Essay Sample on Attention and Exposure

The term exposure in the context of communication refers to the extent to which a specific target audience receives media content or a particular class of messages (De Vreese & Neijens, 2016). The term attention, on the other hand, describes conscious awareness of media messages informing of stimuli on a person's sensory system (Potter, 2018).

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My Experience of Exposure States

I have experienced several exposure states in different circumstances. My example of a transported state is in the context of watching the Black Panther film in a theater. The movie was entertaining to the extent that I developed intense emotions like its actors. Also, I lost the sense that I was in a theater. This example is representative of the transported state since, according to Potter (2018), it makes the audience lose their sense of separateness from the media content.

The second exposure is an automatic state. I experienced this phenomenon while waiting for my sister in a city restaurant. I decided to flip through the pages of a newspaper to pass the time as I wait for her to finish drinking breakfast. I was in an automatic processing state at that time until I received a text message from her confirming that she was done. This experience is an example of automatic exposure because my mind was neither engaged in the newspaper nor in making decisions. This experience is representative of the automatic state since, according to Dill (2013), this exposure places a person in a perceptual flow until an interruption occurs.

Mass Audience and Niche Audience

A niche audience refers to a selective group of people that have specific interests, needs, and wants that have not been met. The content directed to this group serves to address specific interests among the members (Potter, 2018). Mass audience, in contrast, is a broad, multifaceted group of people with varying needs that cannot be met using a single media message.

My Niche Audiences

My three main niche audiences based on demographics, location, and lifestyle are the middle-income household audience, the youth population, and the urban settings niche. An example of media content that targets the middle-income household talks about managing finances while that of the youth niche is about love and social relationships. An example of the content for urban settings audience talks about approaches for sustainable livelihoods in towns.

People spend more time on certain content while they ignore others because they belong to specific niche audiences. Thus, people tend to be selective since all media messages do not attract them. I also spend time on media content about urban livelihood and balancing work with academics. However, I want to make two changes in terms of my media choices. First, I want to focus on media messages about American culture to enhance my understanding of other people's way of life. Secondly, I want to spend more time on fantasy movies to improve my creativity.

References

De Vreese, C. H., & Neijens, P. (2016). Measuring Media Exposure in a Changing

Communications Environment. Communication Methods and Measures, 10(2-3), 69-80. doi:10.1080/19312458.2016.1150441

Dill, K. E. (Ed.). (2013). The Oxford handbook of media psychology. Oxford University Press.

Potter, W. J. (2018). Media literacy. Sage Publications.