The world of entertainment: How does television really influence us? In today's society, it seems that television has become almost a norm or a way of life compared to postmodern views of entertainment. Almost everyone owns it, watches it, and, more importantly, has been influenced in one way or another by the effects of these moving images that are increasingly present in popular culture. Some call it useless, others call it inspirational, but how does television actually affect those living a contemporary lifestyle compared to more traditional forms or culture? Simple entertainment or simulative content could end up turning into a massive influence on mass cultural behavior, leading to our emotions being taken on a roller coaster A study by Karin Raeymaeckers, an academic conference within the Department of Switches stated that "individual media or television use viewed by individuals aged 16 to 18 was more likely to substitute these forms of entertainment for learning or reading time." Even though the influence exerted by these forms of media is very present in daily life, just because emotions can be invoked does not mean everyone will copy the exact actions shown to them. People may say that they sometimes want to "kill someone", but these words are usually used in social slang rather than actually meaning it. A good example of this is Goffman's theory of self-presentation. This theory tells us that when people act in different ways by putting on "masks" to feel accepted or also engaging in certain social activities to avoid embarrassment. These masks are mostly full personality covers and although people like to change their personality or act like someone else after watching these media sources, a factor that makes a big difference in how someone reacts depends on the culture in which he finds himself. This is more easily called finding your “social identity.” Social identity theory tells us that people like to find comfort in the things in which they feel most comfortable. There are various things that influence this, such as social groups, family or friends, but this influence is not always negative. Social identity develops in a variety of ways and if television helps a person discover who they are in a positive way, that should not be contested in this situation. Everyone is different simply because a person feels most comfortable finding their social identity within their social group; another may in a completely different field.