What Is Mass Media & Pop Culture?

Mass Media: 

Mass media is diverse parts of the media that consume our world and make up our culture. From the newspaper to television, and from magazines to the internet, it is our primary source of communication. Mass media has influenced our generation's fashion choices, and has increased awareness on political, environmental, and social issues. It is mostly used as a way to inform, entertain, and educate people on world events. Mass media plays a huge role in influencing the way that people view the world and changes their viewpoints. It offers instant information at our fingertips and always keeps us informed. Some negative effects of mass media include directing people toward poverty, crime, violence, poor mental and physical health, bad decision making skills, and exposure to harmful things. It also proposes potential hazards regarding cyber bullying, unsuitable content for children, lowered communication skills, and available opportunities for fraud, hackers, and impersonators. Mass media makes up several different categories such as Print Media (Newspapers, Magazines), Broadcast Media (TV, Radio), Outdoor or Out of Home (OOH) Media, and Internet Media. 

Pop Culture:

Pop Culture is what makes up a social system. It is made up of a variety of beliefs relating to entertainment and leisure, trends and fashion, and popular products such as music, literature, television, radio, dance, film, and cyber culture. It connects to mass media because it includes entertainment (movies, music, TV), sports, news, politics, fashion/clothing, and technology. A huge part of pop culture is brand name clothing and other recognizable brands from diverse companies, because our world relies heavily on brands in order to have successful marketing. Brands are based on their consumption patterns. The more people who purchase those brands, the more popular those brands become, and the more amounts of those brands are produced. Pop culture affects our generation, especially teens, because it builds and strengthens interactions with people around us who share similar interests, and it also exposes teens to a variety of different things in our world: some positive, and some negative.