A Short Take On When Does the Bullet Theory Apply
According to the bullet theory (also known as the hypodermic needle theory), an early model in communications studies, the media is the gun, the message is the bullet, and the victim is the audience member. In this model, audiences are passive, homogenous receivers of the message, powerless to choose how they react to the message. Since mass media has advanced in leaps and bounds since the 1920s, when the bullet theory was conceived, it’s easy to recognize that how people receive messages is not that simple. On most days, I recognize that I am not affected according to the bullet theory, but there are some days where I feel like the bullet theory is valid.
For example, there have been a few times where I’ve fallen for click-bait misinformation posts on social media. The post that comes to mind was on Twitter, where the caption said that a mother was kicked off American Airlines because she couldn’t keep a mask on her very squirmy toddler. I reacted emotionally and told my husband about it. But as we kept talking, I investigated it a little more and saw there was more to the story, and essentially, I was duped thinking the story was about a belligerent mother and her mask biases.
Yes, I’m embarrassed to admit that even as a grad student and former journalism major I catch myself reacting to disinformation sometimes. I’m not the only one and it has been dangerous for our democracy. The Pew Research Center published an article that says tackling misinformation, conspiracy theories, and the like from public online spaces would improve the public good. In short, there are audiences that do passively receive untrue stories and it is dangerous for society, as the bullet theory posits.
But then, there are other times when I can be skeptical of a message, especially when it contradicts my own experience. For example, I watched a YouTube video of a lecture by Jordan Peterson, who discussed how women holding high-paying jobs were bad for society. As I am female and the main breadwinner of my family, it’d be difficult for Peterson’s message to convince me that my fast-paced, high-growth job is destroying American society.
Although there are lots of mass media messages that I disagree with and others that I’ve been sucked in by, I do ignore lots of mass messages, too. For example, I largely ignore anything related to sports because I’m simply not interested in many of the popular sports. However, if there is an athlete that I identify with — such as an Asian female powerlifter that makes the news, I pay attention. In this case, it’s because I, too, am Asian-American, female, and enjoy weightlifting. Other than that, I am mostly oblivious to any sports-related specifics.
I suppose, in the end, how vulnerable or how resistant I am to media messages depends on the day, my biases, and what I’m interested in. While the bullet theory gives us a lot to consider, such as questioning what kinds of messages are dangerous, it doesn’t take into account the individual differences that make us susceptible or impervious media messages.
