1st Essay Assignment possible points C
To what extent do you agree that the mass media today has contributed to the decline in family ties?
The mass media has contributed to the decline in family ties. The mass media has not contributed to the decline in family ties.
1. The mass media such as television has widened the generation gap between parents and children. Today, children’s role models are the pop idols and television stars of today; children dress like them, talk like them and some even espouse the same values as their media idols. This may come in conflict with parents’ views of what their children should wear and how they should talk. There are also clashes in terms of values which parents feel are important and children may feel are old-fashioned and not in tandem with the image they want to project and which they have seen on television. Thus conflict happens between parents and children, contributing to the decline in family ties.
2. Today our dependence of the mass media such as the television and the Internet, for entertainment, has led to families spending less time with each other. The mass media intrudes into family time such as families watching TV instead of talking to each other at dinner or children disappearing into their rooms to surf the net or chat virtually with their friends rather than in real time with their parents and siblings.
3. Today’s fast paced growth of technology and improvement in the mass media has led to a technological gap between parents and children. Some parents feel inadequate in coping with the Net and thus allow children too much freedom in using the Net. Children might misuse this freedom leading to conflicts and quarrels with parents, thus weakening family ties. On the other hand, some parents become too suspicious of children’s advanced knowledge in the new media and may prevent their children from using it, leading to further conflicts. 1. The media has helped in the preservation of family ties. For example, the advances in Internet technology such as web-cams and Internet telephones have helped loved ones abroad to stay in touch and communicate with family members, the frequency of which may not have possible without the cheap and quick access of web communication.
2. The media today has many educational programs which could be used as educational tools to provide parents with tips on how to bond with children or media such as the television is used to discuss values which are important and accepted by the family, thus the media could in fact enhance family ties.
3. It is up to parents to manage the changes that technology and the mass media brings. For example if parents are worried about media exposure on the child’s cultural values, parents could negate the influence of the media by controlling what the child sees on TV or learns from the Net.
2 comments:
zhongyang
The mass media has not contributed to the decline in family ties.
1.The mass media such as television has created the chances for parents and children to spend time together.
2.The influence of advertisiments about family values that spread through the mass media like internet and televison is also remarkable in educating people in enhancing family ties.
3.The easy accessibility of internet also allows family menbers who are abroad to stay in touch and communicate with family members through web-cams and Internet telephones.
Dory Khoo
03/10
TS:
1. Mass media provide society today with much entertainment, diverting time and attention away from their families.
2. Mass media widens the generation gap between young and old and may create the platform for conflicts as youth are exposed to different, radical views of people all over the world.
3. Mass media causes a divide between young and old because of the different kinds of mass media they prefer to engage in.
People are becoming increasingly active technologically, be it working adults of youths, resulting in lesser time being invested in strengthening familial ties. Majority of the households in developing countries would have at least one of these- a television, computer, hand phone with internet access or even all of the above. In this technologically savvy age, the access to mass media as entertainment is within arm’s reach. This intriguing array of mass media would cause family members to have less time to spend with each other. Surveys in America show that American citizens’ usage of the computer has increased on an average of 1 hour 17 minutes per day since 2004. With more time spent on technology and online entertainment, time spent with families would undeniably be neglected. It is proven that there is a direct relationship between time spent on media and how emotionally attached people are to their family. Despite the possibility that mass media like the television can bring families together for dinner, the room for communication is being suffocated by the entertainment from the screen as it would distract and fragmentize conversations.
Reflections:
I think it's great to edit our work and scrutinize what we wrote because it would make us more sensitive and aware to how we craft our essys next time!
Post a Comment