How media, society, and culture shape my reality

People describe the media as a mirror reflecting society. The reality is that they are a distorting
mirror, shaping society - and shaping the way we think (David Couchman). 1 Adorno and
Hockenheimer state that modernism is characterized by the everywhere presence of technology
and by the commercialization of the human relationship. The big social institutions like family
which accommodates individuals and give their life a meaning, is destroyed by the pressure of
the working world and the spirit of competition. They cannot be saved from the public universals
which invades all the spheres of life with its aggression, including the childhood and
entertainment (Marks as cited in Maigret 2010-74). The power of that everywhere imposed
culture is not a real culture but a simple domination, which comes from a technical capacity and
power to produce a series of radio phonic programs, films and novels, which morals are easily
understood and bring spiritual joy. The media create a darkly monitor, darkness that looses you:
mass media brings the silence of the mass. They are a kind of anti-Aufklarung- a black sun of
modernity. They generalize the absence of critical sense and respect of the real culture by
mythification of the human beings.2 However, Jackobson (1960), was the first to come up with
a communication scheme, which includes the Addresser, the message and the Addressee.
According to him, the Addresser sends a message to the Addressee but in order to achieve this,
the message has to have a meaning which can be understood by the Addressee and this message
should go through a physical channel and a psychological relation which enables

1 http://www.facingthechallenge.org/media.php
2 Maigret, E. , Sociologjia e Komunikimit dhe e mediave, Papirus Publishing, Tirana,
2010, pp. 75

communication. 3 In this case the channel can be any kind of media. This is strictly related with
Saussures thought (1916) about the signifier and the signified. According to him the signifier is
the same to all but the signified changes according to the culture. He takes the example of
onomatopoeia of the crows which in Albanian might be kikiriku and in English
coockadoodledoo.4 In his book Goodbye information, its media time (2005), Saffo talks about
the new forms and the exploding of the cyberspace. According to him, a new area of personal
media is being developed, which in difference to the dominating and traditional media enables an
interference of the individual and the feeling of creation. 5 But, there is a dark side to the personal
media: as in contrast to the mass media which offers the same content for the whole society, and
thus gave the people the feeling of being a part of a group, in todays actuality, the individuals
choose from the virtual media exclusively content that are related to their point of view. They
isolate themselves from everything that doesnt fit with their point of view. We are risking to
become groups defined by common prejudices, which can be easily disconnected of reality.

McLuhan on the other hand points out the thought of some researchers who said that the graphic
revolution has caused a shift in our culture from the personal ideals to collective images. This is
the same as saying that television and photography have made us think away from the

3 Unversity of Prishtina (2011), Bazat e Komunikimit Masiv, Student Material,

Unpublished booklet pp. 14
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.

alphabetical and private point of view, to a more complex and general world of the group
ionizations.7
If we take as an example of shaping our reality the media of television, than we might take into
consideration the theory of Marshall McLuhan who says that the message itself is the medium
because the meaning of the message is not the media but the way we use that message. He
considers that media is an overstretch of the human senses. It, thus, depends on the individual
and how he/she percepts the message. 8Just like Saussure tells us about the signifier and
signified. McLuhan, turns into a prophet, when he warns us about the revolution that television,
the multi senses medium, will bring to us and thus make us more stimulated and more
generalized about the conscious, by favoring a wish to take part in a common culture, without
boundaries, which he calls a global country. 9 With the world turning into a global country, we
are now able to learn about new cultures and about the world that surrounds us. This broadens
our horizons, but there is still the risk of manipulating of the media, since the audience might
have a little knowledge about these cultures.
Now, lets take the example of how commercials shape our reality. Arnold Toynbee, who is a
voice of human intellectual, even though living a world of commercials says that Personally, I
am not affected by the commercials (Toynbee, as cited by McLuhan 2010-26). However, we
might be witnesses of how commercials tend to create stereotypes of different people and things.
7 McLuhan, M. Instrumentat e komunikimit, mediat si nje zgjatim i njeriut, Instituti i
Dialogut dhe Komunikimit, Tirana, 2004 pp.255
8 McLuhan, M. Instrumentat e komunikimit, mediat si nje zgjatim i njeriut, Instituti i
Dialogut dhe Komunikimit, Tirana, 2004 pp.13
9 Maigret, E. , Sociologjia e Komunikimit dhe e mediave, Papirus Publishing, Tirana,
2010, pp. 114

For example, the commercial about Kosovo, the young Europeans was considered to be a
stereotype of the youth. In the visual aspect, through the image of young kosovars, the metaphor
of age turns into a metonymy, in the webpage or in the promotional commercial of this
campaign. Youngsters of two sexes are chosen, who look handsome and with big life
accomplishments, with great knowledge and interesting hobbies, just to transmit the stereotype
of beauty and youth in contrast to the daily and routine one. Roland Bart (1970), points out the
importance of the good interpreted message, which are a connection and push the audience
towards a certain meaning among other meanings of the visual part. With other words, the
modern image of youngsters of a high social level, is not enough and doesnt tell us anything
about the identity and the Kosovar nation.
In conclusion, living in a world with a raising importance of mass media, we have to take into
consideration the fact how media affects us and how it shapes our reality. When McLuhan
warned us about the revolution of the television, he was seen as a heretic, but nowadays
everything is possible. But with the rise of the mass media, the level of knowledge rises too. It is
hard in a modern world to fool a person with high knowledge, but there is the risk of gaining a
false knowledge from the media. There is always the risk of manipulation, even at a very low
level. This is the sphere which needs to be studied further in order to see in what certain ways
media can manipulate with us.