A Different Point Of View

When I read the article “10 Things Wrong with the ‘Media Effects’ Model” by David Gauntlett, I became very intrigued. The first couple of paragraphs had me wanting more because this article presents common ideas from a different viewpoint. I find it immensely interesting to think about how media has influenced people, but this article broadened my perspective and introduced me to the idea that in fact, it is human qualities that influence the media.

Through reading this article, I have learned to think differently about how I judge media. It is very easy to judge the media and to say that it is trying to ‘brainwash’ us into thinking a certain way, but now I can take a step back and begin to understand why something is trying to ‘brainwash’ us. Everything is there for a reason, but it may not all be intentional. Yes, violence on TV may make children want to be violent, but as humans, children are already instinctually violent – just trained not to be.

In this article, it is stated that most child offenders do not have as much access to media as ‘normal’ children do, and that their violent tendencies are influenced first-hand experience, such as violent parents and broken homes, rather than being influenced by television and other forms of media (Gauntlett, 1). It also states that if adults were observed the way children were observed, the results would not be reliable because of an adult’s developed ‘common sense’ (Gaunteltt, 2).

Another aspect of this article that I believe taught me to see from different points of view is when it is talking about TV. It said that most people watch TV just to watch TV, that people usually do not have a specific program in mind and end up 'channel-surfing." I found this point of view very interseting because it is true. I notice this with myself, even though I do not watch television that often.

I really enjoyed this article because it exposed me to new and valuable ‘ways of seeing.’ Views that enable me to look outside the box of media and understand what something is all about, from a different point of view. In relation to one of my earlier posts, this article has helped me decide which media to analyze and which not to analyze.

Cited Work:

Gauntlett, David. "Ten Things Wrong with the 'Media Effects' Model." Approaches to Audiences - A Reader 1998 14 Oct 2007 .