How do movies or television influence people’s behavior?

People have various choices of things to do in their leisure time. Watching television should be placed in one of the higher ranks in that list of activities. It is often said that people need to be aware of the effect of television as it may affect people’s behavior. Movies are also said to have the same effect. Both television and movies can influence people explicitly and implicitly.

What I mean by the straightforward way is the situation when an audience is affected by what they see on the screen. Let’s say a romantic or sad scene that may make some people blush with happiness or fill with great sadness. What is seen on the screen is spontaneously delivering a reaction as the emotion feels proper.

The second way is the implicit way or the one that is rather indirect compared to the first. When people are constantly fed with bad news such as corruption and tragedy, this kind of news may affect people implicitly. The teenagers may think that corruption is an okay thing to do since they see all the arrested corrupt politicians smiling widely to the camera. The adults may believe that tragedy is common, and in the long term, it will reduce their sense of empathy. This does not happen instantly and, therefore, is implicit.

To sum up, media such as television or cinemas have the power to convey meaning to their audience. Unfortunately, these meanings are only sometimes as good as the broadcaster’s intention. There is an urgent need to study the effect of media on children, teenagers, and adults.