ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses mass media, which is any time a communication is intended for a large audience. While it is tempting to think that media psychology today is more about digital media than traditional media, television is still one of most used modes of news consumption and entertainment in Western culture. When authors look at primary functions of media, they can be described, first, as sources of information but, second, as ways for social connection. As they discuss media, they will reflect on the purposes of various kinds of media and roles that media plays in their daily lives. Some of older generation of media consumers are reluctant to embrace newer forms of digital media and continue to use the forms of communication on which they have always relied. Media literacy is a concept, similar to print literacy, to describe skill of being able to read and consume media with good critical thinking skills and discriminating visual and symbolic processing.
