Questionable behavior among young adults has always existed. Since time began the previous generation has always been suspect of their progeny. I’m sure somewhere during the Pleistocene Epoch one hominid noticed another, slightly more erect, hominid using a stone tool for the first time and muttered their version of “kids these days.” Few would disagree that young adulthood is a time to explore life’s options, and take chances while relatively unburdened by the usual responsibilities one acquires with age and status. It must also be stated that while pondering the state of the youth today many older adults conveniently downplay their own adventures and youthful misdeeds. In recent years though, how has our social climate changed? Are we more revealing as a society? What role does the media play in changing social attitudes? How much influence does it have on our young men and women? Current sensationalistic news programs, reality television series, and gratuitous sex and violence in popular music and videos can have an impact on the behavior of young adults.
A newer style of entertainment news has arrived in the past decade. Specifically TMZ (which began as an internet news blog) is the premier celebrity gossip news show of the nation. It [TMZ] glamorizes the decadent side of life of many Hollywood stars, musicians, and prominent figures in the entertainment world. It highlights the excessive behavior of people who live a life beyond the reach of most normal Americans. It exemplifies a way of “living above the law” without repercussions for untoward behavior. Rampant drug and alcohol abuse of our “elite” is reported on daily as they check in and out of rehab like hotels. This is also a very invasive and revealing program t...
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...al unit still shoulders the responsibility for equipping young men and women with the tools to face the world. I often complain of how puritanical and discriminatory our laws and attitudes can still be in this country. In my study of evolution I’ve learned that it consists of an explosion of life of all kinds and a systematic narrowing down of what simply does not work. My optimistic hope is that our younger element on their march towards a more open minded, inclusive, classless society is narrowing down “Snookie” and “The Situation” as we speak.
Works Cited
Media Influence on Youth
http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm
Arce, Rose. “Hip-hop portrayal of women protested.” CNN Entertainment 4 March, 2005
http://articles.cnn.com/2005-03-03/entertainment/hip.hop_1_hip-hop-black-women-spelman-college?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ
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When reviewing an essay written by Todd Huffman called Watching TV, I’ve realized that Mr. Huffman demonstrates the severe and dangerous result that today’s social networking has on the younger society. Todd Huffman is certain that television is neither good nor bad for kids. However he suggests that television is an instrument that can be powerful at teaching. He implies that this particular instrument is not being used correctly by adults or even parents. Kids are permitted to watch numerous periods of television with no paternal guidance. In his opinion, this lack of supervision has allowed media sources such as TV, music videos, and even the web to uncover kids to sexual activities, violence, and other adult things that kids shouldn’t have access to on a daily basis. Todd Huffman explains in his article that sexual content is ordinary in TV, games and the internet and the severe penalties of being involved sexually are never revealed. Huffman also states that the media is working as
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For as long as anyone can remember the battle between youths and older generations has been fuelled by the media…“playgrounds have been turned into battlegrounds” and words are now a lethal weapon. It is a binary opposition which has been taken to extraordinary levels and waged a war between adolescents and adults.
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We now live in a decaying age of youths. We live in a world where nowadays, youths are no longer respecting their families, parents, jobs and especially themselves. It could be said that the levels of deviance in the modern day are relative to those in the past but due to web 2.0 (more known as the ‘new internet’) and the new digital revolution it has become easier – and faster – for those to report and share deviance. Maybe now in the 20th century the levels of deviance seem amplified in relation to the past.
In Kevin Alexander’s essay titled, “MySpace Not Responsible for Predators”, he places the blame on the mother and the daughter stating that “The girl, as traumatic as her experience was, should be held responsible, too.” His reasoning being that, the girl, at 14 years, was old enough to, “Calculate Risk” as well as have “Other higher brain functions.”. Who is to say that 14 year-olds have that kind of brain function? Today, adolescents and young adults are declared incapable of being responsible enough to make their own decisions such as buying cigarettes, getting a credit card, or a tattoo. If today’s youth are not capable to see the long term consequences, why is this girl being criticized and blamed for not observing the potential outcome of her actions online? Though it can be true that the m...
Teens are not only portrayed as delinquents but also as disloyal, jobless, untrusting monsters. The media causes the public following to assume that all teenagers are bad and immoral just because of a few that have done things wrong. And even when a teen does something wrong, that too is sensationalized. We do not generalize that all adults are killers and rapists just because a few have chosen...
Today’s young men are increasingly being influenced by the harming mass media. Starting at a young age, these young boys are big active users of many types of media such as watching countless number of hours of television, movies, and sports programs, listening to radio programs and CDs, and playing violent video games. These boys are increasingly surfing the Internet at record numbers unsupervised. All of these forms of media are making huge influential decisions in their lives. Young males are least likely to read beneficial sources of media such as newspapers and magazines.
The media has changed significantly over the past decades. Technology has modified our abilities to expand our communication network, and it allows companies to spread their commercials over many different continents. Research done by Roberts (1993) shows that adolescent and children are often very influenced by media that involves sexual or violent conduct. This research is based on media involving children and adolescents, however this does not eliminate the effect media has on adults (Singer & Singer, 2001, p. 269).
The teenage years are often seen as perhaps the most pivotal point in one’s life, as it is one of immense change and self-discovery. Not only are these years filled to the brim with physical and cognitive development, but also the weight of having to figure out who you are as a person. Taking this into consideration, teenage rebellion is vital at this stage in your life as it helps you to test the waters and discover just where you stand in society. So why, if the older generation is being glorified for their rebellious youth, are we being vilified for ours?
In recent times the respect that teenagers have shown for the elderly has decreased significantly, this trend has become extremely apparent in the 1980?s and 90?s. Though modern social guidelines do not dictate the killing of a disrespectful youth, it is still considered something that must be stopped. High school students have always been notorious for their lack of respect for authority. Many have wondered how these changes occur, most children are respectful at a young age but seem to ?change over night? into a youthful teenager who is often disrespectful to those around them. Studies done in recent years have shown that society, media, and the physical changes that a teenager undergoes may all be res...
transcends into adulthood (Casey, 2008). During adolescence there are examinable changes in various areas of life. These changes occur physically as the adolescent goes through puberty, as well as psychological changes where high emotional reactivity emerges, and social development is at its height (Casey, 2008). Adolescents are more likely than adults or children to engage in risky behaviour that can subsequently lead to death or illness by drunk driving, carrying weapons, using illegal drugs, and engaging in unprotected sex, which in turn can lead to STD’s and teenage pregnancies (Eaton, 2006). The prior is proof that adolescents do engage in risky behaviour. Through this essay we will explore the various theories of why risky behaviour is at its height during adolescence.
“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (Thinkexist, 2010). The mass media, including news, movies, magazines, music, or other entertainment source has become a part of daily life for many people. As the quote mentions mass media and its power are capable of influencing people’s mind and behavior. Contents in the media introduced to young people make it difficult for them to distinguish between what is real and what is not, as a result stimulating confusion and blind imitation. The mass media plays an important role in the increase of violence, sexual activity, and risky behaviors among teenagers.
Sexually active youths tend to be more exposure to media than any other members of society. The reason behind that is because they are in charge of their own time without much interference from their parents and burdensome responsibilities. This, combined with the fact that both implicit and explicit sexual content and crime in the mass media has grown over time predisposes youths to premarital sex (Rosengren, 2000).