From Me to You : Mass Media

According to Wikipedia, the term mass media refers to: a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience. Wikipedia itself is mass media, or the news on television. In one of our first mass comm classes we learned that mass media is made up of a variety of different mediums, the internet, television, radio etc. What is the importance of mass media? Why does it impact our lives so much? Because it just does. We are in a world where the news is always different, from day to day, hour to hour and minute to minute. We are in a society of nosy people, we always need to know whats going on. We are always more interested in the tragedy rather then the happy ending. Front page papers with the words death, money or damage are keywords of tragedy, and they sell papers. Mass media is a part of everyone's life, and in a way always has been. If I were sent back in time with the knowledge of the media that I had now, I would have to consider letters, group discussions and even wall writings (if we go way back) as forms of mass media, obviously a little outdated but the elements are there. Ways of relaying information to groups of people, the definition of information has changed throughout the years as does mass media. In 'the playboy interview', first article that we were said to read, was from the 1960's, yet the speaker refers to mass media multiple times; so even before technology took over our lives mass media was there. I personally would define mass media as: the multiple methods of relaying information to large audiences. I would change this because the word media makes me think too specifically, such as movies, music and television which are types of mass media, but I believe the word information allows for the mind to consider any type of mass production.