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Mass Media and Quality of Life

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

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Synonyms

Media consumption; Mass media and leisure; Mass media impact

Definition

Mass media refer to instruments which help people to disseminate, receive, and share information, experiences, or entertainment on a large scale among themselves. They include both print and electronic media such as books, newspapers, magazines, movies, radio, television, and sound recording. They are distinguished from new media such as the Internet, video games, and iPhone which have interactive capability to communicate in real time.

Mass media are characterized by a unidirectional flow of homogeneous messages from the communicator to a heterogeneous mass audience with delayed feedbacks, if any. The communicator of mass media does not know if his or her messages get to the audience, how large the audience is, and if the intended meaning of the messages is received. The mass media audience, on the other hand, can neither furnish immediate feedbacks to the communicator nor choose tailor-made messages for...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Paul S. N. Lee

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  1. Paul S. N. Lee
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Correspondence to Paul S. N. Lee .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, Canada

    Alex C. Michalos

  2. (residence), Brandon, MB, Canada

    Alex C. Michalos

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Lee, P.S.N. (2014). Mass Media and Quality of Life. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1738

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1738

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

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