Is Media Rotting our Brains?
Having recently just returned from an amazing trip, which was a life long ambition of mine I have one key point that has stayed at the top of my mind.
The trip was a week at SXSW Interactive in Austin Texas. This is where lots of the worlds best in the world of entrepreneurs, digital and tech all meet up for a week of seminars and keynotes, as well as some amazing networking and parties.
The seminar that has stuck with me was not actually all that busy in comparison. It was all about some findings around psychology and Neuroscience and in particular how media acts out it in reality in our minds.
I study both of these topics albeit part time and found it fascinating.
The first point I find in my notes was that the brain thinks media is real life stimuli. So that means it thinks it is real and not content we are consuming. This makes sense as you think about how you feel watching horrors or action or even romance. We feel the emotion or the fear that is being portrayed.
The second point I found to be interesting was that 90% of stimuli is absorbed without conciousness. So every radio advert, or billboard may not make an impression in our concious mind but it does in our unconsciousness.
Now if you think about the about of media and therefore stimuli we are exposed to today in compassion to even 10 years ago. This raises the very important question is today's media an invasion or persuasion?
I think it depends on the media and the intent. For example studies show that looking at models over a period of time can cause depression and even worse.
Again its been proven that repeated stimuli can even change our belief systems. This is again concerning if we are exposed to the wrong types of messages.
You see our identity is not pre-configured but in fact post configured over time, and therefore can be altered with the right messages over a sustained period of time. We learn through repetition and intensity.
This does raise many questions about advertising and media as a whole. With all this power to change the way we feel and act I think this is a conversation that needs to be continued.
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