Lesson 11 — Activity 1: Communication and the Media
Completion requirements
Lesson 11 — Activity 1:
Communication
and the Media
The media has a great deal of power and influence in our society. When we talk about the media, we are referring to the many forms of communication that surround us for various purposes, such as information, entertainment, or persuasion. Sometimes, we
refer to a group of these forms of communication as the mass media. In other words, mass media are the means of communication that can reach large numbers of people at once as opposed to communication between friends and family.
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As technology advances, forms of communication advance or change. For example, rather than writing a letter to a friend and waiting days or weeks to receive a reply, we can learn what our friends are doing instantly through text messaging. In the same
way, the mass media has changed over the years so that we now have constant access to news, information, and entertainment through 24-hour news stations, the Internet (including social media), and the radio. Through these various means of communication,
we can learn about events far across the world almost instantly.
We are in an age where the speed of information is as important to an individual as the information itself because of modern technology. We have now become dependent upon the mass media as a
form
of getting information or immediate
feedback
to questions we cannot answer.
Digging Deeper!
Click on the Play button below to watch "Media Minute Introduction: What is media anyway?"