Growing Up in a Media Saturated World 09 06 2013 Big ideas from McLuhan 1 Medium is the Message McLuhan A medium is not neutral Media work as environments Content of a medium blinds us to its character o we focus on the content and not the medium itself 2 Media Extend our senses radio extends our ears But they also amputate writing decreases memory Media Exposure and Attention Dill Young brains o develop rapidly Children and TV o TV viewing between the ages of 1 and 3 associated with attentional problems at 7 o For every hour per day of TV a preschooler watches the risk of attentional problems increases by 10 It s important to see what media takes away in addition to what it offers Social Learning Theory Bobo Doll Bandura 1965 wanted to test if people could learn from film the children would learn and recreate the behaviors seen Social Learning Theory Conclusions 1 Observational Learning people learn behavior by witnessing it even in 2 Inhibitory effect behavior is less likely repeated if not rewarded or media punished 3 Disinhibitory effect behavior is more likely repeated if rewarded 4 Vicarious reinforcement People may learn what is socially acceptable and rewarded through media reinforcement happens just by watching 5 Behavioral repertoire learned responses available to a person 6 Behavioral hierarchy likelihood individual chooses a behavior Who are We Community Gemeinschaft o strong personal relationships o seldom need for enforcement of social control Society Gesellschaft o social cohesion happens through division of labor police force o society are much more susceptible to conflict Social cohesion through media Storytelling o a fundamental element of society o a way to share experience vicariously o way to control behaviors social learning Parables teach morals Fables teach through metaphor turtle and the hare Parasocial Relationships Dill Pseudo relationships with media figures o as biological organisms we make social ties o but were not designed for mediated intimacy What are the consequences of replacing in person relationships with pseudo social interactions 09 06 2013 09 06 2013