Mass Media And Public Relations: Problems of Information Overload in Modern Society

Abstract

The modern society cannot be imagined without mass media, which influence has increased since the end of the 20th century. Media participation is becoming global, and people’s perception of reality depends on the mass media, which actively interfere into our lives in all spheres. The evolution of media is a revealed regularity. But authors express concern that current communication consists not only in the information circulation, but in the exchange of opinions, judgments, and behavior patterns of the audience. They see the transformation of media from a factor of production and dissemination of information into a factor of organization of the mass communication process, which influences the social behavior patterns. The aim is to explore the information overload as a consequence of the transformation of mass media into the tool of imposing interpreted information onto the target audience in the interests of different actors, seeking to use accessibility and high speed of information transfer. Authors conclude that information overload leads to the loss of the “sense of reality”. People demonstrate an objective inability to make the right decision. There is a lot of confusion and fear for children who are also under the “pressure” of aggressive information, which manipulate moral attitudes of the population to form their world view via mass media. This is a complex and ambiguous problem, as human life is being moved to a symbolic space where, in the pursuit of profit or political dividends, media becomes a powerful means of controlling human consciousness and subconscious.