Impacts of Electronic Media Essay

Nowadays, the terms â€Å"communication systems† are explicitly used to mean electronic communication systems. Because, Electronic communication systems has grabbed the Lion’s share of our regular means of communication. Radio, Digital TV, Mobile, Internet has made our life faster & easier & this never ending process is just always on its way to improvement. The Internet is the most dramatic and widespread application of electronics and communication technology of recent years. We can’t even think of a day without social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Google has become our best friend to find out the things we are looking for. Tutorials of YouTube are available anytime, anywhere for learning anything within a very short time that we don’t know. All of those that have been mentioned so far can be categorized as blessings of electronic communication systems. There are many reasons why the Internet is controversial. The problem with the Internet is the fact that anyone can access just about anything they want to from it. The thing is right now cyber-space has no real laws that limit the actual access we have on the internet. For example, pornography is a big issue because children are accessing adult content so easily without anyone having to know about it. Another issue is that there is so much obscenity and violence that goes on inside online chat rooms, and the most frightening part about it is that it is so easy for someone to trick another person with their age and get you to meet up with them. So, taking all of these into count, censorship of electronic communication systems is a necessity of time. Censorship means the change in the access status of material or materials, made by a governing authority or its representatives.  Such changes include: exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes. Censorship of communication systems may include the examination and blocking of books, periodicals, plays, films, television and radio programs, news reports, and other communication media that is shown to, or available, to the public. Media censorship is sometimes put into place because content is immoral or obscene, heretical or blasphemous, seditious or treasonable, or injurious to the national security. It is supposedly is used for the protection of the family and the state. Additionally some religious groups, opposed to the violence shown in different types of media, say censorship works. However, still more that believe in civil rights believe that it is an unnecessary violation of the right to freedom of speech for all humans. Censorship of the media for children is necessary, but should not be handled by government or other groups. Instead it should be directed and controlled by parents with or without children. If the government were to bring censorship, adults would not see the programs, news, reports etc in their area or around the world. For this to be avoided, the government must leave censorship to parents. To facilitate parent’s exercise of viewing censorship for their children, proper measures should be undertaken accordingly. Censorship is the keystone of the public’s apparent outcry against the electronic media. Even though there are millions and millions of viewers in all over the world that watch the networks can and should the networks be responsible for what they put on the air? Yes, they really should have some sort of morals as to the nature of the content and at what time the program airs as well. Children at a vulnerable age should not be exposed to violent acts. Because, it will affect the child’s behavior and mental growth. In a 1970, study at Pennsylvania State University, psychologist Aletha Huston showed cartoons of fists fighting superheroes to one group of four year old and nonviolent cartoons to another group. The children of the study were comprised of children that were aggressive in nature. The study found that the group that was shone the violent cartoons were more apt to hit and throw things. While the kids who watched the nonviolent cartoons remained relatively calm and docile. It was concluded that children that watch violent cartoons are more apt to commit crimes when they are adults, such as spousal abuse and drunk driving. Children might think it is okay to rob a bank, shoot someone or commit other violent crimes against another person. Also as the child grows older, he begins to believe that revenge through violence, as demonstrated on such shows as New York Undercover and NYPD Blue where people get revenge by breaking other peoples’ noses, shooting them or committing hit and runs, is okay. In other words, a false impression of reality is formed for children. We have found out that cartoons are the most violent programming found to date in television today. Between the ages of two and twelve, the average amount of television watched is approximately 25 hours per week. Most of these 25 hours are comprised of cartoons. Cartoons like Tom and Jerry, where they either get hurt or blown up, and never die and always get back together, without a scratch. Again, this promotes a false sense of reality. Nowadays, there are products out, such as the â€Å"V box†. This box is programmable by a parent to block out certain channels at certain times so that the child will not be exposed to violence on television at certain times of the day. On the other hand, networks should not be responsible for what they air. On the other hand, networks should not be responsible for what they air. In their business, the network with the highest ratings wins. Which in turn means more capital for the network. Why would a parent use television as both a babysitter and an educational outlet? Television is for entertainment purposes only. Much of the information from today’s television programming is purely fictional. And if people decide to imitate what they see on television, then so be it. Everyone in this society has the right to either lay down in the middle of a highway and die or not to or live a happy and prosperous life as demonstrated after teenager saw the movie The Program. Why should it be the responsibility of the network to change all of its programming because one person decided to do a stupid act? According to a survey conducted by Aletha Huston in 1970, she stated that all violent nature from children is linked to television. But a major flaw was found. Leonard Eron of University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research stated that, â€Å"no one is saying that all violence is inspired by television and not all homes have a moral compass. † As long as there are individuals that want networks to be responsible, should networks also restrict what they put on the air? â€Å"Long ago jurists decided free speech did not protect the right to shout fire in a crowded theater. A small child could mistakenly turn on the television and watch shows such as MTV’s Beavis and Butthead and imitate what they see. One perfect example is after watching Beavis and Butthead, Austin Meissner, a five year old, decided to take a lighter from his mother’s dresser and decided to set his house on fire. By doing this, he unwittingly killed his sister, who was only two. Austin’s mother demanded that the show be taken off the air. After watching these shows most young children cannot discern what is real and what is make believe and start to imitate what they have een. Doctor Prothrow-Stith of Harvard School of Public health stated that â€Å"I’ve come to see that more and more we use the media to teach children that violence is a way of life. We also present violence not just as a natural thing, as funny and entertaining. Children begin to learn this lesson from their first cartoons and superheroes, before moving on to the high tech-violence of action movies for adults. By the time they are teenager using violence to resolve conflict seems very natural to them. Having a thorough discussion on that side, we can never neglect the positive side of electronic communication systems specially it’s impact in the day-to-day life of students. Internet is the biggest source of all aspects. Internet covers the world happenings every day. Internet includes a variety of current issues and developments about the world. One of the benefits is internet gives lots of information to us. Students could even use the internet as a replacement of textbooks and reference books as it contains an endless source of knowledge. Students can also check the latest scientific knowledge and research. Scientist nowadays have been experimenting and discovering a lot of intriguing and new things. This type of stream is very suitable for students who are interested to further their studies in science stream. Furthermore, internet facilitate students to enter universities. This is because students can register through some of the website according to the universities of their choice. Besides, internet also contain various type of social sites. We can get new friends and even meet our old friends through these social sites. Moreover, by interacting and chatting with pen pals from overseas, we can strengthen the relations between foreign countries thus enlighten us to a better community. Last but not least, internet help us to keep abreast on latest issues and developments. Students and teenagers can understand the causes and solutions based on the headlines given. This will make them aware of the danger that lurk that can cause a lot of bad effects to the environment and surroundings. In a nutshell, Electronic means of communication supposed to be very beneficial to people of all spheres if they use it wisely and effectively.