Observations on the media's return to power.the long-term effects

Abstract

Agenda-setting and spiral-of-silence theory, which have emphasised the cognitive effects of social media, have simultaneously given new impetus to the exploration of other long-term effects, bringing the "powerful media" paradigm back into fashion. The critical warnings of the researchers who coined the limited effects theory about the limited scope of their research have been overlooked by the academic textbook, and research on the lasting social effects of media has been neglected. This article tentatively explores two such possible long-term effects: the loss of experience of reality and the resulting value disorientation, and disinformation through information "overdose". At the same time, the historical and natural limitations of research on the social effects of the media are highlighted, thus showing the long road that remains to be travelled in a field of mass communication research which is, paradoxically, the one with the longest tradition and, without doubt, one of the fields that has generated the most academic literature.