The Influence of Media

    We consume information every day. Oftentimes, it happens without us realizing it. We might see an ad on the street, or happen to walk by an active television. Information is being fed to us from everywhere, and it takes conscious effort to parse the things that we are exposed to. Unfortunately, the media holds a very powerful grip on our society, and stories and agendas can be taken beyond the initial truth. We can see examples of this in regards to the public perception of the family. Ideas like overpopulation are very commonly held in the minds of many people, because this has been presented to us as a scientific truth, and we do not always look into the facts for ourselves.
    This is what it comes down to: fear. Fear sells. Fear is exciting, and it is what keeps people hinging on the words of media influencers and news channels. Oftentimes, a new study will come out that says something frightening and dreary, like the problem of overpopulation. These things stick in our minds, because these are things that would affect us. The issue is that many of these fears are based on incomplete data, and bias. These biases sneak into our media, and begin to affect the way that we as a general public view and understand family dynamics.
    Following along with the example of overpopulation, this idea entered into the mind of many people, and it actually affected the way that people viewed families for years. To a degree, it still has an impact on people when they decide whether or not they want to have children. If overpopulation is a serious threat to our survival on this planet, then people will not feel motivated to want to have families of their own, because it could have implications outside of just their family. 
    Ironically, this idea of only having a few children to prevent overpopulation has caused issues in many countries. Rather than overpopulation being the issue, they are struggling with an aging population and no new young people to take on responsibilities. Population has begun to collapse in many countries, and this is due in part to the fear that was drilled into them about not having too many children. 

    In this way, we can see the very real affects that the media has on how people view families. If you are told from a young age that families are dangerous, and that more people means more struggle and famine, then you are dissuaded from pursuing that route of life. 

    The family is the foundational unit of society, and it runs deep into every facet of our lives. When changes to the family occur, ripple effects spread out from there and reach into places that people would not have considered. You may wish to think, "Well, it is alright that I don't believe in families, because it is my life and my ideas." While personal opinions are valid, it is just silly to think that the choices you make in your life don't affect the people around you. When it comes to social matters, these choices impact you and your community. 

    I don't mean to encourage a radical distrust of the media, but it is important to observe the things that we are consuming. We get our influences from the people around us, and the media we ingest. We should try to look at the facts and the data, and parse our own ideas from this.