Media Effects

Team Green: Connor DeShong, Arael Rauls, Mariam Ahmed, Brittany Simer, Joshua Jordan

Media: A stimulus, usually a platform or content on a platform, that is used by individuals or organizations to share ideas and disseminate information.

Effect: A change in attitude, behavior, or cognition that is experienced in response to a stimulus (media).

Competition Nomination:

Receipt Theory - The rise in the use of smartphones with screenshotting capabilities has led to an increasing number of everyday citizens recording the words and actions of public figures as well as their own friends and family members, thus holding them accountable. As a side-effect, people tend to exercise more restraint on and off of social media if they believe what they are doing or saying will be recorded or screenshotted.

1. Joshua:  The “They Got Lucky” Frame - when media focus on an individual's rise to success (e.g. video goes viral, wins the lottery, gets discovered by music industry executive), the viewer will experience an immediate increase in physiological and psychological arousal, and is likely to attribute the individual’s success to external factors rather than internal factors (e.g. hard worker, spent much time making other videos, or auditioned many times to be seen by music industry executives).  

2. Arael : Blank Stare effect - As people begin to use social media as a source of news in the traditional sense as well as news in the social sense, the two are presented at once in users’ feeds. This leads to headlines regarding serious issues being glossed over with pictures of family vacations with little to no thought.

3. Arael : Fake News effect - The emergence of an ideological chasm between liberal and conservative news outlets as well as of satirical news outlets such as the Onion has changed the way people look at news. With the knowledge that “fake” news outlets exist, people are likely to dub credible news outlets with an opposing political bias as “fake news”.

4. Arael : Social (Media) Justice Warrior Syndrome - When the news covers events seen as socially unjust, such as a football player making a sexist remark, or a police officer killing an unarmed black person, it causes those with a heavy social media presence to feel as though they must react. This leads to many posting about issues they do not know or even actually care about.

5. Joshua: Sheep Theory: when media cover a new ‘trend’, an individual will tend to adjust a part of their lifestyle, such as attire, in order to conform to the ‘trend’.

6. Arael : Hyper-Current Events Theory - The 24-hour news cycle brings headlines into and out of the public view very quickly. Because of this constant barrage of information, public attention from issue to issue shifts very quickly.

7. Connor: Cry Wolf Theory - If every news headline is breaking news then suddenly nothing is breaking news. The news media is desensitizing the American public because they label all news events as “Breaking News.” As a result, the public does not pay as much attention to news stories that are of actual importance.

8. Connor: Fakebook Theory - News on Facebook, regardless of being legitimate or not, is trusted by users. People perceive Facebook to be a reliable source of information because they see information from friends and family. This same trust is extended to news that is seen on Facebook and results in a misplaced trust in news that is seen on Facebook, regardless of its source or information.

9. Brittany: Saving Face Theory: News media will frame stories and cut out information to make themselves appear as reliable, trustworthy, and the most efficient news source, persuading consumers to keep coming back to them for news.

10. Brittany: Give Now, Ask Later: Episodic framing by television media on short term events implies individual responsibility to act immediately before time runs out. For example, “one dime today could save a child’s life.”

11. Mariam: Twitter Moment Theory - Whatever topic is defined as a Twitter Moment is newsworthy and important.

12. Connor: Gendered Toys Theory - Gendered toys are produced and targeted at children, which results in the early production of a masculinity/femininity complex in children. Gendered attitudes and behaviors are given to children as a result of the toys that are made for them.

13. Brittany: Reaction Theory - News and Social Media frame their posts as important, causing people to things that all things that appear on these platforms are important and should be acted on immediately.

14.Mariam: Status Belief Theory- Learning new information on Facebook which aims to someone’s pre-existing beliefs, however naturally ignoring/unfriending people who have differing beliefs as you.

15. Mariam: Idea Bubble Theory- Facebook detecting an algorithm based on what article sources you favor over others (Fox, CNN, etc). Only exposing yourself to news sources which are more liberal/conservative based on your personal beliefs.

16. Mariam: Ignoring Bias Theory - Learning the weaknesses about a presidential candidate but refusing to be persuaded to not vote for this person because there is a worse potential candidate.

17. Connor: “1 Like = 1 Diffusion of Responsibility” - Posts on social media (typically Facebook) that guilt people into liking posts based on a statement such as, “One like = one prayer” and will be followed by a picture of a sick child or dying soldier. Posts such as these often guilt users and allows diffusion of accountability or responsibility. A “like” is perceived by the user as helping a cause, yet a “like” has no real world implication. Liking a post does not equate to real world action.

18. Arael : Twitter Is Not Actually Losing Its Mind - In an attempt to capture potential readers’ attention, news outlets aimed at younger readers such as Buzzfeed create articles with headlines such as “Twitter Is Losing Is Mind Over _____ ”. This causes two things to happen; the intended audience believes that the information is important and “freak-out” worthy, and the headline becomes true, or that same audience publicly notes the inconsistency of the headline with their observations on their own social media feeds. This causes distrust towards the publisher of such headlines.

19: Brittany: The “It's So Extra, I have to Support It” Theory - Things that are comical or ridiculous are more likely to become popular in social media, so media will integrate popular social media trends to boost their popularity, in turn causing people to strongly support them just as a joke

20. Mariam: Media Insensitivity Theory - Whenever a mass killing occurs and it is blasted on social media, people react insensitively and point fingers (politics, etc) instead of having sympathy towards people’s lives that have been lost. Tragic events result in people discussing related politics instead of the events themselves.

21. Joshua: Two-Party System Theory - if the media are conveying information related to Democratic or Republican news, then the individual will tend to experience an increase in psychological and physiological arousal by way of increased alertness and increased attention, as well as the activation of their fight-or-flight response.

22. Joshua: UC Berkeley Theory – when an individual chooses to adhere to certain limited news sources, and thus has restricted knowledge on the topic. The individual will likely have thoughts, beliefs, and opinions bolstered by the media they adhere to, and engage in discussion by conveying their viewpoints, but resenting or dismissing other angles.

23. Brittany: Localization Theory: News and social media stories are locally based because of people's interests being more focused on their immediate surroundings rather than the world

24. Arael : News First, Facts Later : When a major event occurs, news media get the story on their platform/outlet first without checking to make sure the information they are reporting is correct; this can allow the public to make incorrect assumptions, as well as break the public’s trust with news outlets once they discover the truth.

25. Mariam: Hater Trend Theory: When a celebrity gets hate for getting something (ex. lip injections) and then in the next few years, everyone starts getting lip injections - including the people who were hating on it. The attention/hate given to trends results in them becoming mainstream.

26. Connor: Rabbit Hole Theory - Browsing any form of social media, particularly YouTube, will start at one piece of content but will end in an entirely different topic because of related content/videos. Media platforms often suggested related content to users based on the content they are currently viewing. This allows users to connect to related topics easily. The result is broad, surface-level knowledge on unrelated topics that are typically very different than the original content that was viewed.

27. Arael : Receipt Theory - The rise in the use of smartphones with screenshotting capabilities has led to an increasing number of everyday citizens recording the words and actions of public figures as well as their own friends and family members, thus holding them accountable. As a side-effect, people tend to exercise more restraint on and off of social media if they believe what they are doing or saying will be recorded or screenshotted.

28. Brittany: The Great Debaters Theory: Social Networking Sites will post about news topics and provoke users to share their opinions. The effect is that people will get really defensive about everything posted, and then every topic becomes some kind of debate, polarizing the population.

29. Mariam Ahmed: Opposite Trend Theory: When something is deemed unpopular in society, but then a celebrity posts a picture and news outlets/people say that it’s back in style. (Ex. Everyone thinking FILAs are out of style, and then Beyonce posts a picture of her wearing FILAs and now everyone is going crazy for them.

30. Mariam Ahmed: Scroll Past Theory - Getting used to skimming while scrolling on social media to the point where it starts affecting how you read online textbooks, etc. For example, not wanting to read 280 character tweets and skimming past them, and then the same exact behavior gets adapted to reading a Marketing online textbook.

31. Mariam Ahmed: Ratio Culture Theory - Not wanting to follow someone if they are following way more people than they’re being followed by. Or, not wanting to follow someone back because you know they will unfollow you.

32. Brittany: Rate Me Theory: Media sites ask for feedback on their performance and encourage users to rate other users on their profiles. This influences users to think of everything as something to be judged, and leads to peer ratings being the basis for reliability and trust.

33. Connor: Childhood Shmildhood Theory - This theory suggests that kids are being influenced by social media (Instagram, Twitter, etc) in a way that results in them wanting to grow up faster. Social media exposes children to standards of beauty and societal expectations much sooner than before social media. This can be seen in preteens contouring and putting on full faces of makeup.

34. Joshua: The A/C Theory – this happens when an individual is triggered by a post on social media. The individual will tend to experience an increase in physiological arousal, such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. As a result, the individual will vent to another individual in close proximity, or on social media.

35. Connor: Millennial Trash Theory - The culture of the internet has cultivated a sense of humor that is odd and unexplainable when taken off the internet. The medium of the internet allows humor to take different forms that might now be socially acceptable in person. Millennial humor has degraded as a result of the internet. Objectively, it’s just not good.

36. Mariam Ahmed: CopyCat Media Theory - Social media platforms copying other platforms in attempt to get more users. For example, Instagram/Facebook copying snapchat’s idea of snapchat stories.

37. Mariam Ahmed: Platform Transfer Theory - When certain platforms dominate other platforms and then shift depending on popularity.  For example, Facebook being extremely popular  around 2008-2011 and then the popularity shifted over to using Twitter

38. Mariam: The Sharkeisha Effect - A meme video of people fighting inspired violence with people yelling “Sharkeisha, no!” Memes inspire behavior.

39. Brittany: The Goldfish Theory: Media platforms like Vine began to limit the length of user-created posts, which resulted in a shorter attention span in people who consumed multiple short posts.

40. Arael: “1v1 me IRL” - When people play video games competitively with one another, it leads to those people treating non-competitive activities competitively. For example, after trying to get the most kills in a free-for-all shooter or come in first place in Mario Kart, a person will be more likely to try to eat their food fastest at a family meal.

41. Brittany: Real Life is Too Boring Theory - News media platforms intentionally exaggerate stories to make them more exciting than reality and gain interest from people. Thus, people become discontent and uninterested in daily life because it is too mundane in comparison to what they read about in the news.