All-knowing, all-encompassing and ever-expanding, the media has managed to infiltrate in every aspect of our lives over the last 15 years or so. What started as a recreational and informational activity that hard-working people used for unwinding after a long day of work, has gradually transformed into an unconscious consuming obsession that eats away countless hours of our lives and offers little in return, except the occasional “like,” “poke,” “thumbs up,” or the number of virtual friends or followers, to show for our efforts.
The radio, newspaper, and television started it, as mediums for spreading important information. With the advance of communication technology, stories were quickly transmitted from one place to far away locations and so, the population was kept in the loop about the pressing events of the time. With the dawn of the internet, a new means for almost instantly conveying information in a visual and auditory form, practically into every home with internet access, was born. At the beginning of the new century, this branch of the media has gained momentum, eventually becoming the most widely used, partly to the popularity of the smartphones and also to the possibility given to every regular Joe to post just about everything that they wanted.
Thus, the era of an apparently all-knowing media was born, since ideas about every area of life were extensively covered on the internet, with television, radio, and newspapers quick to follow in its footsteps. The discussion of who really started this trend among the biggest branches of media is a long and convoluted one, so for the sake of keeping this article within reasonable boundaries, I will say that the internet is the one who spread it most effectively among the masses. So far, this sounds like a noble endeavor, the attempt of humanity to gather all of its knowledge in one place, available to all, so that we may access whatever we need, whenever we need it, allowing us to grow as human beings, combining information from others with what we know, to come up with new ideas that further advance the development of humans as the dominant race on the planet. Here’s the problem with everybody being allowed to pitch in with information. A lot of garbage from mediocre people is spread as important, relevant information. Companies try to further their agendas, individuals with radical ideas recruit susceptible idiots to further their cause, news agencies owned by corporate big shots spread biased information, Nigerian princes beg you to take millions of dollars off their hands, etc.
The point is, what started as a respectable and trusted gathering of great minds, trying to make a difference in the world, has turned into a Jack of all trades type of deal where you, as a normal human being have to double/triple check the facts before believing anything. There is no such thing as miracles, so a pop-up window telling you that you just won the new iPhone 8 may, in fact, mean (if you click it) that a Russian hacker living in a dump on the outskirts of Moskow, just gained access to your computer’s sensitive information. The media have become a sort of global bazaar, with respectable businesses opening up shop right next to swindlers, in similar looking booths.
Furthermore, the trend of sensationalism has swept across the planet, infecting the population with a hunger for bigger, better things and a need for peacocking and showing off with every opportunity that presents itself, leading to the emergence of the superficiality culture that is so widespread in today’s society. Capitalism has a firm grip on the main channels of communication, constantly encouraging us to buy more, with the promise of happiness stacking up with every purchase.
Just like the title mentions, this has become a sort of religion followed globally, regardless of nationality, spiritual beliefs, sex, and sexual orientation, or any of the major dividing factors that plague our civilization. Just like in a religion, there are fanatic believers that devote an unhealthy amount of time to it and internet addiction is a real problem for us. The amount of time that people spend watching TV or browsing the internet grows every year, especially since the Internet is one click away in your pocket, via smartphone. With more exciting technologies in the works, this trend is sure to maintain or even increase its momentum. The problem is that we need the media since much of the relevant knowledge is transmitted that way, so we have to take the good with the bad, and the dividing lines can become blurry sometimes.
The media dictates what we buy, what we eat, what we wear, how we socialize, who we love and hate, ultimately, what we think. This is the role that the media has forged for itself. In other words, we think what a select few running said media want us to think, blindly following instructions given by somebody that we’ve never seen. Much like religion, this trend requires obedient little lambs to do what they are told, with the promise of happiness always being around the next corner, or the one after that, or the one that comes after that, or the one.........