Audience Theory 2

1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?
I believe that social learning theory is not entirely responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence in society as people can use this as an excuse for any form of media, this could restrict media in many ways, as people could even say the same thing about movies or posters. People understand that what happens in video games is not the same as what happens in real life and people should not treat life the same way they do in games.

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples.
People do learn things from social media and the internet in this digital age and we can see this from many viral things which occur are often re-enacted by many people, however not everyone follows social media, but those who do generally learn from social media and even get their news rom places such as the internet or even social media.

3) Research five examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics.
-Albert Bandura/video game violence
-1990s–present: Sex offenders
-20th–21st century: Public health
-1970s–present: War on drugs
- 1970s–present: Increase in crime

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society?

-Digital Privacy

-Online Child Safety

Cyber-Security

5) How does the author suggest that technopanics should be addressed - rather than through government regulation?

The author suggests that people should be taught about technopanics and by increasing the amount taught about the subject the better the understanding is about it and should perhaps be taught in schools as common education for children so that they know about it from a young age.

6) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online?
I don't think that the internet should be regulated and the government should try to control what we can access online, because what is available online is knowledge and the government shouldn't stop us from gaining knowledge and there are also some things which should be kept private as people know that they have a certain level of privacy. There would also be a thrill of accessing certain information when it is banned, which wouldn't be available for people at the moment.

7) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? 
Gerbner's Cultivation theory states that more regular users and watchers of TV and media are more susceptible to believing that everything in the media is real and that they should believe that everything on TV is real and applies to them. I don't  think that the internet is creating a fearful population as if people were going to do bad things they would do it without the use of the internet. I think that as a population we may be becoming desensitised to online threats and more.

8) Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? How would you define 'heavy internet use'?
I don't think heavy internet use is something which we should be worried about in society for most people, as I would consider majority of generation Z and even before that to be 'heavy internet users'
and I don't think that it has impacted us majorly as we are often keeping up with the technology available to us and majority of people are very comfortable in using their cellular devices, computers and TV's in todays generation however we can still relate and talk to older generations who are not as active with technology.