Analyzing the Affect of Social Media on Viewers: A Psychological Study

This essay investigates the significant role of social media in shaping viewers' attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors. It explores how various media platforms influence individuals and communities, not only promoting products but also impacting moods and attitudes. The essay uses the TV series "Friends" as a case study, analyzing how its affective messages, relatable characters, and portrayal of relationships affect the young generation. The analysis considers the show's influence on viewers' emotions, values, and the way they perceive friendship, socializing, and personal growth. Furthermore, it discusses how the series reflects and influences modern-day fashion and social norms while highlighting the importance of friendship and emotional support in daily life. The essay concludes by emphasizing how the show promotes the acceptance of social issues like surrogacy and adoption, offering insights into the broader impact of media on society.

Running head: AFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VIEWERS
Affect of social media on viewers
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1AFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VIEWERS
The role of media in influencing our attitudes, beliefs, values, and
behaviors
Media plays a significant role in modern culture. Psychologists these days are now
interested in knowing how individuals and communities respond to the constant messages
from various sources like magazines, billboards, movies, TV and other social media platform.
These messages not only promote products but also beliefs, moods and attitudes. For
example: the concept of celebrity has been possible only because of media. Without the
capability of magazines, movies and news media, people across hundreds of miles could not
have been so famous (Waldfogel, 2017). Circumstances like influences, events can change
the human behavior. Social media influences relationships, education and shopping. Social
media platform like Facebook maintains existing offline relationship and solidifies the offline
connections. This is the key element that differentiates social media from primitive mode of
public communication.
The impact of serial
F.R.I.E.N.D.S:
Rachel Green, Ross Geller, Monica Geller, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing and Phoebe
Buffay are six friends living off one another in the heart of New York City. In a period of 10
years, this group 6 friends goes through various family problems, fights, laughs, tears,
massive mayhem, past and future romance and surprises. In the course of the journey, they
realize the essence of true friends and friendship.
This series portrays the peripheral route. It does not focus on motivating people but
focus on how the message, the scenes and the idea of the serial appeals to the human senses.

2AFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VIEWERS
Every character was different and relatable (Koo, Lim & Park, 2014). Their strong bond in
spite of all the hard times appeals to everyone the goals of friendship to the young crowd. In
the episodes, Chandler’s sarcasm, the pet duck, friendship of Joey and Chandler, the
unending love of Ross for divorce and dinosaurs, the transformation of Rachel from a
spendthrift to a responsible manager at a leading fashion brand, the thanksgiving dinner of
Monica, the weird songs of Phoebe’s, the dance by the Geller’s became the part of every
youth’s life. It did not portray any fact but portrayed the essence of friendship.
The target audience most likely to get affected by the series is the young generation of
age between 24-54 who has close friends and can relate to the series.
This series portrays the affective message approach, which affects and influences the
feelings and values of young people (Burleson, 2006). It influences the emotions of the
people by portraying the strength of relationships and its values. The creators have focused
on the involvement of the audience by developing the different characters on the show, the
laughter that was heard from the live audience and the culture during that time (friends - best
of all seasons, 2019). The laugher that is heard from the live audience and in turn from the
views shows the engagement of the series with the audience, helping to express the real
emotions. It also could be related to the modern days fashion as the series showed different
hairstyles, clothing and props. It made sense as the plot was relating to the characters’ and
their ages. The characters although was facing various troubles could finally settle down in
professional and personal life by the support and help of the friends (Green, 2018). The
episode where Chandler proposes to Monica, the emotional aspect of the series was also
depicted. Such sitcoms engage friends to sit together and participate in the conversations of
the characters. Mainly emotions of anger, sadness and happiness have been depicted in the
series. For example: The scene where Richard tried to get Monica back provoked the sense of

3AFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VIEWERS
anger amongst the viewers. The most important aspect was that the story line was both
relatable and believable. The character seemed to be real and not just actors.
The series tried conveying why friends are important in life and how it affects the
daily lives, how friendship gives motivation in the harsh days, helps one to grow. It also
shows why and how socializing affect the lives of people in the positive manner. For
example: the episode of Monica helping Chandler to lose some extra kilos shows the support
they provided to one another and how they mingled with each other. The series tried
teaching the viewers to follow their dreams and to be real. The character taught the viewers to
live a selfless and disciplined life, as she was the one to take care of everyone. It also tried
eliminating the social taboo by showing by portraying the acceptance of surrogacy and
adoption by a single mother.

4AFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON VIEWERS
Reference
Burleson, W. (2006). Affective learning companions: strategies for empathetic agents with
real-time multimodal affective sensing to foster meta-cognitive and meta-affective
approaches to learning, motivation, and perseverance(Doctoral dissertation,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
friends - best of all seasons. (2019). friends - best of all seasons. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buHrSbwHXbo
Green, B. (2018). Getting better: Television and moral progress. Routledge.
Koo, C., Lim, M. K., & Park, K. (2014). E-smart health information adoption processes:
central versus peripheral route. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems, 24(1),
67-94.
Waldfogel, J. (2017). How digitization has created a golden age of music, movies, books, and
television. Journal of economic perspectives, 31(3), 195-214.