THE MEDIA EFFECTS ON THE LIFESTYLE AND SELF-ESTEEM OF AUDIENCES: PERCEPTION OF THE STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF SWAT, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The researchers analyzed at how media affects audiences' lifestyles and self-esteem, while students' perceptions are being studied with the primary goal of understanding how media contents affect audiences' roles in society—that is, how they perform their lifestyles and how they feel about themselves after watching media contents—either positively or negatively. This study, which is theoretically conducted using the key assumptions of cultivation theory, suggests that a high level of media exposure fosters a positive perception of the media's portrayal of fashion, hairstyles, body image, self-esteem, and general lifestyle. The findings mainly indicate the cultivation a positive perception about the media, as collectively 56% of respondents having daily watch of media from 6 to 8 hours and above 8 hours believe that media has a positive impact on the overall lifestyle and self-esteem of its viewers. The study also found that male and female respondents had differing attitudes toward media content related to lifestyles; female respondents were found to be more influenced by content pertaining to makeup, whereas male respondents were relatively highly influenced by content pertaining to health, such as exercise.