The effects of the mass media on young population: Example of Kütahya

One of the features which distinguishes human beings from other living things is the abilitiy of living in a culture that belongs to them. The most important component in the development of cultures is ?language?. Language as well is the basic transporter of culture, it is a fact which is living, changable and most importantly is social. Individuals comprehend each other with the help of language and communicate among themselves via language. In a broad sense, communication is transmitting of information between units.Today, it can be said that the media is the most important institution which enables communication among people. In spite of the fact that the basic function of the media is transmitting information, except for the pre-mentioned recent role, the media has many functions like education, entertaintment, shopping, etc. functions of media, as well. At this point, the mass media effects the cultural framework in positive and negative dimensions.This study investigates the effects of mass media on individuals via a questionnaire. In this framework, an intra-structure which is appropriate to literature is built by explaining the concepts related to the mass media, culture, cultural forms and basic communication theory in the first two chapters. The city of Kütahya is chosen for the questionnaire area and how the individuals in different age groups are affected by the media is discussed by analyzing the statistical results which are obtained.Key Words: The Mass Media, Communication, Media, Culture, Popular Culture, Estrangement, Degeneration.