CCA #1

Medias Affect on Societies Ability to Listen

Shortened movies, flashy magazines, and information overloaded newspaper paper pages - it’s where the media has taken us today. Media influences society everyday but, less obviously, it influences the population’s ability to listen like they used to. Today, it is easier to pay more attention and be more interested in listening when a visual is present, as well; people in today’s society are more inclined to stay interested in something for its entirety if that something is short and sweet.

People tend to pay more attention to a presentation or a lecture when one, even multiple, visual aids are present. “All-news networks, for instance, run headlines across the bottom of the screen, and sometimes weather forecasts across the top, while simultaneously an announcer is reading news items”(Sevigny 141). Added to that, when I watch a lecture or a presentation, it always seems more interesting and more informative when there’s more than one thing going on at once to interpret. When it causes you to think while you listen and watch, and to think about multiple things, it seems more informative and you feel as though you have learned more.

As well, the population has changed with respect to the length of time that they will pay attention to a certain form of entertainment or teaching because of the media. Today Hollywood puts out shorter movies than before, and is criticized harshly if it is too lengthy- there was an intermission at the theater when I went to see titanic. Because of the shorter lengths of programming in the media, people have a harder time listening and, for me, I find it hard sometimes to sit through a fifty minute class.

In conclusion, most recently, it is easier to pay more attention and be more interested in listening when a visual is used in a presentation. Also, people in today’s society are more inclined to stay interested in something for the length if it is straight to the point. Media, more and more, influences a person’s ability to be a quality listener in different areas of life. Listening is a major part of life and with this fairly new need for things to be as short as possible, it creates a sense of urgency in a lot of areas that should be explained more thoroughly than they have the chance to be.