Mass Communication Effects

Do stereotypes exists in the media today?
I would of course argue yes and no. You might wonder why I take this stance when the obvious answer would be a simple yes. However there are a number of reasons why I take this stance.
The answer is yes because there are so many instances where the advertising in the media will portray an image of a certain gender, age, ethnic group, etc. that is not accurate with the majority of that type of people. For example, the snickers ad of an old woman underneath the coffee table holding it up because there is nothing else of use she can do. She's old and useless. That is the message. That is the steroetype of old people. But is that consistent? Obviously not. My grandparents are still very active. And you might also take the general authorites of the church. President Hinckley was extremely active despite his age. Therefore, the answer would be yes, stereotypes do exist in the media.
In contrast, the answer could be no as well. Are there elderly people that serve no purpose to their community and to society as a whole today? Well, anyone that visits a nursing home might think that these people do seem, forgive the bluntness, to be a drain on society. There is no longer anything productive they can do. Therefore, the stereotype in the Snickers ad would be accurate, which would no longer make it a stereotype. It would be an accurate portrayal of the age.

What might happen if people begin to overly distance themselves from the reality of the outside world? Are there examples of where this has already happened?

They could be called hermits. Recluses. People who abandon the outside world to stay inside of their homes. Completely cutoff from reality. They lose themselves in their imaginations, their fantasies and their so called dreams. There have been instances where people distancing themselves from reality has resulted in the very worst outcome, death. A man in China after a 3 day gaming binge on an internet game died from exhaustion. He totally cut himself off from reality and lost himself in this fantasy world. And it ended in his death.