It is undeniable that children learn a great deal from what they are exposed to, but it cannot be said to be a good or bad thing. Where do we even learn certain traditions and know how to act in certain situations? Traditions like Christmas and other holiday activities are learnt when we are younger, but how much is learnt from the media now that every family in our culture celebrates the same traditions? Who told us that we were supposed to decorate a tree and put it in our house? How do we know that presents are expected? Why do families string up lights? These traditions have been formed by the media to make things, like Christmas more universal.
All our social influences combined whether it is family, friends, or technology, are programming new behaviours that we are familiar with, that can either be beneficial, such as being computer literate, or detrimental to our human condition, such as alienation, with technology distancing people from social contact.
This relates to my topic of reality in Hollywood. We learn certain dispositions and certain ideas which are implemented on us from a certain age, like male dominance, race segregation, and class separation. These unconsciously ideologies we learn from a young age are certainly hard to change because we cannot forget our experiences in life. It is much easier in our image saturated society, to understand things and to believe what you see, rather then asking questions.
This video shows how we learn in social settings and learn from our environment from punishment and reinforcement, also called "operant conditioning."
