Many people hardly realize how much they are exposed to the media or how it impacts their everyday lives until it is actually identified.

Today’s society is a world in which citizens have become dependent on being fed information to keep them moving in the right direction.  Everything from work, education, relationships, traveling, entertainment and health concerns are influenced by what the media dictates through the use of advertisements, magazines, newspapers and the television.

“After seeing thousands of persuasive advertising messages, we make buying decisions based on what we saw in newspaper and magazine ads, saw and heard in television and radio ads, and saw and heard in ads on websites. Those ads tell us we can trust a product or service and that many people we know are buying the product or service and liking it,” says Dr. Anthony R Curtis, professor of the Mass Media Department at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, in a recent study.

One of the first things many people do when they wake up in the morning is turn on the computer and go online to check the weather. Doing this determines what clothes will be appropriate for the work day and the style of dress chosen is usually influenced, by others or from latest fashion trends seen on the TV or in magazines.

When getting ready to start the day, take notice of the items you use: toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, make-up etc. They are most likely popular brands that were either advertised in a commercial or from a magazine.

According to The Media Comparisons Study, from TVB with Knowledge Networks, consumers credit TV ads as most influential in making a purchase decision. It is also a key source of information that consumers are most likely to learn about products and brands they would like to try or buy. The internet was next followed by newspapers and magazines.

According to Bill Harvey, a long-time media thought leader and vice-chairman of TRA, a New York sales data provider, “Ad quality is, itself, a behaviorist measure, since it’s based on data from set-top boxes and frequent-shopper cards that tells them that higher-quality ads are relatively more likely to be watched than skipped over.” Moreover, he has found that quality ads cause positive changes in brand purchase and greater return of investment. Since these quality ads are watched and bring a greater ROI that further proves that the media does influence people’s decisions.

From a marketing perspective, an individual’s decisions are based on what is inherent from their own cultures, from outside social references or their personal experiences. In work and school people know what has to be done based on their learned experiences and studies, but in daily life they rely on media to get the current news, facts and trends concerning what is important and what they should be aware of.

If people did not watch TV or glance through magazines how would they know what to buy to support needs and wants? Society needs the media to make so many decisions in life thus making it hard to determine how they can live without it now that it so widespread.

The current generation of young people has grown up in this environment with technology present in almost every aspect and their lives are consumed by it.

“Today’s huge merged companies have the power to shape our opinions and beliefs and influence our decisions. This is why it’s important to be aware of what we are exposed to every day, so we can look at things from different perspectives and not just from the perspective of a medium,” Curtis said.

Although people appreciate the media for all the positive things that come from it, the influential implications result in a society of individuals unable to make independent decisions.

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