2-page double spaced essay (500 words).

Discuss your thoughts about how the mass media influences you and others.

In order to discuss the topic, you need to express your concerns on the media - without expressing your concerns, it might be very difficult to discuss the topic. While you are discussing, you may want to think about the last question "What do we have to know, or what do we have to do, for obtaining information that can be accurate as much as possible?" Those two questions, "What concerns do you have in the current media situation?  What do we have to know, or what do we have to do, for obtaining information that can be accurate as much as possible?" are giving you a direction to expand your discussion on the media influence.

When answering the Short Essay Think about this questions

1. Over the years, especially during the last 30 years or so, we have seen the great development and improvement in the communication technology.

   We cannot deny that we are heavily relying on the mass media such as television, Internet, telephone, computer, radio, newspapers, magazines, and so on.

   The media often strongly influences on our opinions and behaviors. It does not only give a major impact on the pubic, but also it impacts on our society and even on the relation between countries.

   And, we know that the media can be a double-edged sword: we can learn what is happening in our community, in our country, and all around the world, through the media, however, we may not know whether the information we receive from the media is accurate or it is controlled by someone(s) with a certain purpose (or purposes).

   In this course, we studied a variety of “social problems,” which certainly received attention from the media in some ways.

   Discuss how the mass media influences you and others (or society, or world).

   What concerns do you have in the current media situation?

   What do we have to know, or what do we have to do, for obtaining information that can be accurate as much as possible?