Our Era is Their Era

What are the ways that the influences in our lives (media, school, parents, community, state, country, etc.) create a world that we inhabit?

Right now, we are all living in the technological age. We have entered a new era dominated by electronics, advertisement, and advancements that were only written about in Science-Fiction novels. This is the world that we inhabit and this world has a massive impact on who we all are as individuals and as a population.
Everyday, the modern, metropolitan citizen sees hundreds of advertisements. These can be on billboards, buses, television, radio, and otherwise. Out of all of these sights, it's nearly impossible not to be somewhat influenced by at least one of them. It could be something as small as making someone change their minds about what they were going to eat for lunch, or something as large as donating hundreds of dollars to a Children's Hospital. Either way, they change our lives. They shape us, slowly but surely. Not only that, but it creates people that create us.
It took a bit of convincing on the part of the school board and on Apple's behalf to get the iPad into New Trier High School. This new media was accept though and now the majority of kids who circulate through the school have a class that revolves around it. The distraction is much more present and can affect grades negatively or positively, depending on someones personality. In a world before this one, students did not have to decide between paying attention in class or beating another level on Candy Crush. And in the future, that can have a massive impact on a person's life.
These impacts can even affect an entire government. There have been new laws passed and regulations administered to monitor online bullying, harassment, and threats. Recently, a boy was arrested for insulting a woman on Facebook and saying things that he should not have. Granted, he should never have even put those words out there, but it just proves that the internet is no longer just a tool for entertainment.
The media alone influences the world around us. And because our generation is one dominated by the media, we are all influenced by it in turn. The men and women who create technology are now the men and women who created the people who use their products. In a very non-literal sense, they are the new "Gods of our World", and I for one am terrified of it.