Aging and Media For Nursing Student Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Aging and Media For Nursing Student - Assignment Example The contemporary world is surrounded by media and people within the society take up the images, impressions, sounds, and ideas that the media portrays towards aging. The media reflects key values within the society (Vickers, 2007). Representation of the older people and aging in the media serves two main purposes; (a) it may lead to the revelation of the general stereotypes that are in existence in the society, and (b) it may reinforce or teach the existing stereotypes (Darnell, Krisiola and Mason, 2010). Young adults and children have limited contact with the older adults and they may develop beliefs on the issue of aging depending on what they hear and see in the media. If there s underrepresentation of the older adults in the media or most of the media representations are negative, then it follows that negative stereotypes develop (Darnell, Krisiola and Mason, 2010). There are two theories that attempt to explain the impact of the media within the society. The theories are: (a) so cial learning theory, and (b) cultivation theory. The social learning theory asserts that the young adults are mostly influenced by what they hear and see in the media and in the process the young person apes the models he or she hears or sees (Vickers, 2007). The cultivation theory asserts that the substance of the contemporary mass media has the capability of shaping the individuals’ perceptions of the universe. In this modern society, people encounter images that constantly change the way people feel and think on a number of issues.