Media Manipulation

I’ve recently been ill and managed to watch lots of online news, magazines, newspapers and television and social media while I recuperate. After many years of avoiding too much television I’m utterly under-whelmed but it has been an interesting social exercise nonetheless. I admire the quality of a few special programmes but most I found vacuous, feeding only the desire for egocentric celebrity and celebrity culture.

One interesting investigative documentary programme, StarSeekers, set out to prove how the entire television, movie and media industry creates a cycle of celebrity to fill the news pages, to sell the product endorsements, to spin stories and make money. This, they clearly show in relation to Disney and similar global brands, starts when children are very young.

I’ve seen studies that show children as young as three being able to recognise brands and respond to advertising stimulus later in supermarkets.

Some years ago I saw my own three year old asking for a branded product in the yogurt aisle at our local store and I realised myself how simple the jingle and the happy faces entice our children into early consumptive and often compulsive behaviours. Television is especially powerful in hypnotising people into accepting all sorts of messages. I went on a hypnosis course at the time to find out how to use it positively for healing, and realised that every single person is vulnerable to mass hypnosis, especially through mass media. Paul McKenna is amongst those who believe the same and he produced an excellent documentary for Channel Four himself on the issue that’s definitely worth watching.

That’s when I decided to get rid of the television once and for all and both my wonderful children have never looked back. We have more time to cook, enjoy food, learning, reading, computers, films, park, allotment and life in general.

~We’re not totally against it. We saw Masterchef final and Dr Who together on my bed on a laptop and enjoyed the experience. But we don’t have a television as the centrepiece of a room for several years now and I for one am grateful.