Behavior in its Place

This article explores human behavior and how media has a lot to do with how roles in society have changed over time. Meyrowitz begins by explaining how people modify their behavior to fit a certain situation, sometimes subconsciously. He then presents two theorems that explain how human interaction has changed throughout history and how electronic media is the key to understanding these shifts. He explains that with the rise of electronic media, many social spheres have merged and it has blurred the lines between child and adult, masculine and feminine, and politician and an average citizen. The study of social behavior is now less about places, and more about how people from different places, cultures, and backgrounds interact in the media.

This article reminds me of how the different generations are portrayed, and how they are classified mostly based on the amount of media consumed. For example, many people would call my generation, the kids that still played outside when they were little, but got phones at a younger age, and watched Disney back when it was good. On the other hand, kids today will probably be talked about as the generation always on their phones and tablets, the generation of mass information and Tik Toks. Also, within different generations, different social norms have been created. Over time, people have become less private in the media, their relationships with their teachers/parents/peers have changed, and their access to knowledge in never ending.

This idea of a generation defined by their media is described when Meyrowitz says media is an, “extensions of the senses, and he claims that the introduction of a new medium to a culture, therefore, changes the· “sensory balance” of the people in that culture and alters their consciousness” (Meyrowitz, p.3). Due to the lack of face to face interaction, the merging of social spheres, and an audience online ranging from young children to adults, the “sensory balance” of children today has definitely been altered. The article later argues, “By bringing many different types of people to the same “place,” electronic media have fostered a blurring of many formerly distinct social roles” (Meyrowitz, p.6). Young people today cannot be shielded from the media which will impact the way they interact in school, society, and the workplace.