Tuning the Real World Out

There is the possibility that people will be immersing themselves in the world of mass media to a point to where they begin to tune out the real world. What might happen if people begin to overly distance themselves from the reality of the outside world? Are there examples of where this has already happened?

Some people have already overly distanced themselves socially from others. Two large examples of instances where people tune out the real world come from video games and the Internet. Both of these aspect of mass media allow direct communication, but the communication is not in person.

An older brother of a friend of mine decided to play the popular video game Halo for two days straight. He only left his room to use the restroom, and his mother brought food up to his room. Even after he had beaten the game, he still kept replaying the game.

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With regard to the Internet, most college students that have a facebook or myspace account have had the experience of signing online around five in the afternoon and not getting offline until midnight that night. Most social networks make the participant loose track of time. Internet is also making social skills rarer and rarer as teens result to online messages as forms of communication. One does not even leave their desk or get out of their PJ's to talk with all of their friends.

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