More than any other aspect of modern life, the mass media determine public opinion on issues in the United States and around the world. Many different forms of media exist in developed nations along with many assessments of each of these innovations and their respective impacts on society. As with all sociological issues, there are four main divisions of perspective: interactionalist, functionalist, feminist and conflict theorists. Each of these groups shares some ties of opinion with the others, but they all adopt unambiguous views that distinguish them distinctly from one another. From Johannes Gutenberg's printing press ushering in the Renaissance to that of Timothy Berners-Lee, the MIT professor often credited with the invention of the Internet: the proposed World Wide Web ushering in the modern technological era, the impact of average remains undeniable; Major developments in the media tend to set in motion some of the most drastic changes in lifestyles. However, a problem with media technologies arises from a failure to preemptively recognize their full potential and possible misuse in the future. A major concern for interactionalist theorists arises from the selective exposure, or underutilization, of these innovations by those who only care to know a tiny fraction of them. amount of information on specific topics. This dilemma often leads to the deprivation of one's potential expertise on a topic despite the belief that one has acquired all the necessary knowledge. A problem occurs when a lack of information leads to becoming less tolerant of others. In contrast, interactionists view television optimistically when it is used as a social networking device, particularly when a group of friends or family are in the middle of the paper. ...of their effects on listeners, more violent lyrics, even when presented in an apparently nonviolent style, tended to lead to an increase in violent cognitions in the listener. A link could be drawn between the selective exposure situation of interactionists and the results of cases similar to this one. A problem addressed by conflict theorists, the construction of reality, rears its head in a study by Ward published in 2004 in which results show that black students' negative mental reaction to the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of blacks in the media. Young people showed negative self-esteem especially when watching sports and music videos. Theoretically, the reason these particular programs so negatively impact students' self-esteem stems from the status achieved by the musician or athlete through what on the surface appears to be minimal effort...