Contemporary Media's Impact on Society and Culture

Research Article
Open access

Contemporary Media's Impact on Society and Culture

Yaqi Wang 1*
  • 1 Changchun America, International School    
  • *corresponding author 3332684526@qq.com
Published on 19 April 2024 | https://doi.org/10.54254/2753-7064/29/20230479
CHR Vol.29
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-83558-365-4
ISBN (Online): 978-1-83558-366-1

Abstract

Media is an important part of social civilization and has profoundly changed people's daily life. In today's society, anyone can become a new media blogger by posting original works on the Internet, as the communication methods of new media have become more diversified, visualized and entertaining. Undoubtedly, such a simple and rapid form of communication has brought great challenges to the inheritance and dissemination of traditional culture. In order to alleviate the negative consequences of contemporary new media on the inheritance of traditional culture, traditional media practitioners and cultural scholars should provide more cultural support, establish correct values for new media, encourage them to participate in the construction and development of social culture and promote rational thinking and cultural cultivation and connotation through understanding the cultural support provided by cultural scholars and avoiding over-entertainment. The traditional media and the new media are realizing diversified co-development, bringing the new media a broader vision and deeper cultural values through the traditional culture, so that each of them can take what they need and benefit the social civilization on the basis of integration and competition, and their influence will be largely related to the development of the society.

Keywords:

contemporary media, social culture, impact

Wang,Y. (2024). Contemporary Media's Impact on Society and Culture. Communications in Humanities Research,29,13-17.
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1.Introduction

As an important part of human civilization, the media's communication activities not only reflect the basic characteristics of culture, but also profoundly influence the development of culture [1]. The relationship between the media and culture is like two sides of the same coin, and their connection constitutes an inseparable part of the development of human civilization. There is also a close relationship between the media and everyday social life. It also determines people's consumption behaviors and lifestyles. What the media reports, what it focuses on, and what it pays attention to determines people's basic judgments about this society, so how to make the media a responsible one is a question worth studying all over the world. In Western countries, many people have a lot of objections to the media being filled with violence and a lot of accident reports, because as we all know, traffic accidents and violence are not that frequent in life, maybe one in 10,000, but what you see on the TV screen may be one in 10, and when you turn on a news program, you see one in 10 [2-4]. When you turn on a news program, you will see disaster reports, some contradictory reports in society may account for two-thirds of it, but in fact it does not constitute such an important element in life, but this may produce misunderstanding of the audience's perception of society, which may make the audience think that the society is insecure and abnormal. So there is a concept of news reporting that we often talk about is the pursuit of balance, the pursuit of objectivity, the pursuit of fairness, and this balance, objectivity, fairness is not only reflected in the coverage of a specific news, but also in the distribution of news information, in the density of news information.

Evidence shows that the existence of "mediaization" has become an undeniable fact. Cultures use the media as a medium to disseminate information to the public and compromise, rely on, and subordinate themselves to the mass media, thus creating a far-reaching media influence [5].

Different cultures will have different impacts on the media, which are the carriers of culture, through which culture is displayed and disseminated, and to some extent become the symbol of a certain culture.

With the development of science and technology, media has become an important carrier, and its unique qualities have brought unprecedented influence on culture. Nowadays, mass culture has become an important part that cannot be ignored, which has not only profoundly changed the world, but also greatly influenced people's values, aesthetic pursuits and its relationship with society [6-8]. Media culture plays a vital role in the development of society, which not only promotes the progress of society, but also has a far-reaching influence on it.

2.Characteristics of contemporary media and its impact on society and culture

2.1.Diversification of communication channels puts writing in a difficult position

With the progress of the times, the way of information circulation is also evolving. The popularization of the Internet and digital technology has made the expression of information richer and more vivid. Nowadays, the popularization of social media tools such as cell phone text messages, WeChat, and web mailboxes has made communication more convenient and greatly affected the public's life. However, this rapid and convenient way of information exchange is seriously jeopardizing the inheritance and development of Chinese character culture. When people begin to use computer keyboards, they realize that many common Chinese characters can no longer be used correctly! In the Chinese Character Writing Contest, only 30% of the participants were able to write "toad" correctly, and as the contest continues, similar cases are still common!

With the increasing popularity of keyboarding technology, the writing of Chinese characters is in danger of being completely abandoned. For thousands of years, the art of calligraphy has been the essence of the Chinese nation, but with the rapid development of media culture, its light is slowly fading. This may be a contradiction between media development and cultural decline.

2.2.The pictorialization of communication forms brings serious impact on in-depth reading

Since the 1990s, with the development of science and technology, the reading habits of human beings have changed dramatically, from the traditional text media, such as the "eyeball economy", to pictures, which has made the dissemination of pictorial information more convenient and thus gained widespread attention [9,10]. With the expansion of communication channels, people are increasingly immersed in a sea of information, and they are more inclined to obtain new things by means of images and captions. However, this change in visual culture has made the public lose their patience for reading, thus making the traditional in-depth reading of paper books become the mainstream of fragmented reading in new media. With the rise of social media such as pictures, microblogs and WeChat, fragmented reading is disappearing, and the number of people who are truly immersed in it is decreasing dramatically. This trend reflects an aversion to in-depth reading among many people, who prefer low-cost, easy-to-understand access to information, thus allowing traditional culture to be gradually abandoned.

2.3.Lack of rational thinking due to entertainment in media content

With the development of the times, the development of the media is also changing rapidly, their sales, ratings, click-through rate and other indicators are increasing, and their content is also becoming richer and richer, covering a wide variety of entertainment information, from celebrity anecdotes, gossip news, to extraterritorial strange talk, and even cultural and sports news, their main purpose is to meet the market and the public's entertainment needs. With the rapid growth of media entertainment, not only has a large-scale consumer market been formed, but it has also spawned a group of loyal viewers [11]. In today's age of consumerism, the teenage audience dominates, a phenomenon that deserves people's deep thoughts. It would be a tragedy and an irreparable loss if they indulge in entertainment information without rational thinking. China's media is experiencing an unprecedented global impact, but as the media industry develops, the media culture is evolving and improving. This process has been influenced by the international community, and with the opening of China's ideological sphere, media culture has been able to spread rapidly around the world. Foreign media provide valuable insights into local cultures, but they may also have a negative impact on the development of local cultures. In recent years, "catching up with American dramas" and "catching up with Korean dramas" has been deeply integrated into the culture of China's young generation and has quickly become a fashionable trend. The penetration of American culture is extremely strong. VOA broadcasts, TV entertainment programs, and Hollywood movies and TV dramas have deeply implanted American values such as family, love, loyalty, and courage into China, so that more and more young people can get spiritual nourishment from them. American dramas have attracted a large number of viewers with their high production costs and beautiful images, and have been successful in promoting American cultural concepts [12]. In contrast, Korean dramas are more popular because they are younger and more culturally literate. The emergence of "Korean Drama Fever" has triggered widespread attention from academics [13]. According to Prof. Jiang Shuzhuo from the College of Arts and Letters of Jinan University, the popularity of Korean dramas can be attributed to the Korean government's strong support and encouragement of the cultural industry, a policy that has made Korean dramas not only retain the essence of traditional culture, but also add elements of modern culture, thus making Korean dramas Asia's most popular form of culture and art [14-16]. Obviously, whether it is American or Korean dramas, they are using culture as the basis to promote their values and ideas to the world. With the exchange and integration of global civilizations, the preservation and dissemination of local culture is under increasing pressure.

Many dramas, radio programs, and other media are copying the works of others on a large scale, while none of them can truly reflect the unique style of people's own culture. If this situation continues to deteriorate, it will greatly diminish people's sense of pride and identity in their own culture.

2.4.Social and cultural diversity

The emergence of new media has pushed human society into the era of digital communication, changed the information dissemination environment, and reconstructed the contact mode between people and information [17]. For public cultural communication, new media actively play the role of "culture inheritor", bringing great changes to the field of public cultural services.

(1) Network culture

Formed on the basis of network information technology, this spiritually rich cultural form has begun to show a variety of cultural trends, such as blog culture, podcast culture, Wikipedia culture.

(2) New Media Film and Television Culture

Influencing the content of culture, new production methods have emerged, all with 3D movies, high-definition television, and home video production studios [18]. There are also new cultural products, such as videos specially made for cell phones and IPADs.

(3) Cell phone culture

From pure text messaging to downloading pictures, ringtones, MMS, multimedia messaging, from customized cell phone service information and cell phone reports to on-demand TV programs and Internet surfing through cell phones.

Multiplicity of cultural functions

(4) Equality

You can watch TV programs or read newspapers through cell phones, send messages to vote for your favorite stars and programs, express your personal views on an event through the Internet, conduct human searches, elect the representatives of the National People's Congress in the hearts of netizens, or broadcast your favorite cultural and entertainment programs on demand through online videos; you can also choose paid TV programs and participate in games on the digital TV platform.

(5) Compatibility

The compatibility of entertainment function with education and guidance, public welfare dissemination function [19].

(6) Duality

New media cultural products undoubtedly have commodity, but new media culture also has public welfare and publicity and education functions, which determines its non-commercial, such as news websites, mobile MMS, cell phone newspapers, IPTV and other dissemination of national policies, ideological discussions, political positions, public welfare propaganda, weather forecasts and so on, are all gratuitous to share.

3.Conclusion

In today's world, the development of science and technology is changing day by day, which has a greater and greater impact on human society. The rapid development of online media proves once again that scientific and technological progress is the fundamental driving force for the development of human civilization [20]. The new media represented by the Internet, mobile media, etc. are bringing a new pattern of global communication with cross-media and cross-industry integration. Traditional media and new media will realize diversified common development on the basis of competition and integration. Network culture, characterized by instant, massive and interactive, is emerging, and its impact involves all aspects of social development.

With the development of Internet technology, the concept of "double-edged sword" has become a common concept, which has both positive and negative significance. The emergence of new media has made it possible for people to exchange information more conveniently, quickly and extensively, and the social impact has varied depending on the political stance, values and motives of the communicators. With the development of new media, it has also brought some unfavorable impacts, such as the influx of a large amount of information, leaving people helpless, pornography, violence, false and illegal speech and other harmful information has caused serious harm to the society, but also brought great challenges to the security and confidentiality work. With the development of new media, some people use these media to focus on topics, organize events, irresponsibly and indiscriminately send out information, and even spread rumors and disturb people's hearts and minds, and other behaviors are also on the rise.

The development of new media brings new functions and problems; therefore, we should learn from the media management experience of countries around the world and formulate practical media management methods to ensure the safe and effective operation of new media.


References

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[2]. Li Xiangping. Contemporary Confucianism: How to Explain the Latest Social and Cultural Changes[J]. International Confucianism, 2022, 2(1):8. [3] Cheng Wenyi.

[3]. Cheng Wenyi. Analyzing the Inheritance and Influence of Xiaojing in Traditional Culture on the Cultural Development of Contemporary Society[J]. Chinese Character and Culture, 2022(14):3.

[4]. Huang Jingli. Mass media in the perspective of consumer culture[J]. 2022(3).

[5]. Chen Long. The Centennial Evolution of the Role of Chinese Media and Contemporary Value Remodeling[J]. Southeast Academic, 2023(1):13.

[6]. Pellin T .The influence of the contemporary social background on the coinage of technical lexicons. The case of the lexicon of political economy in 19PthP century China[J].Hoger Instituut voor Vertalers en Tolken, 2021(3).

[7]. Bei W , Yitong S , Zeyu L .The Influence of Loneliness on The Mobile Phone Addiction of Contemporary College Students: The Mediating Role of Online Social Support[J].Journal of Psychology & Behavior Research, 2021(1).

[8]. Drotianko L , Nikolaiev K , Skiba I ,et al.Mass culture and mass consciousness under the influence of contemporary challenges[J]. 2021.

[9]. Pearl Z .The lasting influence of Cybernetics in Contemporary Art; theory into praxis[C]//IEEE Conference on Norbert Wiener: Being Human in a Global Village.2021.

[10]. Choongo P , Eijdenberg E L , Lungu J ,et al.The Influence of Environmental Pollution and Drought on the Satisfaction With Life of Entrepreneurs in Zambia's Mining Sector[J].Economic Effects of Natural Disasters, 2021.

[11]. Khanal A , Akhtaruzzaman M , Kularatne I .The influence of social media on stakeholder engagement and the corporate social responsibility of small businesses[J].Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2021.

[12]. Amdahl H M .Transformed 'postmodern' life courses? Continuity and change in young adults' labour market trajectories in Norway[J].European Sociological Review, 2023.

[13]. Moslehpour M , Lewi S , Kurniawati D ,et al.The Influence of Social Media Marketing on Voter's Intention in Indonesia[C]//ICEBA 2021: 2021 7th International Conference on EBusiness and Applications.2021.

[14]. Yujie R .Variational Pragmatics in Chinese Social Media Requests:The Influence of Gender[J]. 2021, 18(11):4.

[15]. Ai H .The Influence of New Media on College Students' Ideological and Political Education and the Countermeasures[J].Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, 2021, 5(5):44-46.

[16]. Raza S H , Zaman U , Iftikhar M .Examining the Effects of Media-Generated Stereotypes on Receivers' Trust and Attitude in Pakistan. Moderating Influence of Ethnicity and Gender[J].Information (Switzerland), 2021, 12(1):35.

[17]. Fang X , Qu X .The Influence of the Application of Balanced Scorecard on the Financial Performance of Enterprises[C]//6th Annual International Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2020).2021.

[18]. Huang W J , Chen C C .Influence of Transnational Leisure on Diaspora Tourism among Contemporary Migrants:[J].Journal of Travel Research, 2021, 60(3):603-617.

[19]. Mitrovic M , Peric N .WAR AND THE MEDIA - CONNECTIVITY, INTERACTION AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE PHENOMENON[J].National Interest, 2021.

[20]. Litova D S .The Tragic Consequences of the Capitalist Imagery[J].Concept Philosophy Religion Culture, 2021, 5(1):169-177.


Cite this article

Wang,Y. (2024). Contemporary Media's Impact on Society and Culture. Communications in Humanities Research,29,13-17.

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About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities

ISBN:978-1-83558-365-4(Print) / 978-1-83558-366-1(Online)
Editor:Enrique Mallen, Javier Cifuentes-Faura
Conference website: https://www.icgpsh.org/
Conference date: 13 October 2023
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.29
ISSN:2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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References

[1]. Luo Runqi. Research on the Development Methods of Film and Television Popular Culture in the Age of Informationization--Review of Research on the Development of Contemporary Media Art [J]. People's Yangtze River, 2023, 54(4):1.

[2]. Li Xiangping. Contemporary Confucianism: How to Explain the Latest Social and Cultural Changes[J]. International Confucianism, 2022, 2(1):8. [3] Cheng Wenyi.

[3]. Cheng Wenyi. Analyzing the Inheritance and Influence of Xiaojing in Traditional Culture on the Cultural Development of Contemporary Society[J]. Chinese Character and Culture, 2022(14):3.

[4]. Huang Jingli. Mass media in the perspective of consumer culture[J]. 2022(3).

[5]. Chen Long. The Centennial Evolution of the Role of Chinese Media and Contemporary Value Remodeling[J]. Southeast Academic, 2023(1):13.

[6]. Pellin T .The influence of the contemporary social background on the coinage of technical lexicons. The case of the lexicon of political economy in 19PthP century China[J].Hoger Instituut voor Vertalers en Tolken, 2021(3).

[7]. Bei W , Yitong S , Zeyu L .The Influence of Loneliness on The Mobile Phone Addiction of Contemporary College Students: The Mediating Role of Online Social Support[J].Journal of Psychology & Behavior Research, 2021(1).

[8]. Drotianko L , Nikolaiev K , Skiba I ,et al.Mass culture and mass consciousness under the influence of contemporary challenges[J]. 2021.

[9]. Pearl Z .The lasting influence of Cybernetics in Contemporary Art; theory into praxis[C]//IEEE Conference on Norbert Wiener: Being Human in a Global Village.2021.

[10]. Choongo P , Eijdenberg E L , Lungu J ,et al.The Influence of Environmental Pollution and Drought on the Satisfaction With Life of Entrepreneurs in Zambia's Mining Sector[J].Economic Effects of Natural Disasters, 2021.

[11]. Khanal A , Akhtaruzzaman M , Kularatne I .The influence of social media on stakeholder engagement and the corporate social responsibility of small businesses[J].Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2021.

[12]. Amdahl H M .Transformed 'postmodern' life courses? Continuity and change in young adults' labour market trajectories in Norway[J].European Sociological Review, 2023.

[13]. Moslehpour M , Lewi S , Kurniawati D ,et al.The Influence of Social Media Marketing on Voter's Intention in Indonesia[C]//ICEBA 2021: 2021 7th International Conference on EBusiness and Applications.2021.

[14]. Yujie R .Variational Pragmatics in Chinese Social Media Requests:The Influence of Gender[J]. 2021, 18(11):4.

[15]. Ai H .The Influence of New Media on College Students' Ideological and Political Education and the Countermeasures[J].Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, 2021, 5(5):44-46.

[16]. Raza S H , Zaman U , Iftikhar M .Examining the Effects of Media-Generated Stereotypes on Receivers' Trust and Attitude in Pakistan. Moderating Influence of Ethnicity and Gender[J].Information (Switzerland), 2021, 12(1):35.

[17]. Fang X , Qu X .The Influence of the Application of Balanced Scorecard on the Financial Performance of Enterprises[C]//6th Annual International Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2020).2021.

[18]. Huang W J , Chen C C .Influence of Transnational Leisure on Diaspora Tourism among Contemporary Migrants:[J].Journal of Travel Research, 2021, 60(3):603-617.

[19]. Mitrovic M , Peric N .WAR AND THE MEDIA - CONNECTIVITY, INTERACTION AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE PHENOMENON[J].National Interest, 2021.

[20]. Litova D S .The Tragic Consequences of the Capitalist Imagery[J].Concept Philosophy Religion Culture, 2021, 5(1):169-177.