Impact of Media on SocietyMedia technologies are becoming an important aspect of today's society. Every day, people interact with media in many different forms. Media is commonly defined as a communication channel. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that the media consists of completely unbiased information and that media companies do not impose their own control over the information provided to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it is obvious that it has effects on people. According to the Media Now textbook, “media effects are changes in knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors that result from exposure to media” (386). This leaves us with many unanswered questions about the media and its influences. This article will examine how the effects of media are determined and explore the main effects on today's society: violence, prejudice and sexual behavior. In order to understand how media can affect society or individuals, it is first necessary to look at different approaches. which can be taken to analyze media. According to the book Media Now, two main approaches are used: the deductive approach and the inductive approach. The deductive approach is where a social scientist first proposes theories or predictions through systematic observations of the media and then uses the results of their research to support their theory or prove it false. An inductive approach is slightly opposed because this method first examines people's interactions with media and each other and then creates theories from real-world situational research. The inductive approach tends to be used more frequently because its theories are based on real cases. Another difference in how to approach media effects research is how some social scientists are interested in quantitative information while others are more interested in qualitative information. Quantitative information is when the desired results are as numerous as possible, while qualitative information is when the desired results consist of the best and most useful information. All of these approaches and research methods influence how social scientists determine how media affects society and individuals. The types of studies carried out by these social scientists create detailed profiles of media and its content, and identify trends over time. For example, one study found that exposure to alcohol advertising and television programming was associated with positive beliefs about alcohol consumption (Austin 2).