Dear Sarfo
Very quickly off my mind mass media communication is mediated by some technology or platform (phone, Facebook, twitter etc) between the sender/s of the message and the recipient. Now, if you remember Marshall McLuhan coinage the--the medium is the message--- could be interpreted to mean that the channel of communication could influence how the message is perceived. So in a big way the medium does something to message receipts sometimes more than the message itself, e.g. it could mesmerize, dazzle, it could be addictive etc...all these could affect or influence the way the message will be interpreted in a small way or even in very big way. In fact it could divert recipients attention totally from the content. Its also kind of mechanical. On the other hand, in face-to -face, the recipient is dealing with the sender directly. When the sender and recipient meet face to face, their personalities could influence meaning but chances are the levels of transfer of meaning would be higher. Face-to -face communication could be termed more human, a relationship of a kind. So, yes, face to face is likely to be more emotional, more empathetic as participants can read the others' body cues.
Clearly mass media communications is highly impersonal and is mostly intended to influence lots of people, usually for selfish reasons of financial profit, as opposed to improving the education of the public, particularly toward what is true and laudable. There is far too much attention to the negative, e.g., scandalous activities and "breaking news" that is simply a continual rehash of opinions and repeats about what has already been published. There is very little an individual can do to counter this barrage, other than to block it, or try to ignore it. I absolutely hate commercials, and switch TV channels whenever one comes on; if they're on both channels, I mute the audio until they return to the largely boring so-called breaking news, until I reach my threshold of disgust and turn off the set. Face-to-face communications, on the other hand, is highly personal. One then has the ability to assess the veracity and intent of the correspondent and perhaps learn something useful, particularly about what the person thinks and feels. With an open mind, this can lead to an exchange of perceived viewpoints that can strengthen both parties for the better in trying to understand the underlying reality of the topic discussed or being confronted.
Simply put, mass media can be used to set a health agenda and influence social norms, fr example, through televised debates and advertising. Face to face creates a dialogue that is essential to changing behaviours through personal actions that are reinforced by the agenda created through mass media
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