the media came under scrutiny for not doing a better job of informing the public about the core content and implications of the legislation that had been passed. Given that policy language is difficult for many to understand and that legislation contains many details that may not be important to average people, a concise and lay reinterpretation of the content by the gatekeepers (the media outlets) would have helped the public better understand the bill. Of course, when media outlets reinterpret content to the point that it is untruthful or misleading, they are not ethically fulfilling the gatekeeping function of reinterpretation.

In each of these gatekeeping functions, the media can fulfill or fail to fulfill its role as the “fourth estate” of government—or government “watchdog.” You can read more about this role in the “Getting Critical” box.

“Getting Critical”

The Media as “Watchdog”

While countries like China, North Korea, Syria, and Burma have media systems that are nearly if not totally controlled by the state regime, the media in the United States and many other countries is viewed as the “watchdog” for the government. This watchdog role is intended to keep governments from taking too much power from the people and overstepping their bounds. Central to this role is the notion that the press works independently of the government. The “freedom of the press” as guaranteed by our First-Amendment rights allows the media to act as the eyes and ears of the people. The media is supposed to report information to the public so they can make informed decisions. The media also engages in investigative reporting, which can uncover dangers or corruption that the media can then expose so that the public can demand change.

Of course, this ideal is not always met in practice. Some people have critiqued the media’s ability to fulfill this role, referring to it instead as a lapdog or attack dog. In terms of the lapdog role, the media can become too “cozy” with a politician or other public figure, which might lead it to uncritically report or passively relay information without questioning it. Recent stories about reporters being asked to clear quotes and even whole stories with officials before they can be used in a story drew sharp criticism from other journalists and the public, and some media outlets put an end to that practice. In terms of the attack-dog role, the twenty-four-hour news cycle and constant reporting on public figures has created the kind of atmosphere where reporters may be waiting to pounce on a mistake or error in order to get the scoop and be able to produce a tantalizing story. This has also been called being on “scandal patrol” or “gaffe patrol.” Media scholars have critiqued this practice, saying that too much adversarial or negative reporting leads the public to think poorly of public officials and be more dissatisfied with government. Additionally, they claim that attack-dog reporting makes it more difficult for public officials to do their jobs (Coronel, 2008).

In what ways do you think the media should function in a democratic society?
Do you think the media in the United States acts more as a watchdog, lapdog, or attack dog? Give specific examples to support your answer.
In an age of twenty-four-hour news and instant reporting, do you think politicians’ jobs are made easier or more difficult? Do you think reporters’ jobs are made easier or more difficult? Support your answers.

Theories of Mass Communication

Theories of mass communication have changed dramatically since the early 1900s, largely as a result of quickly changing technology and more sophisticated academic theories and research methods. A quick overview of the state of the media in the early 1900s and in the early 2000s provides some context for how views of the media changed. In the early 1900s, views of mass communication were formed based on people’s observation of the popularity of media and assumptions that something that grew that quickly and was adopted so readily must be good. Many people were optimistic about the mass media’s potential to be a business opportunity, an educator, a watchdog, and an entertainer. For example, businesses and advertisers saw media as a good way to make money, and the educator class saw the media as a way to inform citizens who could then be more active in a democratic society. As World War I and the Depression came around, many saw the media as a way to unite the country in times of hardship. Early scholarship on mass media focused on proving these views through observational and anecdotal evidence rather than scientific inquiry.

Fast forward one hundred years and newspapers are downsizing, consolidating to survive, or closing all together; radio is struggling to stay alive in the digital age; and magazine circulation is decreasing and becoming increasingly more focused on microaudiences. The information function of the news has been criticized and called “infotainment,” and rather than bringing people together, the media has been cited as causing polarization and a decline in civility (Self, Gaylord, & Gaylord, 2009). The extremes at each end of the twentieth century clearly show that the optimistic view of the media changed dramatically. An overview of some of the key theories can help us better understand this change.

Hypodermic Needle and Beyond

In the 1920s, early theories of mass communication were objective, and social-scientific reactions to the largely anecdotal theories that emerged soon after mass media quickly expanded. These scholars believed that media messages had strong effects that were knowable and predictable. Because of this, they theorized that controlling the signs and symbols used in media messages could control how they were received and convey a specific meaning (Self, Gaylord, & Gaylord, 2009).

The hypodermic needle theory of media effects claimed that meaning could be strategically placed into a media message that would then be “injected” into or transmitted to the receiver.

ChrisWaldeck – The Media Needle – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Extending Aristotle’s antiquated linear model of communication that included a speaker, message, and hearer, these early theories claimed that communication moved, or transmitted, an idea from the mind of the speaker through a message and channel to the mind of the listener. To test the theories, researchers wanted to find out how different messages influenced or changed the behavior of the receiver. This led to the development of numerous theories related to media effects. Media businesses were invested in this early strand of research, because data that proved that messages directly affect viewers could be used to persuade businesses to send their messages through the media channel in order to directly influence potential customers.

This early approach to studying media effects was called the hypodermic needle approach or bullet theory and suggested that a sender constructed a message with a particular meaning that was “injected” or “shot” into individuals within the mass audience. This theory is the basis for the transmission model of communication that we discussed in Chapter 1 “Introduction to Communication Studies” . It was assumed that the effects were common to each individual and that the meaning wasn’t altered as it was transferred. Through experiments and surveys, researchers hoped to map the patterns within the human brain so they could connect certain stimuli to certain behaviors. For example, researchers might try to prove that a message announcing that a product is on sale at a reduced price will lead people to buy a product they may not otherwise want or need. As more research was conducted, scholars began to find flaws within this thinking. New theories emerged that didn’t claim such a direct connection between the intent of a message and any single reaction on the part of receivers. Instead, these new theories claimed that meaning could be partially transferred, that patterns may become less predictable as people are exposed to a particular stimulus more often, and that interference at any point in the transmission could change the reaction.

These newer theories incorporated more contextual factors into the view of communication, acknowledging that both sender and receiver interpret messages based on their previous experience. Scholars realized that additional variables such as psychological characteristics and social environment had to be included in the study of mass communication. This approach connects to the interaction model of communication. In order to account for perspective and experience, mass media researchers connected to recently developed theories in perception that emerged from psychology. The concept of the gatekeeper emerged, since, for the first time, the sender of the message (the person or people behind the media) was the focus of research and not just the receiver. The concepts of perceptual bias and filtering also became important, as they explained why some people interpreted or ignored messages while others did not. Theories of primacy and recency, which we discussed in Chapter 9 “Preparing a Speech” , emerged to account for the variation in interpretation based on the order in which a message is received. Last, researchers explored how perceptions of source credibility affect message interpretation and how media messages may affect viewers’ self-esteem. By the 1960s, many researchers in mass communication concluded that the research in the previous twenty years had been naïve and flawed, and they significantly challenged the theory of powerful media effects, putting much more emphasis on individual agency, context, and environment (McQuail, 2010).

The next major turn in mass communication theory occurred only a few years after many scholars had concluded that media had no or only minimal effects (McQuail, 2010). In the 1970s, theories once again positioned media effects as powerful and influential based on additional influences from social psychology. From sociology, mass media researchers began to study the powerful socializing role that the media plays but also acknowledged that audience members take active roles in interpreting media messages. During this time, researchers explored how audience members’ schemata and personalities (concepts we discussed in Chapter 2 “Communication and Perception” ) affect message interpretation. Researchers also focused more on long-term effects and how media messages create opinion climates, structures of belief, and cultural patterns.

In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, a view of media effects as negotiated emerged, which accounts for the sometimes strong and sometimes weak influences of the media. This view sees the media as being most influential in constructing meanings through multiple platforms and representations. For example, the media constructs meanings for people regarding the role of technology in our lives by including certain kinds of technology in television show plots, publishing magazines like Wired , broadcasting news about Microsoft’s latest product, airing advertisements for digital cameras, producing science fiction movies, and so on. Although these messages are diverse and no one person is exposed to all the same messages, the messages are still constructed in some predictable and patterned ways that create a shared social reality. Whether or not the media intends to do this or whether or not we acknowledge that how we think about technology or any other social construct is formed through our exposure to these messages is not especially relevant. Many mass communication scholars now seek to describe, understand, or critique media practices rather than prove or disprove a specific media effect.

More recent media effects theories acknowledge that media messages do affect the receivers but that receivers also have some agency to reject or reinterpret the message.

Sean MacEntee – – CC BY 2.0.

Additionally, mass communication scholars are interested in studying how we, as audience members, still have agency in how these constructions affect our reality, in that we may reject, renegotiate, or reinterpret a given message based on our own experiences. For example, a technology geek and a person living “off the grid” have very different lives and very different views of technology, but because of their exposure to various forms of media that have similar patterns of messages regarding technology, they still have some shared reality and could talk in similar ways about computers, smartphones, and HD television. Given the shift of focus to negotiated meaning and context, this view of mass communication is more in keeping with the transactional model of communication.

Media Effects

Media effects are the intended or unintended consequences of what the mass media does (McQuail, 2010). Many of the key theories in mass communication rest on the assumption that the media has effects on audience members. The degree and type of effect varies depending on the theory. In general, we underestimate the effect that the media has on us, as we tend to think that media messages affect others more than us. This is actually so common that there is a concept for it! The third-party effect is the phenomenon just described of people thinking they are more immune to media influence than others. If this were true, though, would advertisers and public relations professionals spend billions of dollars a year carefully crafting messages aimed at influencing viewers?

There are certain media effects that are fairly obvious and most of us would agree are common (even for ourselves). For example, we change our clothes and our plans because we watch the forecast on the Weather Channel, look up information about a band and sample their music after we see them perform on a television show, or stop eating melons after we hear about a salmonella outbreak. Other effects are more difficult to study and more difficult for people to accept because they are long term and/or more personal. For example, media may influence our personal sense of style, views on sex, perceptions of other races, or values just as our own free will, parents, or friends do. It is difficult, however, to determine in any specific case how much influence the media has on a belief or behavior in proportion to other factors that influence us. Media messages may also affect viewers in ways not intended by the creators of the message. Two media effects that are often discussed are reciprocal and boomerang effects (McQuail, 2010).

The reciprocal effect points to the interactive relationship between the media and the subject being covered. When a person or event gets media attention, it influences the way the person acts or the way the event functions. Media coverage often increases self-consciousness, which affects our actions. It’s similar to the way that we change behavior when we know certain people are around and may be watching us. For example, the Occupy Movement that began on Wall Street in New York City gained some attention from alternative media and people using micromedia platforms like independent bloggers. Once the movement started getting mainstream press attention, the coverage affected the movement. As news of the Occupy movement in New York spread, people in other cities and towns across the country started to form their own protest groups. In this case, media attention caused a movement to spread that may have otherwise remained localized.

The boomerang effect refers to media-induced change that is counter to the desired change. In the world of twenty-four-hour news and constant streams of user-generated material, the effects of gaffes, blunders, or plain old poor decisions are much more difficult to control or contain. Before a group or person can clarify or provide context for what was said, a story could go viral and a media narrative constructed that is impossible to backtrack and very difficult to even control. A recent example of such an effect occurred at the University of Virginia when the governing body of the university forced President Teresa A. Sullivan to resign. The board was not happy with the president’s approach to dealing with the changing financial and technological pressures facing the school and thought ousting her may make room for a president who was more supportive of a corporate model of university governance (Pérez-Peña, 2012). When the story picked up local and then national media coverage, students, faculty, and alumni came together to support Sullivan, and a week later she was reinstated. Instead of the intended effect of changing the direction and priorities for the university, the board’s actions increased support for the president, which will also likely add support to her plans for dealing with the issues.

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory is a media effects theory created by George Gerbner that states that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk in the world. The theory also states that viewers identify with certain values and identities that are presented as mainstream on television even though they do not actually share those values or identities in their real lives (Griffin, 2009). Drawing on cultivation as it is practiced in farming, Gerbner turned this notion into a powerful metaphor to explain how the media, and television in particular, shapes our social realities. Just as a farmer plants seeds that he or she then cultivates over time to produce a crop, the media plants seeds in our minds and then cultivates them until they grow into our shared social reality.

Cultivation theory states that heavy television viewing cultivates, or grows, certain ways of thinking about the world that are distorted.

Yoshihide Nomura – Watching TV – CC BY-ND 2.0.

Over decades of exploring cultivation theory, Gerbner made several well-supported conclusions that are summarized as follows:

Prime-time television shows and weekend morning children’s programming have been found to contain consistently high amounts of violence over the past thirty years.
Older people, children, African Americans, and Latino/as are more likely to be shown as victims of violence than are their young-adult, middle-aged, and/or white counterparts. This disparity is more meaningful when we realize that these groups are also underrepresented (relative to their percentage in the general population) on these shows while their vulnerability to violence is overstated.

The effects of television viewing on our worldview build up over years, but in general, people who are more heavy viewers perceive the world as more dangerous than do light viewers. Gerbner coined the phrase “mean world syndrome,” which refers to the distorted view of the world as more violent and people as more dangerous than they actually are.

Heavy viewers predict that their odds of being a victim of violence within the next week are 1 in 10, while light viewers predicted 1 in 100. Real crime statistics give a more reliable estimate of 1 in 10,000.
Heavy viewers fear walking alone on the street more than do light viewers, believing that criminal activity is actually ten times more prevalent than it actually is.
Heavy viewers believe that more people are involved in law enforcement and that officers draw and use their weapons much more than is actually the case.
Heavy viewers are generally more suspicious of others and question their motives more than do light viewers (the basis of the mean world syndrome).
Given that most people on television are portrayed as politically moderate and middle class, heavy viewers are more likely to assume those labels even though heavy users tend to be more working class or poor and more politically conservative than moderate. In short, they begin to view themselves as similar to those they watch on television and consider themselves a part of the mainstream of society even though they are not.

“Getting Competent”

Applying Media Theories

Although most do not get mass public attention, there are many media criticism and analysis organizations that devote much time and resources to observing, studying, and/or commenting on how the media acts in practice, which often involves an implicit evaluation of media theories we have discussed so far, in particular media effects theories. Media outlets and the people who send messages through media outlets (i.e., politicians, spokespeople, and advertisers) are concerned about the effects and effectiveness of their messaging. As we already learned, the pervasive view of media effects today is that media messages do affect people, but that people have some agency in terms of how much or little they identify with or reinterpret a message.

To understand media effects, media criticism organizations do research on audience attitudes and also call on media commentators to give their opinions, which may be more academic and informed or more personal and partisan. In either case, taking some time to engage with these media criticism organizations can allow you to see how they apply mass communication theories and give you more information so you can be a more critical and informed consumer of media. You can find a list of many media criticism organizations at the following link: http://www.world-newspapers.com/media.html . Some of these organizations have a particular political ideology or social/cultural cause that they serve, so be cautious when choosing a source for media criticism to make sure you know what you’re getting. There are also more objective and balanced sources of media criticism. Two of my personal favorites that I engage with every week are CNN’s show Reliable Sources ( http://reliablesources.blogs.cnn.com ) and the public radio show On the Media ( http://www.onthemedia.org ). Reliable Sources even has an implicit reference to reciprocal effects in its show description, stating, “The press is a part of every story it covers.” [1] On the Media ran a story that implicitly connects to cultivation theory, as it critiques some of the media’s coverage of violence and audiences’ seeming desensitization to it (Bernstein 2012).

Of the “functions of mass media” discussed earlier in the chapter, which functions do media criticism organizations like the ones mentioned here serve? Specifically, give examples of how these organizations fulfill the gatekeeping functions and how they monitor the gatekeeping done by other media sources.
Since media criticism organizations like Reliable Sources and On the Media are also media sources (one a television show and one a radio show), how might hey be contributing to reciprocal effects?
Using the links provided, find a substantial article, study, or report that analyzes some media practice such as the covering of a specific event. Apply some aspect of media effects from the chapter to the story. How might media effects theory help us understand the criticism being raised?

Key Takeaways

The mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions.
As a gatekeeper, the media functions to relay, limit, expand, and reinterpret information.
The hypodermic needle theory of mass communication suggests that a sender constructs a message with a particular meaning that is “injected” into individuals within a mass audience.
Theories of media effects explore the intended or unintended effects of what the media does. Theories have claimed strong effects, meaning that media messages can directly and intentionally influence audience members. They have also claimed weak effects, meaning that media messages have no little power over viewers. More recently, theories have claimed negotiated effects, meaning that media messages do affect viewers but that viewers also have some agency to identify with, reject, or reinterpret a message.
Cultivation theory explores a particular kind of media effect claiming that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk in the world.
Which function of mass media (information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, or diversion) do you think is most important for you and why? Which is most important for society and why?
What ethical issues are created by the gatekeeping function of the media? What strategies or suggestions do you have for bypassing this function of the media to ensure that you get access to the information you want/need?
Getting integrated: Discuss media messages that have influenced or would influence you in a professional, academic, personal, and civic context.

Bernstein, B., “The Story of the Times Gory Empire State Shooting Photo,” On the Media , August 24, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.onthemedia.org/blogs/on-the-media/2012/aug/24/story-times-gory-empire-state-shooting-photo1 .

Bittner, J. R., Mass Communication , 6th ed. (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1996), 11.

Coronel, S. S., “The Media as Watchdog,” Harvard-World Bank Workshop, May 19, 2008, accessed September 19, 2012, http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorris/Conference/Conference%20papers/Coronel%20Watchdog.pdf .

Griffin, E., A First Look at Communication Theory , 7th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2009), 352–53.

McQuail, D., McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory , 6th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), 457.

Pérez-Peña, R., “Ousted Head of University Is Reinstated in Virginia,” New York Times , June 26, 2012, accessed November 11, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/education/university-of-virginia-reinstates-ousted-president.html?pagewanted=all .

Self, C. C., Edward L. Gaylord, and Thelma Gaylord, “The Evolution of Mass Communication Theory in the 20th Century,” The Romanian Review of Journalism and Communication 6, no. 3 (2009): 29.

“About This Show,” CNN Reliable Sources , accessed September 20, 2012, http://reliablesources.blogs.cnn.com . ↵

Communication in the Real World Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

5 Reasons To Study Mass Communication

black and silver laptop computer on brown wooden table

Mass communication is defined as the process of creating, sending, receiving, and analysing messages to large audiences, via verbal, written and digital media. Through mass communication, information can be transmitted quickly and efficiently.

If you love media, then mass communication may be the course for you. It covers a wide range from radio, journalism, print and online media, to videography and public relations, among others, and a course in Mass Communication will allow students to develop a thorough understanding of the professions involved, helping them broaden their career options.

Although Internet have dominated mainstream media, movies and magazines continue to play a significant role in culture. The Internet’s presence has recently grown exponentially as more companies and households are going digital. TV is accessible to everyone, and content is becoming more varied, with shows targeted for people of all genders, income levels, cultures, and attitudes.

Studying Mass Communication will be of relevance many years to come, with society and the world becoming more dependent on media and digital technology.

Here are 5 reasons to study Mass Communication:

Endless Career Options

Mass Communication has a wide range of career options due to its various module. It trains you for the skills needed to succeed in the media industry. With the world relying so heavily on the media, there are many opportunities and areas to explore, to make a successful career in this field of study.

For example, several forms of mass media could help companies in promoting their product or service. To maximize opportunities, all companies build a profile on Facebook or Instagram. Among the careers one who have studied Mass Communication can look into include jobs in Advertising & Promotion, Branding, Audio/Visual Production, Broadcasting, Corporate Communication, and Public Relations. The list is endless.

No experience needed

Students with any learning background, science, or art, have excellent chances of succeeding in this course. If you’re worried about not doing well because of your high school experience, don’t be. Everyone has what it takes to succeed in Mass Communication. It boils down to your determination to succeed. Just put your mind, heart, and soul in all that you do.

Hands-On Project

If you fancy doing assignments or projects that include collaborating with a company or event, then you can consider doing Mass Communication.

Students doing media studies are often involved in hands-on projects. They can gain valuable knowledge when engaging with mass media and digital technologies.

It’s Fun

A communications lecturer is always upbeat and innovative, and students mostly enjoy lessons because the subjects taught are not dry. Most of the time, students would find lessons engaging enough, resulting in new ways of learning things. When learning is experiential, it leaves an impact.

A unique experience

As with other fields of study, you’ll be joining a workforce that will both test your endurance, and praise your commitment. When you have passion for what you do, you will be able to gain enough industry experience, leading to endless possibilities, creative workforce introduction, and in-class experience, all of which are unique in their own way.

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The importance of studying mass communication.

December 05, 2019

There are a few unrealistic expectations that we have in our minds regarding mass communication that we intend to break today.

Expectation 1: You do not have to study much

Some people have the perception that all mass communication students do is make videos, but they still need to attend lectures. The subjects in this course contain quite a lot of theories. For example, the students have to study Communication Theories to understand the way people think and why they think a certain way.

The following are the subjects in the course:

Source: Help 4 Assignment

Expectation 2: You will not have a job

In addition to that, despite what people say that studying mass communication is a dead-end, mass communication provides students with an opportunity to explore and experiment in the creative industry. Some of the students thought that they would not be able to get a job easily compared to business students. Not to mention, there are many career prospects with a mass communication degree, such as web journalism and event management.

The following are job careers for mass communication:

Source: Easy media

Expectation 3: Mass Communication is easy

Next, mass communication often gives the impression that it is an easy course, but this is false. Mass communication students have to deliver assignments for different subjects that have similar deadlines. For example, a student is required to do research, writing scripts, and manage actors. To produce a 5-minute video, it could take weeks or months of work to prepare. Having so much to do, but very little time to complete, they do not have it easy either, and they go through stress to meet deadlines.

Expectation 4: Mass Communication students wants to be famous

Usually, when people talk about Mass Communication, they imagine being a Hollywood star. People tend to overlook the creative minds, such as public relation expert, and screenwriter that have work hard too. For example, a film production team consists of the producer, director, cinematographer, and more just to bring a movie alive. This field has a broad range of careers and not just television glamour.

Expectation 5: Introverts are not suitable for this course

Lastly, introverts are good listeners, which makes them a good communicator, and this is important in this field. Since they are quiet, their thoughts are always assimilated, which leaves them with more space to create ideas. For example, the dialogues that you love in The Notebook is the masterpiece of a scriptwriter, who works behind the scenes. Therefore, a student who studies this course is not obliged to be in front of the camera, but some of it requires you to sit at your desk.

In brief, mass communication is very important and most of the notions people have on it are false. No matter what the course is, once a student possesses the skills, and is interested in the subject, they shall excel in it.

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Why I love being a Communication major

Lauren Schechtman '17 is a communication major from Highland Park, Ill. In an article that was previously published on Odyssey.com, Schechtman shares her reasons why the major is the right one for her.

Being a college student, the first thing I'm usually asked about is my major. When I reply that I'm a communication major, I often get a high pitched “oh,” along with some forced head nodding.

I'm a communication major, I'm pretty sure I know how to read non-verbal cues.

I distinctly remember one time when my choice was directly questioned. I was returning home in early December from studying abroad in London and as I passed through customs, the officer asked me what I was studying. I answered, “communication,” to which he sneered and shot me the classic, “and what do you plan to do with that?” line.

To me, communication is the closest thing to magic that exists the in the real world. While our fairytales and stories illustrate magic as the impossible, communication shows what is possible. It sheds light on unseen issues, struggles, and stories, and focuses on what is real.

Choosing my major was a difficult task when I came to college, as so many areas of study interested me, but after exploring subjects ranging from economics to biology, I realized that my heart was in the humanities.

When people find out that I am a communication major, it seems they initially assume I chose a field with an easy course load so I could breeze through my four years of college, gaining a degree without hard work.

Contrarily, I've found it to be the opposite. Until I entered college and began taking communication courses, I don't think I'd ever known learning in its truest form.

Sitting in a classroom where open discussion and critical thinking is encouraged, my classes dissect the world around us and deconstruct the fundamental aspects that make things the way they are. Some constructs are complex brain-bending concepts that make you sit back for a moment and say, “really?” While others are as clear as day, practices that occur often in daily life, but which are easily overlooked.

I'm not arguing that communication is a better major than economics or biology. But communication is no less intellectually challenging than any other subject just because it focuses on qualitative studies rather than quantitative data.

I'm often asked what communication is, as it is a very generic term. There are so many answers that I could give. Communication questions hegemonic norms and practices that play off of power relations and suppression. Communication allows insight into other human lives that you could never see just by solely judging a person on the surface. Communication gives a voice to the voiceless through ethnographic stories and critical analysis of our current social structures.

As a communication student, I am constantly encouraged to ask “why?” Now, I instinctively question what's occurring and relish the impact I can make by always asking “why.”

10 Importance of Studying Mass Communication degree and its Courses.

Nathaniel Azamosa

August 31, 2022

Mass communication involves many disciplines and incorporates vital elements of related fields like strategic communications, health communications, political communications , marketing , and journalism . This diversity of mass communication allows for creativity and flexibility in selecting one’s career.

With a mass communication background, one can pursue employment in related fields like marketing , journalism , entertainment, healthcare , communications consulting, broadcasting, advertising , foreign entities, government, and non-profit organizations. Before we delve into the importance of mass communication, let us first define what mass communication is.

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Table of Contents

What is Mass Communication

Mass communication is the process of creating, sending, receiving, and analyzing messages to a large audience, using verbal and written media. Its main focus is not just the why and how a message is passed, but the medium through which it passes. These media are various and include the internet, social media, digital media, print, radio, and television.

Also read: 10+ International Scholarships to Study Mass Communication

Importance/Benefits of Mass Communication?

Are you still contemplating studying for a mass communication degree ? Here are some benefits of mass communication:

Mass communication offers many career options upon graduation : Armed with your certificate in mass communication, you can choose to work in a number of fields as mentioned above. With the world relying so much on the media, you have tremendous opportunities to make a good career in this field. A degree in mass communication acquired from a solid institution can open so many doors because it can be applied in almost every mass media opportunity.
You will gain competencies that can be applied anywhere : The skills you acquired in mass communications can be applied in any work setting. Skills like problem-solving, communication, writing, and speaking can help you to scale through any related field in mass communication.
You don’t need any prior experience or qualifications to study mass communications: Students from any academic background like science or art have great opportunities to excel in this course. If you are scared of not doing well as a result of your high school background, fear no more, you have what it takes to do well in mass communication.
Your understanding of the world will be expanded: Media and mass communication prepare you to understand the most complex issues of the world in areas like political, cultural, and business fields. You will also have the ability to affect millions, either by standing in front of a large crowd speaking or sitting behind a machine writing. Mass communication will help you achieve that.
You can pursue a career in traditional communication fields: Such fields as journalism, advertising, public relations, or even broader fields like finance, healthcare, information technology, and government parastatals are fields where you can pitch your tent as a mass communication graduate.
You will learn to use effective communication tools and strategies: Using effective communication tools like video conferencing, cell phones, emails, and so on will help you to promote messages, products, and programs. With good strategies like content creation, social networking, advertisement, among others, targeted at the right audience, you will be able to reach a larger audience quickly and position yourself for a more competitive advantage.
Mass communication is a medium for landing more paying jobs: There are abounding opportunities in ad agencies, print media, broadcasting media, visual media, and of late, the internet. You can work as an independent filmmaker, copywriter, broadcaster, comedian, and in other fields. As long as you are hardworking, there are numerous options open to you. The industry is a bright one.
You will learn the techniques of how messages are delivered: There are different techniques of delivering messages to the masses. For example, in print media, newspapers, magazines, journals, and others are different ways to pass messages across. You will learn the nitty-gritty of these techniques and can work as an editor, reporter, or even a proofreader. You can also choose to pitch your career online and work as a social media manager, content creator, copywriter, and so on.
If you are someone who cannot stand math, then you can choose mass communication: It does not mean that learning the basics of algebra is bad, but then, if you have a thing with math, going for mass communication won’t be a wrong choice. Similarly, if you are someone who loves talking and wants to be heard, mass communication can avail you of the opportunity to reach out to anyone in the world…and doing it professionally too.
Mass communication degree helps you to connect to the masses: Your emotions would be put into action. You are already living with people and should have a good knowledge and understanding of what is happening around so as to employ your emotions effectively to affect your audience. You should be able to communicate well whether in an organized setting or with people on the street. If you employ positive emotions, you are likely to lead people without bias and bring them to one platform, irrespective of class, race, sex, and so on.

WATCH – 10 Best Careers To Study In School If…

Why study mass communication.

Media and Entertainment are growing at a faster rate all over the World. In the United States which has the world’s largest media and entertainment industry at over $717 billion, it represents a third of the global media and communication industry. According to statistics in India, the compound annual growth rate ( CAGR ) of the Indian Media and entertainment industry is from 10.90 percent to 13.10 percent and It’s expected to double by 2023.

In Africa, after more than a decade of digital upset, African entertainment and media have enjoyed a major rise. According to a report from PwC, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya have seen a major rise in their Media and entertainment industry. The compound annual growth rate ( CAGR ) of these countries has improved and has contributed immensely to their economic growth.

All over the World, the media and communication industry constitutes of various segments such as film, television, advertising, print media, music, and digital is the fastest-growing sector in recent decades. The media industry is seeing phenomenal growth and this should give you reasons why you should study Mass Communication.

Also read: 7 In-Demand Jobs Most Companies will Be Hiring Beyond 2020

Mass Communication Course

Here are lists of Mass Communication course outlines curated from top Universities in the World, which you will study before you can become a Mass Communication graduate.

The following are the list of Core Mass Communication Courses

Introduction to Mass Communication
History of Mass Media
African Communication System
Introduction to Statistics
Introduction to Psychology
Communication in French
Introduction to Entrepreneurship Studies
Writing for the Mass Media
Word processing
Computer Application
Introduction to Computer
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Statistics
Fundamental Philosophy
Logic, Philosophy of Human Existence
Communication in English
Communication in German
Introduction to Publishing Sequence
Introduction to Film Cinema & Literature
Introduction to Advertising
News Writing & Reporting
Editorial Writing
Feature Writing
Constitutional Development
Introduction to Sociology
Fundamental Theology
History & Philosophy of Science
Editing & Graphics of Communication
Critical & Review Writing
Advanced and Specialized Reporting
Principals of Public Relations
Advertising Sequence
Theories of Mass Communication
Foundations of Communication Research
Word Processing
Mass Communication Foundations for Advertising
Fundamentals of Media Relations
Foundations of Broadcasting
Radio/Television Operation
International Communication
Communication and Society
Radio/TV News Writing
Newspaper Management and Production
Magazine Management and Production
Science and Technology Reporting
Photo Journalism & Management
International & Foreign Broadcasting
Film Theory and Aesthetics
Television Programme Writing & Production
Public Affairs Broadcasting
Broadcast Management and Programming
Foreign Correspondence
Rural Community Newspaper
Economics of Mass News Reporting
Screen Directing
Photo Editing
Issues in Nigeria Mass Communication & Media History
New Technique in Book Publishing
Advertising Creative Strategies and Tactics
Book Publishing & The Law
Advertising & PR Research
Mass Media and Law of Ethics
Station Management and Operations
Issues in Broadcasting
Organization and Management of advertising and PR Agencies
Documentary Film Production
Data Analysis in Communication Research
Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR.
Media Attachment
Communication & National Development
Bindery & Finishing Operations
International Advertising
Educational Broadcasting
Rural Broadcasting
International Public Relations
Drama & Documentary Production
Original Essay/Project
Film Criticism
Special Topics in Advert and Public Relations

There are awards organized by the United Nations Corr espondents Association (UNCA) which invites media worldwide to submit entries for its annual UNCA Awards for the best print, broadcast (TV & Radio), an online, web-based media coverage of the United Nations, U.N. agencies, and field operations

Tips for a Study Path in Mass Communication

In order to be a good mass communicator, you need the following:

Be original and unique : To be the best version of yourself, you must be able to accept criticism and take feedback, no matter how painful it is. This will help you to work on the areas you are yet to become perfect.
Be creative : Creativity is employed here in order to bring out the best in you. Think outside the box and make use of the resources available to you, no matter how limited they are.
Keep learning : There is always something new to learn in the industry, even on the street. Talk to people around and learn from anyone, no matter how high or low the person is placed in society. The beauty of learning is that it increases your knowledge and experience.
Adapt fast : The only constant thing is change. Everything in the world keeps evolving and you need to be adaptive in order to meet up. Know the latest trends in the industry and try your best to practice what you learned.

Also read: Top 10 Skills You Need to Thrive in the 4th Industrial Revolution

How Long Does a Degree in Mass Communication Take?

Mass communication is complex and involves a variety of branches. Basically, it takes 2 to 4 years to acquire a degree in mass communication. However, for a broader option, it is better to major in a particular field like advertising, journalism, film production, public relations, and so on. This might take a longer period of time. But then, you will become a professional in that niche.

Skills in Mass Communication

Creativity is compulsory for you in any field you chose. With creative skills, you can present your work in a more unique way, taking advantage of the competitive market to sell your skills. With time, you’d become one of the pillars of the industry.

Communication skills are also necessary as they will help you to pass your messages effortlessly. Areas of interest like entertainment, broadcasting, public speaking, consulting, all need strong communication skills. You might also be involved in interviewing the audience via telephone, news interview, personality interview, prepared question, a man in the street, casual interview, and so on. The interview is one of the principal aspects of news and must be carried out in impeccable English.

Speaking skills are also very necessary as a mass media professional. Most media jobs involve speaking or interacting with an audience. Outspokenness and eloquence will help to hone your speaking skills. If you are an introvert, you can as well work on your public image, so as to make proper use of your communication and speaking skills. You can take up some challenges that involve speaking to a crowd. This will help you to become more courageous and confident and more prepared for your career. Don’t be shy while talking to people. One thing you need to understand is that making mistakes is part of the learning process. Make mistakes, learn from them, and fly.

You should develop writing and editing skills as they would help you in reaching out to a wider audience. As a writer, you can research topics of interest and present information for print media, websites, social media, and other platforms. You should have good eyes for pointing out errors, so as to present an error-free written work. This is what editing is all about.

You should be good at motivating people because most of your activities are going to be in front of an audience. Let people learn from your experience. Motivate them to take up challenging tasks and increase their horizon. Your comportment matters a lot if you want to gather huge followership.

Also read: 13 Free Online Courses to Improve Your Writing Skills

Careers in Mass Communications

With the knowledge of the audience’s behavior and content creation, mass communication professionals are the best in delivering messages effectively targeted to the right audience.

Here’s a list of potential careers in media and mass communication open to graduates in the field.

Marketing: A well-paid and innovative field that offers careers within a wide range of companies, marketing involves research into your potential audience and developing strategies for how they can be targeted effectively – through pricing, product development, placement, and advertising.
Advertising: A highly creative and fast-paced field, advertising involves creating visual and verbal communications to complement marketing strategies.
Broadcasting: As well as the reporters and presenters in front of the camera, there are many other jobs within broadcast media, such as researchers and producers. While some technical positions may require further training, a mass communication degree makes a good general preparation for a career in broadcasting.
Journalism: Traditional journalism might be in decline, but there are still interesting opportunities in this area, and a mass communications degree is the perfect preparation if you want to become a journalist – especially if you think you might want to move into another field later on, such as public relations.
Public relations: This is essentially the art of storytelling, applied to a specific organization or cause. There are opportunities in both the public and the private sectors and the skills are highly transferrable.
Corporate communications: While most careers in mass communication are all about communicating with the public, jobs in corporate communications focus on creating internal communications for companies in all sectors. It’s vitally important for the smooth running of any business.
Visual communications: Graphic design, photography, video, website design – many creative fields fall under the umbrella of ‘visual communications’. A degree in mass communications – especially if combined with a visual arts minor – helps you understand how to analyze and create this style of communication.

Because mass communication is a multidisciplinary subject, there are different fields you can get into. Try to keep yourself updated with the happenings in the field. Hone your skills in order to take advantage of abounding opportunities in the industry.

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5 Reasons To Study Mass Communication

person using smartphone and laptop at the same time

Mass communication is defined as the process of creating, sending, receiving, and analyzing messages to large audiences, via verbal, written and digital media. Through mass communication, information can be transmitted quickly and efficiently. If you love media, then mass communication may be the course for you. It covers a wide range from radio, journalism, print and online media, to videography and public relations, among others, and a course in Mass Communication will allow students to develop a thorough understanding of the professions involved, helping them broaden their career options.

Studying Mass Communication will be of relevance many years to come, with society and the world becoming more dependent on media and digital technology.

Here are 5 reasons to study Mass Communication:

Endless Career Options

No experience needed

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Hands-On Project

If you fancy doing assignments or projects that include collaborating with a company or event, then you can consider doing Mass Communication. Students doing media studies are often involved in hands-on projects. They can gain valuable knowledge when engaging with mass media and digital technologies.

A unique experience

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Chapter 6: 21st-century media and issues

6.10.2 Social media and communication (research essay)

Lindsey Matier

English 102, April 2021

Communication is extremely important in today’s world, whether it be verbal or nonverbal. It can take place through many different forms such as through writing, speaking, listening and physical actions. These forms of communication evolve and continue to improve over time. As humans, we rely on communication for almost everything and it is a way of life. Communication has evolved from talking to writing letters to texting or talking over the phone. Every time a new form of communication is brought up and becomes more popular, we have to adapt and evolve to that new lifestyle. Throughout all the new forms of communication and ways of evolving, social media has been one of the most influential so far. Social media has allowed us to create new ways of communicating, such as texting or posting through different apps. It can connect us with people all over the world and give us a platform to express ourselves in ways that have not been possible before. While social media started off as a small form of technology, it has morphed into aspects of our everyday life. Now there are apps for everything from social media profiles to online shopping. While social media and technology itself has evolved, this has also affected our communication with each other and the world. Social media has created a fast track for information in a matter of seconds. It can give people a platform with millions of followers overnight for doing practically anything. It can help people express themselves in new ways and connect with people who have similar interests. The end goal of social media is to make people happy and ultimately make lives easier.

Introduction

With all this being said, it is evident that social media is in our everyday lives and will continue to change. It has a very strong grip on society as social media usage continues to rise throughout the years. Generalizing social media, we are exposed to forms of media at almost all times of the day. Answering the question of what media is will help give a better understanding of social media as a whole. Media can be defined as a way of mass communication. This could include siting in the car listening to ads on the radio all the way to scrolling on twitter. We are exposed to social media less often than generalized media, but it tends to come in greater quantities when exposed. For example, for people that wake up and check twitter it is an instant flood of information with every scroll. Everything from politics to sports to celebrity news is available at the fingertips. The concern is not all focused on the overwhelming information, but also the overwhelming number of comments and opinions. If we wanted to debate or talk about something before social media it had to be done in person, face to face. Now with social media, we are able to fight with people in comment sections on a backup account with a different name and no connection to who we really are. This new form of communication takes away the vulnerability of speaking to people and having genuine conversation, and makes up for it in internet trolls. Overall, social media is impacting the way we communicate with each other and the real questions are: Is social media impacting us in a positive or negative way? Do the positive aspects outweigh the negative aspects? Is social media hindering the way we communicate in person with each other? Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life?

Personal Research

Along with the other studies that I found from the sources I chose, I also conducted my own study to determine more accurate and recent data. I asked students mostly within high school and college range questions relating to social media and communication. I tried to get a wide range of data dealing with social media apps, screen time, and overall communication as a result of social media. I expected to see almost all negative responses about social media and communication. I figured that most people would respond saying that it has affected them negatively rather than positively, but the results were different compared to what I expected.

The first questions I asked had to do with social media itself. I asked questions about their most used social media apps, screen time, what age they were allowed to start using social media, and whether or not they think social media has had a negative or positive impact on them. As expected, most of the social media apps were some of the most popular ones like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Overall, the average screen time for all apps was evenly split between 4-6 and 6-8 hours, which I also expected. Something that did surprise me was the amount of time spent on certain social media apps. The data was split pretty evenly three ways and all between 1-4 hours. The next two questions dealt with when they group surveyed started using social media. I asked these questions because a lot of the points I want to discuss later in my paper have to deal with age and whether younger generations are suffering when it comes to communication. More than half the people surveyed said that they wished that they had waited to get social media until they were older. Some said that it is not appropriate for younger kids and that it is just toxic in general. Something that I really like that a couple people mentioned was that in reality, social media at a young age is stupid and useless. A lot of people said they wish they would have enjoyed their childhood more and they would be more extroverted now if they had not been exposed that early. The last question of this section that I asked was if they thought social media has had a more positive or negative impact on them. Overall, the data was split but leaning slightly towards the more positive side. The positive answers mostly dealt with being able to talk to stay in contact with people and meeting new friends. The negative answers all related to mental health and feeling bad about themselves. A lot of people said it is toxic and very controlling and takes up too much of our time.

The next set of questions I asked had to do more with communication and interaction with and without social media. I asked questions like how they feel about social media and how it has impacted their communication, their mental health, and if it has made our lives easier. I decided to ask questions like these because I figured I would get a wide range of responses and a lot of people’s different opinions. I started off by asking if people are an introvert or an extrovert to get an idea of what the responses would be like, and 66% said somewhere in between the two. The response for the next question really shocked me because I received such a one-side response. I asked if they think social media has impacted their communication and the way they interact with others and 75% (18/24 people) said yes. This is the information that I was looking for along with the next two questions. The next question asked if they think social media has negatively impacted their mental health and 50% said yes. I also plan on using this as a research question to show that social media can affect our mental health and therefore affect the way we interact with and around other people. The last two questions are similar but the responses were both very good. Almost everyone answered yes to the question asking if social media has made our lives easier. Everyone that answered yes said they think so because it helps them talk to friends, stay in touch with people they do not see as much, and meet new people that they are comfortable talking to. The people that said no also made good points such as it takes over our lives and it is filled with too much hate and cancel culture. I agree with both sides and am very happy that people can feel a positive response especially when it comes to communicating with other people online. The last question I asked was used to wrap up the whole survey and topic. I asked if they think social media has made our generation’s communication improve or worsen. The data was pretty evenly split, and most people gave a positive and a negative. The people that said improve gave that answer because they said it broadens our communication and allows us to talk to people at a wider range. The people who said it has made it worse all said that it is ruining our face-to-face interaction and causing us to lose emotion. They said that some people do not even know how to have a proper in person conversation and that they are too dependent on their phones. Overall, I agree with both arguments that people made but I do think that the positives outweigh the negatives in most of these situations and questions.

Research Questions

The first question I want to ask has to deal with the overall social media and communication connection and has multiple other questions I would like to cover within it. The main question is: Is social media hindering the way we communicate with each other? I also want to touch on questions like: Is social media impacting us in a positive or negative way? Do the positives outweigh the negatives? The second set of research questions I have is: Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication?

Research Question One

Social media and communication have a direct connection to each other and both have a strong impact on the outcome of the other. My first research question has to do with that. My questions center around how social media has impacted our communication, and whether or not it is positive or negative. First, I think it is important to note the changes and different characteristics that come into play when talking about this. Things like age and problems going on in our world can affect our social media usage and communication. While we connect to people on a deeper level when talking to the in person, social media has also given us a newer and more broad way of communicating. The article “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate” by Stacey Hanke, talks about different ways social media has impacted our communication. Social media has become so relevant in our day to day lives and Hanke describes it in a couple different ways. She describes it as information binging and the fear of missing out, social graces and conversational boredom. Within these, she explains how social media has become an excuse and escape to talk to people face to face. Hanke also talks about how even though it is limiting our in person communication, it can sometimes make communicating in general easier, by being able to talk to each other in just a few words (Hanke 1). In another article by Ryan J. Fuller titled “The Impact of Social Media Use on Our Social Skills”, he discusses similar topics to Hanke’s article but also brings up more positive attributes of social media. Fuller starts of his article by giving some statistics, stating that 75% of teens own cellphones and 25% of them using it for social media, and also says that they use 7.5 hours a day using it (Fuller 1). I am glad that this was brought up because it is important to know how much time is spent on social media, scrolling through feed. Next, Fuller starts to discuss some of the benefits of social media. He briefly explains how social media is beneficial because we are able to stay in touch with our friends and family, and share important parts of our lives with them. He also explains how it helps people reach out to new friends and provide themselves with more opportunities (Fuller 1). Overall, I really like that he mentioned these because it is important to keep in mind the vast majority of social media and communication. While some use it for more simpler purposes likes just keeping up to date with what is going on in the world, others use it to make new friends, find new job opportunities, and stay in touch with people. Another topic I find important when it comes to answering this research question is how Covid affected everything. With the pandemic, we were left inside with nothing to do but what was at our fingertips. This pandemic increased social media usage drastically. The article “Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Twitter Data” by Danny Valdez et al, shows extensive research into determining just how much social media usage in the United States increased during the pandemic. They did experiments and surveys to determine multiple responses to research questions and show how much we rely on social media to communicate with each other. During the pandemic, everyone spent more time on their social media and their phone in general, probably more than they would like to admit. The article helps give more insight into this claim. There is the idea that social media was meant as an addition to our lives. For some people, it has become an addiction and a new piece of their life. The article focuses on how social media could be a toxic place and have a negative effect on our mental health. The time period for this information focuses around the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from Twitter, Valdez created a study to determine the mood of people during the pandemic and the usage throughout (Valdez et al 2). Collecting tweets with certain hashtags and during time periods, the goal was to determine how much the pandemic affected people’s moods, and how much they put out and shared on social media. They used hashtags, timeline data, and tweets from different periods such as the first lockdown, different stay at home orders, etc. Given the responses to the data, they were able to determine the increase in social media usage. We cannot determine if this had a positive or negative effect on the people who were using Twitter, but we can infer that social media is becoming a key part of our lives. Not being able to talk to people as much in person during the first few months of the pandemic greatly affected communication, in positive and negative ways. Communication over the phone increased due to the amount of free time that people had and were able to spend talking to others. Contrary to that, in person communication also decreased given that people were not really allowed to leave the house. The next article by Tayebi et al, “The Role of Information Systems in Communication Through Social Media” focuses a lot about how we have evolved over time with social media and communication. They start off by talking about how social networks are like social media societies. They explain it by resembling it to a human society, as it is filled with people communicating, regardless of time or place. They also exemplify other aspects such as emotional support, information, emotions (Tayebi 2). Social media is constantly looked at through such a negative light due to some of the major bad events that have taken place. While it can be difficult at times to look past the negatives, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the positives. The growth of scientific research would not be possible without the amount of information received from the media (Tayebi 3). Without social media and media in general, we would not be where we are today as a society. As mentioned earlier, it is so easy to get lost in the negative aspects of social media and discard the positive ones. Positive parts of social media such as widespread communication and unlimited access to information makes it all worth it. Staying on topic with positive aspects of social media and communication, social media in the workplace has also broken down barriers for communication. The article “A Guide to the Successful Use of Social Media in the Workplace” by Clark Boyd gives insight into how social media has improved the workplace, and ultimately communication and interaction as a whole. Companies can use social media as a form of branding and way to communicate their products (Boyd 4). Boyd states, “Harvard Business Review finds that 82% of employees believe social media improves work relationships. Left to their own devices, your teams will connect and communicate on social networks, both inside and outside the office.” This directly relates to the research question asking whether social media hinders our communication with each other. Social media also helps when it comes to dealing with complaints placed online. By seeing these through social media, it can help the company communicate either with the person or their company the concerns that are being stated (Boyd 9). Overall, it is safe to say that social media has directly affected communication throughout different aspects of our lives.

Research Question Two

My second set of research questions has a lot to do with the future and how we can improve. Questions such as: Is their more room for improvement when it comes to dealing with communication in the social media spectrum? How can we help improve our communication skills on social media and in real life? How is social media impacting younger generation’s communication versus older generation’s communication? The article “What is Literacy” by James Paul Gee talks a lot about the basics of communication. I find this an important article to talk about before I go into more detail with this second research question. Gee explains discourse as a socially accepted way of speaking, thinking, and acting (Gee 1). It is important to note this because social media has changed that discourse for us. We no longer communicate and interact the same way in which we use to therefore almost giving us a new discourse. Another thing Gee discusses is identity kits. Gee explains identity kits as “appropriate costumes and instructions on how to act and talk” (Gee 2). This relates to social media because there is a certain way we communicate online that we wouldn’t do in person. For example, we use emojis and abbreviations to communicate on social media or over text, but this is something we would not do when communicating face-to-face. There are also some basic well-known rules of social media that follow along the lines of an identity kit. Such as, for Instagram it is a common idea not to like people’s pictures from too long ago. When you say this aloud it sounds like it is not a big deal and silly almost, but for people that use social media it is something that makes sense. The next article is going to focus more on the question that has to do with room for improvement of communication. The article “The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media” by Francesca Valsesia, Davide Proserpio, and Joseph C. Nunes involves how we deal with social media and how we react to it. The article has a lot to do with pyramid schemes and marketing schemes on social media, simply due to follower count. Social media has a lot of power over us and the content we see. Influencers have too much impact on what we see every day and this overall effects our communication (Valsesia 1). Social media feeds us information at our fingertips, whether it be true or false. Valsesia is trying to get the point across that social media has no impact on our lives without the phone and therefore, having a smaller follower count is better for our communication and overall wellbeing in the first place. Leading into my next article, social media can have a huge impact on the younger generation. This leads into part of my second research question dealing with the younger generation and their communication. The article “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities” by Jacqueline Nesi shows how social media is a very complex brand of information and makes it complicated for everyone. Younger kids having access to it and multiple devices like computers and phones makes it that much more difficult. There are a lot of positives and negatives for younger kids having access to social media and the internet in general. It has an impact on their mental health and studies show it leads to signs of depression, body dysmorphia, eating disorders (Nesi 2). It can also affect their communication and outward identity due to things such as bullying, internet drama, and behavioral problems. While it does have serious negative risks, social media also can bring a lot of new positive ones. Things like creative ideas, humor and entertainment, and being able to explore their identity are all really great positives that social media gives us (Nesi 4). Most of them using it as a way to connect with friends and family and help them feel a sense of acceptance and belonging (Nesi 4). Similarly to this, social media has given a great outlet for kids and young adults to speak out on issues going on in the world. The article “Building Bridges: Exploring the Communication Trends and Perceived Sociopolitical Benefits of Adolescents Engaging in Online Social Justice Efforts” by Mariah Elsa Kornbluh goes into detail about the racial injustices in the world and how they are communicated through social media. Social media networks can help connect kids to different backgrounds and aspects of their lives (Kornbluh 1). Kornbluh expresses how a society only can flourish under civic engagement and being able to express ourselves, and social media is helping us do that. It is helping the younger generation prepare for the civic role that they will undergo (Kornbluh 2). Social media helps play a major role in participating in political movements and bringing awareness to topics (Kornbluh 3). This all is done by the younger generation and would not be possible without them. So, while it is easy to look at the negative parts of social media and how it effects the younger generation, it also brings great awareness to real life problems in our world. This last article I wanted to go over dealing with this research question has to do with the pandemic. The article “Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries” by Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih, Ahmed M. Hasanein and Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr briefly talks about communication with social media in higher education systems. Education systems had to switch from in person learning and communication to online learning, which was a struggle for everyone. Throughout the time that this took place, results showed that social media had a positive effect on students dealing with this (Sobaih 1). Students used social media to build a community and help support each other through this rough time. Through these results, proper usage of social media can be shown as a positive result for a new era of learning (Sobaih 1). This is just one more reason why social media can help us improve our future.

After answering my research questions, it has become clear to me that while social media does have negative aspects, the positive aspects outweigh them. Between the articles and my own research, I have enough evidence to prove that social media does effect communication, but in a more positive way. The way we act and present ourselves is heavily influenced by social media and communication between generations are different and can be seen that way. It is important to note the accomplishments we have made as a society with social media and the media in general. It has helped connect families, provide support groups, and provide entertainment in desperate times. Our communication has changed because of social media but has changed and helped us for the better in the long run. Keeping social media a positive place and staying away from the toxic people on it will only help us grow and learn new things about ourselves.

Works Cited

Boyd, Clark. “A Guide to Using Social Media in the Workplace in 2021.” The Blueprint , The Blueprint, 13 May 2020, www.fool.com/the-blueprint/social-media-in-the-workplace/.

https://www.fool.com/the-blueprint/social-media-in-the-workplace/

D, Valdez, et al. “Social Media Insights Into US Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Analysis of Twitter Data.” Journal of Medical Internet Research , vol. 22, no. 12, 14 Dec. 2020, pp. 1438–8871.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu:2050/eds/detail/detail? vid=8&sid=ff59b04c-b868-44cd-b864-4538e112a2ea%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=33284783&db=mnh

J, Nesi. “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Health: Challenges and Opportunities.” North Carolina Medical Journal , vol. 81, no. 2, 2020, pp. 116–121.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu:2050/eds/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=ff59b04c-b868-44cd-b864-4538e112a2ea%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=32132255&db=mnh

Gee, James Paul. “What is literacy.” Negotiating academic literacies: Teaching and learning across languages and cultures (1998): 51-59.

https://academic.jamespaulgee.com/pdfs/Gee%20What%20is%20Literacy.pdf

Hanke, Stacey. “How Social Media Affects Our Ability to Communicate.” Thrive Global , 13 Sept. 2018, thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-affects-our-ability-to-communicate/.

https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-affects-our-ability-to-communicate/

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu:2050/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=467b825c-34f8-4e47-95df-e5b2b61bbaf4%40sessionmgr4006

Kornbluh, Mariah Elsa. “Building Bridges.” Youth & Society , vol. 51, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1104–1126., doi:10.1177/0044118×17723656.

https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy.ulib.csuohio.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0044118X17723656

Retchin, Sarah, et al. “The Impact of Social Media Use on Social Skills.” New York Behavioral Health , 1 Dec. 2020, newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills/.

https://newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills/

Sobaih, Abu Elnasr E., et al. “Responses to COVID-19 in Higher Education: Social Media Usage for Sustaining Formal Academic Communication in Developing Countries.” MDPI , Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 12 Aug. 2020, www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6520/htm.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6520/htm

Tayeb, Seyed Mohammad, et al. “The Role of Information Systems in Communication through Social Media.” International Journal of Data and Network Science , vol. 3, no. 3, 2019, pp. 245–268., doi:10.5267/j.ijdns.2019.2.002.

http://www.growingscience.com/ijds/Vol3/ijdns_2019_15.pdf

Valsesia, Francesca, et al. “The Positive Effect of Not Following Others on Social Media .” Journal of Marketing Research , vol. 57, no. 6, Dec. 2020, pp. 1152–1168.

https://www.francescavalsesia.com/uploads/1/0/5/1/105151509/the_positive_effect_of_not_following_others_on_social_media.pdf

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Lindsey Matier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Why I Became a Communications Major: Real Students’ Stories

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Moriah Kofsky in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered

Why study communications, why study communications at your college.

When asked what made them decide to study communications, college students Kiya, Justin, and Katie shared their responses.

Why Kiya Chose Communications

According to Kiya, a college student at Wake Forest University , she has always liked communicating with people despite considering herself to be a shy person who is not extremely outgoing. But once she is in a comfortable space, she enjoys meeting and getting to know new people.

When Kiya was in high school, she took film and public speaking courses, which helped her decide that she wanted to major in communications. In both of those courses, she got hands-on experience and was able to talk to and be mentored by college professors. Ultimately for Kiya, communications was something that she already had an interest in.

Once she got to college and went to Wake Forest’s career center to talk with an advisor about a major, Kiya realized that communications might be a good fit for her. It was aligned with the things that she was interested in academically and what she enjoyed doing for fun.

Why Justin Chose Communications

Justin is a communications student at the University of Michigan . He believes that communications is one of the only majors that you can take in whatever direction works best for you because it applies to so many different disciplines and industries, including law, business, marketing, and agriculture. For example, Justin is studying film and applies communications to this field.

He feels that communications is one of the most versatile majors out there, and that’s what makes it great. Once you begin exploring the communications courses that interest you, you can develop your own path within the major.

For Justin specifically, his interest in communications lies in wanting to understand audiences and what appeals to them, as well as communicating messages and storytelling. Additionally, he appreciates that communications can be unique to the individual pursuing it.

When asked why they decided to study communications specifically at their schools, Katie and Justin shared their responses. They reflected on components of the curriculum, internship opportunities, and class structures that stood out to them. They also shared how their major is unique at the university that they attend.

Communications at the University of Arkansas

Katie studies communications at the University of Arkansas, where the major is agriculture specific and housed within the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications, and Technology. Katie is technically pursuing a communications concentration.

Choosing a program that was specific to agriculture was important for Katie because she feels like there are many consumer misconceptions in agriculture, and communications plays an important role in helping the public understand those misconceptions. Katie thinks that people often don’t understand how intertwined agriculture is in their daily lives if they aren’t personally connected to the industry or believe that they aren’t.

For example, everyone needs to have food to eat and clothes to wear every single day. The fact that communicating these messages is a job and that there are so many different areas you can pursue within agricultural communications was something that Katie didn’t even realize when she started college.

Initially, Katie first thought that she wanted to be an engineer. Once she started studying agricultural communications, she realized that it was something that she had been passionate about her whole life. Finding a major that fit that particular interest was incredibly exciting.

Communications at the University of Michigan

As a communications major at the University of Michigan, Justin shared that the program was a perfect fit for him based on his interests, But he didn’t even take a communications course during his freshman year. When he entered college, he only knew that he wanted to do film.

During his freshman year, he took psychology courses because they seemed interesting. While Justin enjoyed parts of psychology, he realized that he wasn’t interested in pursuing the scientific research components of the major.

Afterward, Justin looked into communications and realized that it would enable him to communicate messages and understand audiences, while serving as a springboard for him to pursue other interests.

Justin found there were many classes and extracurricular opportunities related to communications. For example, at the University of Michigan, many communications students also participate in the TV Club.

Since it’s so broad, a major like communications is a great way to expand your interests and meet new people who have different interests from you.

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Why i chose to study mass communication at lsu, third major's the charm, right.

Picking a college major can be one of the most stressful experiences for an incoming student. For me, it was simple. I loved playing with animals and had been to Petco a few times, so obviously Animal Science is what I am meant to have a career in for the rest of my life, right? WRONG.

I learned the hard way that picking a major you have little interest in just because you need to pick one is a dumb decision and a big waste of time. After doing some soul searching, declaring a few more majors, and adding a minor to the list, I finally decided to give mass communication a try. This would be the third time I had declared a major at LSU, and I could not afford to change my mind again otherwise I'll end up graduating with the kids I used to babysit.

What made me make such a dramatic switch from animals to media, you ask? Well, I love writing. Also, I am a frequent Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram user. Both of these qualities are important to have when working in mass communications, so I figured this would be a good switch.

Boy, was I right. So far, we've only been in school for a few weeks, but already I am in love with the Manship school and all the awesome things it offers students. For example...

Class in LSU's oldest building.

Although the Journalism building was not the first building actually built on LSU's campus, it was brought here brick-by-brick to LSU's current location from the old campus. Fun Fact: the entrance that we use to get inside this building is actually the exit. It was built facing backwards.

One of the syllabus requirements is to have Facebook and Instagram accounts by Midterms.

It's like I've been ready for this class since high school. CHECK!

Class hashtags.

If you have a question in your MC 2000 class, just tweet it with the class hashtag!

Perfect view of Tiger Stadium from your classroom.

If you have class in the Journalism building and can sit by a window, there's a perfect view of Death Valley that we all can't wait to be back in next Fall.

Students are encouraged to bring laptops to class.

Most teachers hate these distracting devices and ban them from the classroom, but if you work in media it's something necessary to have with you.

Although these perks make having a major in this area of study seem like a walk in the park, there are some hardships that come along with it as well. Including...

Hours and hours spent on your articles to make them perfect.

Procrastinating isn't really an option in the world of writing.

GPA of a 3.0 just to be accepted into the Manship school's senior college.

You have to keep up your grades or else you won't be accepted into your senior college and will be forced to change your major. Sounds harsh, huh?

High competition for internships and jobs.

A monkey could send a tweet, so why hire you? Hard work and dedication is especially important in this field because everyone wants your job.

Long work hours when you actually land a job.

9-5 work day and hitting the bar with co-workers after? LOL keep dreaming. The day is done when the job is done.

To the people who believe that having a degree in Mass Comm is easy cheesy, just think about those who are meeting insane deadlines to give you a newspaper to read in the mornings, or creating the commercials that made you actually consider buying Pajama Jeans that one time. Oh, and that clever hashtag you just posted? We probably thought of it first. That's the power of media.

Let's face it, you need us.

#geauxmanship

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Grateful beyond words: a letter to my inspiration, i have never been so thankful to know you..

I can't say "thank you" enough to express how grateful I am for you coming into my life. You have made such a huge impact on my life. I would not be the person I am today without you and I know that you will keep inspiring me to become an even better version of myself.

You have taught me that you don't always have to strong. You are allowed to break down as long as you pick yourself back up and keep moving forward. When life had you at your worst moments, you allowed your friends to be there for you and to help you. You let them in and they helped pick you up. Even in your darkest hour you showed so much strength. I know that you don't believe in yourself as much as you should but you are unbelievably strong and capable of anything you set your mind to.

Your passion to make a difference in the world is unbelievable. You put your heart and soul into your endeavors and surpass any personal goal you could have set. Watching you do what you love and watching you make a difference in the lives of others is an incredible experience. The way your face lights up when you finally realize what you have accomplished is breathtaking and I hope that one day I can have just as much passion you have.

SEE MORE: A Letter To My Best Friend On Her Birthday

The love you have for your family is outstanding. Watching you interact with loved ones just makes me smile . You are so comfortable and you are yourself. I see the way you smile when you are around family and I wish I could see you smile like this everyday. You love with all your heart and this quality is something I wished I possessed.

You inspire me to be the best version of myself. I look up to you. I feel that more people should strive to have the strength and passion that you exemplify in everyday life.You may be stubborn at points but when you really need help you let others in, which shows strength in itself. I have never been more proud to know someone and to call someone my role model. You have taught me so many things and I want to thank you. Thank you for inspiring me in life. Thank you for making me want to be a better person.

Waitlisted for a College Class? Here's What to Do!

Dealing with the inevitable realities of college life..

Course registration at college can be a big hassle and is almost never talked about. Classes you want to take fill up before you get a chance to register. You might change your mind about a class you want to take and must struggle to find another class to fit in the same time period. You also have to make sure no classes clash by time. Like I said, it's a big hassle.

This semester, I was waitlisted for two classes. Most people in this situation, especially first years, freak out because they don't know what to do. Here is what you should do when this happens.

Don't freak out

This is a rule you should continue to follow no matter what you do in life, but is especially helpful in this situation.

Email the professor

Around this time, professors are getting flooded with requests from students wanting to get into full classes. This doesn't mean you shouldn't burden them with your email; it means they are expecting interested students to email them. Send a short, concise message telling them that you are interested in the class and ask if there would be any chance for you to get in.

Attend the first class

Often, the advice professors will give you when they reply to your email is to attend the first class. The first class isn't the most important class in terms of what will be taught. However, attending the first class means you are serious about taking the course and aren't going to give up on it.

Keep attending class

Every student is in the same position as you are. They registered for more classes than they want to take and are "shopping." For the first couple of weeks, you can drop or add classes as you please, which means that classes that were once full will have spaces. If you keep attending class and keep up with assignments, odds are that you will have priority. Professors give preference to people who need the class for a major and then from higher to lower class year (senior to freshman).

Have a backup plan

For two weeks, or until I find out whether I get into my waitlisted class, I will be attending more than the usual number of classes. This is so that if I don't get into my waitlisted class, I won't have a credit shortage and I won't have to fall back in my backup class. Chances are that enough people will drop the class, especially if it is very difficult like computer science, and you will have a chance. In popular classes like art and psychology, odds are you probably won't get in, so prepare for that.

Remember that everything works out at the end

Life is full of surprises. So what if you didn't get into the class you wanted? Your life obviously has something else in store for you. It's your job to make sure you make the best out of what you have.

Navigating the Talking Stage: 21 Essential Questions to Ask for Connection

It's mandatory to have these conversations..

Whether you met your new love interest online , through mutual friends, or another way entirely, you'll definitely want to know what you're getting into. I mean, really, what's the point in entering a relationship with someone if you don't know whether or not you're compatible on a very basic level?

Consider these 21 questions to ask in the talking stage when getting to know that new guy or girl you just started talking to:

1. What do you do for a living?

What someone does for a living can tell a lot about who they are and what they're interested in! Their career reveals a lot more about them than just where they spend their time to make some money.

2. What's your favorite color?

OK, I get it, this seems like something you would ask a Kindergarten class, but I feel like it's always good to know someone's favorite color . You could always send them that Snapchat featuring you in that cute shirt you have that just so happens to be in their favorite color!

3. Do you have any siblings?

This one is actually super important because it's totally true that people grow up with different roles and responsibilities based on where they fall in the order. You can tell a lot about someone just based on this seemingly simple question.

4. What's your favorite television show?

OK, maybe this isn't a super important question, but you have to know ASAP if you can quote Michael Scott or not. If not, he probably isn't the one. Sorry, girl.

5. When is your birthday?

You can then proceed to do the thing that every girl does without admitting it and see how compatible your zodiacs are.

6. What's your biggest goal in life?

If you're like me, you have big goals that you want to reach someday, and you want a man behind you who also has big goals and understands what it's like to chase after a dream. If his biggest goal is to see how quickly he can binge-watch " Grey's Anatomy " on Netflix , you may want to move on.

7. If you had three wishes granted to you by a genie, what would they be?

This is a go-to for an insight into their personality. Based on how they answer, you can tell if they're goofy, serious, or somewhere in between.

8. What's your favorite childhood memory?

For some, this may be a hard question if it involves a family member or friend who has since passed away . For others, it may revolve around a tradition that no longer happens. The answers to this question are almost endless!

9. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

We all have parts of our lives and stories that we wish we could change. It's human nature to make mistakes. This question is a little bit more personal but can really build up the trust level.

10. Are you a cat or a dog person?

I mean, duh! If you're a dog person, and he is a cat person, it's not going to work out.

11. Do you believe in a religion or any sort of spiritual power?

Personally, I am a Christian, and as a result, I want to be with someone who shares those same values. I know some people will argue that this question is too much in the talking stage , but why go beyond the talking stage if your personal values will never line up?

12. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Even homebodies have a must visit place on their bucket list !

13. What is your ideal date night?

Hey, if you're going to go for it... go for it!

14. Who was/is your celebrity crush?

For me, it was hands-down Nick Jonas . This is always a fun question to ask!

15. What's a good way to cheer you up if you're having a bad day?

Let's be real, if you put a label on it, you're not going to see your significant other at their best 24/7.

16. Do you have any tattoos?

This can lead to some really good conversations, especially if they have a tattoo that has a lot of meaning to them!

17. Can you describe yourself in three words?

It's always interesting to see if how the person you're talking to views their personal traits lines ups with the vibes you're getting.

18. What makes you the most nervous in life?

This question can go multiple different directions, and it could also be a launching pad for other conversations.

19. What's the best gift you have ever received?

Admittedly, I have asked this question to friends as well, but it's neat to see what people value.

20. What do you do to relax/have fun?

Work hard, play hard, right?

21. What are your priorities at this phase of your life?

This is always interesting because no matter how compatible your personalities may be, if one of you wants to be serious and the other is looking for something casual, it's just not going to work.

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Challah vs. Easter Bread: A Delicious Dilemma

Is there really such a difference in challah bread or easter bread.

Ever since I could remember, it was a treat to receive Easter Bread made by my grandmother. We would only have it once a year and the wait was excruciating. Now that my grandmother has gotten older, she has stopped baking a lot of her recipes that require a lot of hand usage--her traditional Italian baking means no machines. So for the past few years, I have missed enjoying my Easter Bread.

A few weeks ago, I was given a loaf of bread called Challah (pronounced like holla), and upon my first bite, I realized it tasted just like Easter Bread. It was so delicious that I just had to make some of my own, which I did.

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

2 tsp active dry or instant yeast 1 cup lukewarm water 4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 2 tsp salt 2 large eggs 1 large egg yolk (reserve the white for the egg wash) 1/4 cup neutral-flavored vegetable oil

Instructions

Combine yeast and a pinch of sugar in small bowl with the water and stir until you see a frothy layer across the top.
Whisk together 4 cups of the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
Make a well in the center of the flour and add in eggs, egg yolk, and oil. Whisk these together to form a slurry, pulling in a little flour from the sides of the bowl.
Pour the yeast mixture over the egg slurry and mix until difficult to move.
Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes. If the dough seems very sticky, add flour a teaspoon at a time until it feels tacky, but no longer like bubblegum. The dough has finished kneading when it is soft, smooth, and holds a ball-shape.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place somewhere warm. Let the dough rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Separate the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a long rope roughly 1-inch thick and 16 inches long.
Gather the ropes and squeeze them together at the very top. Braid the pieces in the pattern of over, under, and over again. Pinch the pieces together again at the bottom.
Line a baking sheet with parchment and lift the loaf on top. Sprinkle the loaf with a little flour and drape it with a clean dishcloth. Place the pan somewhere warm and away from drafts and let it rise until puffed and pillowy, about an hour.
Heat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the reserved egg white with a tablespoon of water and brush it all over the challah. Be sure to get in the cracks and down the sides of the loaf.
Slide the challah on its baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking. The challah is done when it is deeply browned.

I kept wondering how these two breads could be so similar in taste. So I decided to look up a recipe for Easter Bread to make a comparison. The two are almost exactly the same! These recipes are similar because they come from religious backgrounds. The Jewish Challah bread is based on kosher dietary laws. The Christian Easter Bread comes from the Jewish tradition but was modified over time because they did not follow kosher dietary laws.

A recipe for Easter bread is as follows:

2 tsp active dry or instant yeast 2/3 cup milk 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup white granulated sugar 2 tbs butter 2 large eggs 2 tbs melted butter 1 tsp salt

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and yeast; stir well. Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan; heat until milk is warm and butter is softened but not melted.
Gradually add the milk and butter to the flour mixture; stirring constantly. Add two eggs and 1/2 cup flour; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal size rounds; cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each round into a long roll about 36 inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick. Using the two long pieces of dough, form a loosely braided ring, leaving spaces for the five colored eggs. Seal the ends of the ring together and use your fingers to slide the eggs between the braids of dough.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place loaf on a buttered baking sheet and cover loosely with a damp towel. Place loaf in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Brush risen loaf with melted butter.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Both of these recipes are really easy to make. While you might need to have a day set aside for this activity, you can do things while the dough is rising or in the oven. After only a few hours, you have a delicious loaf of bread that you made from scratch, so the time and effort is really worth it!

Unlocking Lake People's Secrets: 15 Must-Knows!

There's no other place you'd rather be in the summer..

The people that spend their summers at the lake are a unique group of people.

Whether you grew up going to the lake , have only recently started going, or have only been once or twice, you know it takes a certain kind of person to be a lake person. To the long-time lake people, the lake holds a special place in your heart , no matter how dirty the water may look.

Every year when summer rolls back around, you can't wait to fire up the boat and get back out there. Here is a list of things you can probably identify with as a fellow lake-goer.

A bad day at the lake is still better than a good day not at the lake.

It's your place of escape, where you can leave everything else behind and just enjoy the beautiful summer day. No matter what kind of week you had, being able to come and relax without having to worry about anything else is the best therapy there is. After all, there's nothing better than a day of hanging out in the hot sun, telling old funny stories and listening to your favorite music.

You know the best beaches and coves to go to.

Whether you want to just hang out and float or go walk around on a beach, you know the best spots. These often have to be based on the people you're with, given that some "party coves" can get a little too crazy for little kids on board. I still have vivid memories from when I was six that scared me when I saw the things drunk girls would do for beads.

You have no patience for the guy who can't back his trailer into the water right.

When there's a long line of trucks waiting to dump their boats in the water, there's always that one clueless guy who can't get it right, and takes 5 attempts and holds up the line. No one likes that guy. One time my dad got so fed up with a guy who was taking too long that he actually got out of the car and asked this guy if he could just do it for him. So he got into the guy's car, threw it in reverse, and got it backed in on the first try. True story.

Doing the friendly wave to every boat you pass.

Similar to the "jeep wave," almost everyone waves to other boats passing by. It's just what you do, and is seen as a normal thing by everyone.

The cooler is always packed, mostly with beer.

Alcohol seems to be a big part of the lake experience, but other drinks are squeezed into the room remaining in the cooler for the kids, not to mention the wide assortment of chips and other foods in the snack bag.

Giving the idiot who goes 30 in a "No Wake Zone" a piece of your mind.

There's nothing worse than floating in the water, all settled in and minding your business, when some idiot barrels through. Now your anchor is loose, and you're left jostled by the waves when it was nice and perfectly still before. This annoyance is typically answered by someone yelling some choice words to them that are probably accompanied by a middle finger in the air.

You have no problem with peeing in the water.

It's the lake, and some social expectations are a little different here, if not lowered quite a bit. When you have to go, you just go, and it's no big deal to anyone because they do it too.

You know the frustration of getting your anchor stuck.

The number of anchors you go through as a boat owner is likely a number that can be counted on two hands. Every once in a while, it gets stuck on something on the bottom of the lake, and the only way to fix the problem is to cut the rope, and you have to replace it.

Watching in awe at the bigger, better boats that pass by.

If you're the typical lake-goer, you likely might have an average-sized boat that you're perfectly happy with. However, that doesn't mean you don't stop and stare at the fast boats that loudly speed by, or at the obnoxiously huge yachts that pass.

Knowing any swimsuit that you own with white in it is best left for the pool or the ocean.

You've learned this the hard way, coming back from a day in the water and seeing the flowers on your bathing suit that were once white, are now a nice brownish hue.

The momentary fear for your life as you get launched from the tube.

If the driver knows how to give you a good ride, or just wants to specifically throw you off, you know you're done when you're speeding up and heading straight for a big wave. Suddenly you're airborne, knowing you're about to completely wipe out, and you eat pure wake. Then you get back on and do it all again.

You're able to go to the restaurants by the water wearing minimal clothing.

One of the many nice things about the life at the lake is that everybody cares about everything a little less. Rolling up to the place wearing only your swimsuit, a cover-up, and flip flops, you fit right in. After a long day when you're sunburned, a little buzzed, and hungry, you're served without any hesitation.

Having unexpected problems with your boat.

Every once in a while you're hit with technical difficulties, no matter what type of watercraft you have. This is one of the most annoying setbacks when you're looking forward to just having a carefree day on the water, but it's bound to happen. This is just one of the joys that come along with being a boat owner.

Having a name for your boat unique to you and your life.

One of the many interesting things that make up the lake culture is the fact that many people name their boats. They can range from basic to funny, but they are unique to each and every owner, and often have interesting and clever meanings behind them.

There's no better place you'd rather be in the summer.

Summer is your all-time favorite season, mostly because it's spent at the lake. Whether you're floating in the cool water under the sun, or taking a boat ride as the sun sets, you don't have a care in the world at that moment . The people that don't understand have probably never experienced it, but it's what keeps you coming back every year.

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13.2: Functions and Theories of Mass Communication

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Learning Objectives

Identify key functions of the mass media.
Explain how the media functions as a gatekeeper.
Discuss theories of mass communication, including hypodermic needle theory, media effects, and cultivation theory.

Functions and Theories of Mass Communication

Functions of Mass Media

The mass media serves several general and many specific functions. In general, the mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions:

Information function. We have a need for information to satisfy curiosity, reduce uncertainty, and better understand how we fit into the world. The amount and availability of information is now overwhelming compared to forty years ago when a few television networks, local radio stations, and newspapers competed to keep us informed. The media saturation has led to increased competition to provide information, which creates the potential for news media outlets, for example, to report information prematurely, inaccurately, or partially.
Interpretation function. Media outlets interpret messages in more or less explicit and ethical ways. Newspaper editorials have long been explicit interpretations of current events, and now cable television and radio personalities offer social, cultural, and political commentary that is full of subjective interpretations. Although some of them operate in ethical gray areas because they use formats that make them seem like traditional news programs, most are open about their motives.
Instructive function. Some media outlets exist to cultivate knowledge by teaching instead of just relaying information. Major news networks like CNN and BBC primarily serve the information function, while cable news networks like Fox News and MSNBC serve a mixture of informational and interpretation functions. The in-depth coverage on National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, and the more dramatized but still educational content of the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery Channel, serve more instructive functions.
Bonding function. Media outlets can bring people closer together, which serves the bonding function. For example, people who share common values and interests can gather on online forums, and masses of people can be brought together while watching coverage of a tragic event like 9/11 or a deadly tornado outbreak.
Diversion function. We all use the media to escape our day-to-day lives, to distract us from our upcoming exam, or to help us relax. When we are being distracted, amused, or relaxed, the media is performing the diversion function.

The Media as Gatekeeper

In addition to the functions discussed previously, media outlets also serve a gatekeeping function, which means they affect or control the information that is transmitted to their audiences. This function has been analyzed and discussed by mass communication scholars for decades. Overall, the mass media serves four gatekeeping functions: relaying, limiting, expanding, and reinterpreting (Bittner, 1996). In terms of relaying, mass media requires some third party to get a message from one human to the next. Whereas interpersonal communication only requires some channel or sensory route, mass media messages need to “hitch a ride” on an additional channel to be received. For example, a Sports Illustrated cover story that you read at SI.com went through several human “gates,” including a writer, editor, publisher, photographer, and webmaster, as well as one media “gate”—the Internet. We also require more than sensory ability to receive mass media messages. While hearing and/or sight are typically all that’s needed to understand what someone standing in front of you is saying, you’ll need a computer, smartphone, or tablet to pick up that SI.com cover story. In summary, relaying refers to the gatekeeping function of transmitting a message, which usually requires technology and equipment that the media outlet controls and has access to, but we do not. Although we relay messages in other forms of communication such as interpersonal and small group, we are primarily receivers when it comes to mass communication, which makes us depend on the gatekeeper to relay the message.

“Getting Critical”: The Media as “Watchdog”

In what ways do you think the media should function in a democratic society?
Do you think the media in the United States acts more as a watchdog, lapdog, or attack dog? Give specific examples to support your answer.
In an age of twenty-four-hour news and instant reporting, do you think politicians’ jobs are made easier or more difficult? Do you think reporters’ jobs are made easier or more difficult? Support your answers.

Theories of Mass Communication

Hypodermic Needle and Beyond

This early approach to studying media effects was called the hypodermic needle approach or bullet theory and suggested that a sender constructed a message with a particular meaning that was “injected” or “shot” into individuals within the mass audience. This theory is the basis for the transmission model of communication that we discussed in Chapter 1 “Introduction to Communication Studies”. It was assumed that the effects were common to each individual and that the meaning wasn’t altered as it was transferred. Through experiments and surveys, researchers hoped to map the patterns within the human brain so they could connect certain stimuli to certain behaviors. For example, researchers might try to prove that a message announcing that a product is on sale at a reduced price will lead people to buy a product they may not otherwise want or need. As more research was conducted, scholars began to find flaws within this thinking. New theories emerged that didn’t claim such a direct connection between the intent of a message and any single reaction on the part of receivers. Instead, these new theories claimed that meaning could be partially transferred, that patterns may become less predictable as people are exposed to a particular stimulus more often, and that interference at any point in the transmission could change the reaction.

These newer theories incorporated more contextual factors into the view of communication, acknowledging that both sender and receiver interpret messages based on their previous experience. Scholars realized that additional variables such as psychological characteristics and social environment had to be included in the study of mass communication. This approach connects to the interaction model of communication. In order to account for perspective and experience, mass media researchers connected to recently developed theories in perception that emerged from psychology. The concept of the gatekeeper emerged, since, for the first time, the sender of the message (the person or people behind the media) was the focus of research and not just the receiver. The concepts of perceptual bias and filtering also became important, as they explained why some people interpreted or ignored messages while others did not. Theories of primacy and recency, which we discussed in Chapter 9 “Preparing a Speech”, emerged to account for the variation in interpretation based on the order in which a message is received. Last, researchers explored how perceptions of source credibility affect message interpretation and how media messages may affect viewers’ self-esteem. By the 1960s, many researchers in mass communication concluded that the research in the previous twenty years had been naïve and flawed, and they significantly challenged the theory of powerful media effects, putting much more emphasis on individual agency, context, and environment (McQuail, 2010).

The next major turn in mass communication theory occurred only a few years after many scholars had concluded that media had no or only minimal effects (McQuail, 2010). In the 1970s, theories once again positioned media effects as powerful and influential based on additional influences from social psychology. From sociology, mass media researchers began to study the powerful socializing role that the media plays but also acknowledged that audience members take active roles in interpreting media messages. During this time, researchers explored how audience members’ schemata and personalities (concepts we discussed in Chapter 2 “Communication and Perception”) affect message interpretation. Researchers also focused more on long-term effects and how media messages create opinion climates, structures of belief, and cultural patterns.

Media Effects

Cultivation Theory

Over decades of exploring cultivation theory, Gerbner made several well-supported conclusions that are summarized as follows:

Prime-time television shows and weekend morning children’s programming have been found to contain consistently high amounts of violence over the past thirty years.
Older people, children, African Americans, and Latino/as are more likely to be shown as victims of violence than are their young-adult, middle-aged, and/or white counterparts. This disparity is more meaningful when we realize that these groups are also underrepresented (relative to their percentage in the general population) on these shows while their vulnerability to violence is overstated.
Heavy viewers predict that their odds of being a victim of violence within the next week are 1 in 10, while light viewers predicted 1 in 100. Real crime statistics give a more reliable estimate of 1 in 10,000.
Heavy viewers fear walking alone on the street more than do light viewers, believing that criminal activity is actually ten times more prevalent than it actually is.
Heavy viewers believe that more people are involved in law enforcement and that officers draw and use their weapons much more than is actually the case.
Heavy viewers are generally more suspicious of others and question their motives more than do light viewers (the basis of the mean world syndrome).
Given that most people on television are portrayed as politically moderate and middle class, heavy viewers are more likely to assume those labels even though heavy users tend to be more working class or poor and more politically conservative than moderate. In short, they begin to view themselves as similar to those they watch on television and consider themselves a part of the mainstream of society even though they are not.

“Getting Competent”: Applying Media Theories

To understand media effects, media criticism organizations do research on audience attitudes and also call on media commentators to give their opinions, which may be more academic and informed or more personal and partisan. In either case, taking some time to engage with these media criticism organizations can allow you to see how they apply mass communication theories and give you more information so you can be a more critical and informed consumer of media. You can find a list of many media criticism organizations on World-Newspapers.com (www.world-newspapers.com/media.html). Some of these organizations have a particular political ideology or social/cultural cause that they serve, so be cautious when choosing a source for media criticism to make sure you know what you’re getting. There are also more objective and balanced sources of media criticism. Two of my personal favorites that I engage with every week are CNN’s show Reliable Sources (www.cnn.com/shows/reliable-sources) and the public radio show On the Media (www.onthemedia.org). Reliable Sources even has an implicit reference to reciprocal effects in its show description, stating, “The press is a part of every story it covers.” [1] On the Media ran a story that implicitly connects to cultivation theory, as it critiques some of the media’s coverage of violence and audiences’ seeming desensitization to it (Bernstein 2012).

Of the “functions of mass media” discussed earlier in the chapter, which functions do media criticism organizations like the ones mentioned here serve? Specifically, give examples of how these organizations fulfill the gatekeeping functions and how they monitor the gatekeeping done by other media sources.
Since media criticism organizations like Reliable Sources and On the Media are also media sources (one a television show and one a radio show), how might hey be contributing to reciprocal effects?
Using the links provided, find a substantial article, study, or report that analyzes some media practice such as the covering of a specific event. Apply some aspect of media effects from the chapter to the story. How might media effects theory help us understand the criticism being raised?

Key Takeaways

The mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions.
As a gatekeeper, the media functions to relay, limit, expand, and reinterpret information.
The hypodermic needle theory of mass communication suggests that a sender constructs a message with a particular meaning that is “injected” into individuals within a mass audience.
Theories of media effects explore the intended or unintended effects of what the media does. Theories have claimed strong effects, meaning that media messages can directly and intentionally influence audience members. They have also claimed weak effects, meaning that media messages have no little power over viewers. More recently, theories have claimed negotiated effects, meaning that media messages do affect viewers but that viewers also have some agency to identify with, reject, or reinterpret a message.
Cultivation theory explores a particular kind of media effect claiming that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk in the world.
Which function of mass media (information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, or diversion) do you think is most important for you and why? Which is most important for society and why?
What ethical issues are created by the gatekeeping function of the media? What strategies or suggestions do you have for bypassing this function of the media to ensure that you get access to the information you want/need?
Getting integrated: Discuss media messages that have influenced or would influence you in a professional, academic, personal, and civic context.

Bernstein, B., “The Story of the Times Gory Empire State Shooting Photo,” On the Media , August 24, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, www.onthemedia.org/blogs/on-t.hooting-photo1.

Bittner, J. R., Mass Communication , 6th ed. (Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1996), 11.

Coronel, S. S., “The Media as Watchdog,” Harvard-World Bank Workshop, May 19, 2008, accessed September 19, 2012, www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/pnorri.20Watchdog.pdf.

Griffin, E., A First Look at Communication Theory , 7th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2009), 352–53.

McQuail, D., McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory , 6th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010), 457.

Self, C. C., Edward L. Gaylord, and Thelma Gaylord, “The Evolution of Mass Communication Theory in the 20th Century,” The Romanian Review of Journalism and Communication 6, no. 3 (2009): 29.

“About This Show,” CNN Reliable Sources , accessed September 20, 2012, http://reliablesources.blogs.cnn.com . ↵

Why major in Communication?

Main navigation.

A Communication degree from Stanford prepares you to understand the ever-increasing power of media, media technologies, and communication processes in everyday life. It also gives you skills that employers value – skills ranging from the ability to conduct complex quantitative social analyses to the ability to write clear and compelling prose. Depending on your route through the major , you may also develop skills in one-on-one interviewing, multimedia storytelling, and survey research.

Employers know that our students bring these skills with them to the workplace when they graduate. Our recent graduates are working across the media industries, from film, to public relations, to social media. They can also be found pursuing careers in law, medicine, and teaching.

As a field, communication is a crossroads of the social sciences. Regardless of the profession they choose, our graduates leave campus with a well-exercised sense of curiosity; the ability to formulate new social, psychological, and cultural questions; and the intellectual tools they need to find answers to those questions, now and in the future.

Essay on Importance of Communication for Students and Children

500+ words essay on importance of communication:.

Communication is one of the important tools that aid us to connect with people. Either you are a student or a working professional, good communication is something that will connect you far ahead. Proper communication can help you to solve a number of issues and resolve problems. This is the reason that one must know how to communicate well. The skills of communication essential to be developed so that you are able to interact with people. And able to share your thoughts and reach out to them. All this needs the correct guidance and self-analysis as well.

Meaning of Communication

The word communication is basically a process of interaction with the people and their environment . Through such type of interactions, two or more individuals influence the ideas, beliefs, and attitudes of each other.

Such interactions happen through the exchange of information through words, gestures, signs, symbols, and expressions. In organizations, communication is an endless process of giving and receiving information and to build social relationships.

Importance of Communication

Communication is not merely essential but the need of the hour. It allows you to get the trust of the people and at the same time carry better opportunities before you. Some important points are as follows –

Help to Build Relationships

No matter either you are studying or working, communication can aid you to build a relationship with the people. If you are studying you communicate with classmates and teachers to build a relationship with them. Likewise in offices and organizations too, you make relationships with the staff, your boss and other people around.

Improve the Working Environment

There are a number of issues which can be handled through the right and effective communication. Even planning needs communication both written as well as verbal. Hence it is essential to be good in them so as to fill in the communication gap.

Foster strong team

Communication helps to build a strong team environment in the office and other places. Any work which requires to be done in a team. It is only possible if the head communicates everything well and in the right direction.

Find the right solutions

Through communication, anyone can find solutions to even serious problems. When we talk, we get ideas from people that aid us to solve the issues. This is where communication comes into play. Powerful communication is the strength of any organization and can help it in many ways.

Earns more respect

If your communication skills are admirable, people will love and give you respect. If there is any problem, you will be the first person to be contacted. Thus it will increase your importance. Hence you can say that communications skills can make a big change to your reputation in society.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Don’t Go Overboard With Your Point

The conversation is about to express your thoughts. And to let the other person know what you feel. It is not mean to prove that your point is correct and the other person is wrong. Don’t Overboard other With Your Point.

Watch Your Words

Before you say something to Watch Your Words. At times, out of anger or anxiousness, we say somethings that we must not say. Whenever you are in a professional meeting or in some formal place, where there is a necessity of communicating about your product or work then it is advised to practice the same beforehand

Communication is the greatest importance. It is important to sharing out one’s thoughts and feelings to live a fuller and happier life. The more we communicate the less we suffer and the better we feel about everything around. However, it is all the more necessary to learn the art of effective communication to put across ones point well.

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This page of the essay has 1,102 words. Download the full version above. Mass communication plays an extensive role in an individual's daily life. Right from the second you wake up till you go to bed after saying goodnight to your wife, kid, parents, siblings or friends, you are surrounded in a world built just for you by the media.
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Functions of Mass Media. The mass media serves several general and many specific functions. In general, the mass media serves information, interpretation, instructive, bonding, and diversion functions: Information function. We have a need for information to satisfy curiosity, reduce uncertainty, and better understand how we fit into the world.
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5 Reasons To Study Mass Communication. Mass communication is defined as the process of creating, sending, receiving, and analysing messages to large audiences, via verbal, written and digital media. Through mass communication, information can be transmitted quickly and efficiently. If you love media, then mass communication may be the course ...
The importance of studying mass communication
Expectation 2: You will not have a job. In addition to that, despite what people say that studying mass communication is a dead-end, mass communication provides students with an opportunity to explore and experiment in the creative industry. Some of the students thought that they would not be able to get a job easily compared to business students.
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Mass communication is the process of creating, sending, receiving, and analyzing messages to a large audience, using verbal and written media. Its main focus is not just the why and how a message is passed, but the medium through which it passes. These media are various and include the internet, social media, digital media, print, radio, and ...
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13.2: Functions and Theories of Mass Communication
This function has been analyzed and discussed by mass communication scholars for decades. Overall, the mass media serves four gatekeeping functions: relaying, limiting, expanding, and reinterpreting (Bittner, 1996). In terms of relaying, mass media requires some third party to get a message from one human to the next.
Why major in Communication?
As a field, communication is a crossroads of the social sciences. Regardless of the profession they choose, our graduates leave campus with a well-exercised sense of curiosity; the ability to formulate new social, psychological, and cultural questions; and the intellectual tools they need to find answers to those questions, now and in the future.
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Communication is the greatest importance. It is important to sharing out one's thoughts and feelings to live a fuller and happier life. The more we communicate the less we suffer and the better we feel about everything around. However, it is all the more necessary to learn the art of effective communication to put across ones point well.
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Importance Of Purpose To Study Mass Communication. Recommended: introduction how happiness can be achieved. Happiness will not come to you, it can only come from you. To reach our happiness we have to go through many obstacles in life. As people, we are different and we chase our happiness in a different way.

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Gain hands-on experience creating your own productions. Take advantage of the journalism, multimedia, video and audio labs.

58 Mass Communication Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

1. You will have endless career options

2. You don’t need experience

3. Hands-on project

4. It’s filled with fun, exciting activities

5. You will have a fantastic experience

6. It offers different career options

7. Traveling opportunities

8. You will get to interact with notable personnel and celebrities

1. Television & Film Director/Producer

2. Event management

3. Public relations officer

4. Journalist

5. Digital marketer

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15.2 Functions and Theories of Mass Communication

Functions of Mass Media

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Theories of Mass Communication

Hypodermic Needle and Beyond

Media Effects

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5 Reasons To Study Mass Communication

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Germany: DAAD Leadership for Africa Scholarship Programme 2024/2025 for West and Central African Masters Students (Fully-funded)

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Masters Scholarships 2024/2025 for Students in sub-Sahara Africa

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Download Chapter One of The Scholarship Digest 2019!

5 Reasons To Study Mass Communication