I was sitting one night perched in front of the television when a segment captured my attention. It was an attempt to portray the current generation "Y" as lazy, fat and drug addicted. If you are naïve enough to swallow the tripe being served, you may form the opinion that we teens do little beyond text messaging, sexting and gaming. Teens would be incapable of surviving in an environment without technology and parental support because we are intrinsically selfish and unable to function without an iPod hooked to our ears or a mobile phone vibrating in our pockets. This could not be further from the truth! The media thrives on embellishing the facts and is excellent at using samples of rebellious teenage behaviour to belittle the majority. It is the reckless behaviour and actions of a few who have the majority of innocent teenagers branded as delinquent troublemakers and treated as pariahs. The media has an insatiable thirst for ruining the impression of teens for the public. Teenagers who strive for excellence and have fun simply don’t sell newspapers, and are subsequently ignored by the media. The slanted perspective on their stories influence and encourages the public to have a negative perception of teenagers. The media doesn’t reveal what the majority of teens do in reality but rather focuses on the few morons who act in less than pleasant behaviours and blow it up to massive proportions. Teenagers are inundated with criticisms from the public and media for all the wrong reasons. The media prioritises profit and ratings over newsworthy issues. Their goal is not to reflect reality but rather gain an audience. Don’t you sometimes just get tired of the monotony of the media? A recent story on Today Tonight, “Mot... ... middle of paper ... ...m ‘technology dependent’; teenagers are technologically literate and not technologically dependent. A trend that I have noticed in writing this essay is that a current generation is always criticised by previous ones in various media forms. Perhaps it is caused by jealousy that their time has passed or could it be the fear of change. To readers, I say remember that the media exaggerates and thrives on sensationalism so don’t believe everything the media throws at you and absorb it like a sponge. Possibly, if the media allows freedom for teenagers to have the opportunity to have their side of the story told and express their views and opinions without the media feeding the public with outrageous stories which demonise teenagers, we can live harmoniously together. History has always had bad representations on teenagers, could this tradition ever be changed?
This article talks about the effects of media exposure on adolescents and the violence that is can bring. Using the social conflict theory it portrays the media as having a harmful impression on today’s children. The article shows how crime statistics have decreased the arrests for violent crimes committed by youth offenders has not (Fowler, 2002). The article also shows how the APA is teaming up with federal programs to help resolve these harmful effects that the media is portraying. The article shows that media is responsible for the social conflict that these adolescents are dealing with. The APA and other organizations along with the federal government are combating this problem from every angle (Fowler, 2002). While the article does speak of some statistics it may be inflating them by not including a breakdown of what violent crimes are being committed.
First, the world should create better influences. Most teens use their role models to guide them through situations in life. Teens are mostly influenced by commercials, celebrities, and magazines. When kids watch TV, someone will indorse a new trend and change their follower’s perspective on what they were taught was wrong because their favorite actor did so. If the youth’s inspirations did not make negative decisions then their supporters wouldn’t make choices that change their lives drastically. Since the younger generations don’t understand much about the real world they look toward guidance from others older, that live the life that they want to live, so they can live up to those standards and...
To continue, it is very rare that one reads or hears about the good teens do for society. Rather, journalists and publicists seem to enjoy highlighting the acts that hurt teens' images. For example, in an article of last year's (1998) "Teen People Magazine", an article told about the recent high-school shootings. One of these incidents occurred when a young boy brought his father's rifle to school and started shooting people. As a result, the boy shot and killed four schoolmates and a 32-year-old teacher. This and other incidents of the sort give teenagers a very bad image. The article shows that some teens are irresponsible and not very smart.
This essay will look at the different ways in which young people are portrayed in the media. It will focus on how the idea of childhood innocence has been challenged by the media and rather than ‘little angels’ children are now seen as ‘little devils’ in the public eye. By looking at ‘The Bulger Case of 1993’ we can see where the idea of ‘little devils’ and children as evil beings began. It will examine why media stories of young people are focused much more on negative aspects such as crime and gang culture rather than positive ones. It will also look at how television programmes such as ‘Teen Mom’ and ‘Skins’ portray the youth of today and whether these programmes come across as a positive or negative portrayal of teenagers. The idea of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ will also be examined and whether the way the media portrays children can be harmful to the construction of their identities and possibly lead to alienation.
The main points of teenagers that are warped into a lie are appearance and generalization of actions. The media spreads the idea that just because some teens choose to get more piercing done, or a tattoo, or decide to get a different hair color that it is somehow related to a dysfunctional sector of society. People have to realize that the adolescent/teenager portion of ones life is a time of self realization and expression. Teens are just finding these things as outlets for emotion and expression. The media uses these things and utilizes them in a sort of campaign to portray us as bad and untrusting.
The Media Practice Model, originated by Steele and Brown in their initial 1995 study on adolescent behavior, uses three of five key concepts to characterize how adolescents shape their own lifestyles in pertinence to the media: Selection, Interaction, and Application. (Steele, 1999, p.334) The effects of mass media on adolescent life practices is exceptionally important to social work research and practice because teens, similarly to adults, are influenced greatly by the media. Unlike adults, however, adolescents lack the experience and knowledge to understand that much of the media is fabricated that life practices that are detrimental to one’s health should not be influenced as greatly by the
The discrimination of adolescents has steadily increased over the years. Adults and media of modern day society discriminate all adolescents behavior based on a small minority of teens. This is due to the behavior of adolescents, the media¡¯s perception of teens, and as a result, the only way to end this madness is a compromise.
Teenagers today have to put up with, and go through a lot. They are going through a very important phase in their life which paves the way towards adulthood. However more pressure seems to be added each year onto teenagers because of what other people believe. One of the major problems that affect teenagers is stereotyping. If you asked an adult to describe the average teenager they might come up with things such as. Out of control, rebellious, noisy, arrogant, and a burden or ‘deadweight’ in society. What is it about teenagers that make the rest of society seem to constantly stereotype them? I believe that people have been getting their information about teenagers from the wrong sources, as there are many misconceptions. Many adults from different generations and cultures believe that all teenagers are out to cause mayhem, and are almost certain to cause trouble no matter where they are. It can’t be denied that teenagers like this do exist, and there are many of them out there, but teenager’s reputation as a whole should not be influenced by one group or type of them.
America has many issues, one of them is the issue of social media taking over our world. People of today could not go a day without social media; it runs their lives. Though social media makes our lives easier, by allowing us to stay connected, it is threatening the sanity and psychological health of people. Many people over use social media they post every move of their day and get addicted to informing people what they are doing. Teens are the most highly affected people in America due to the fact that they use social media the most in everyday life; this makes them more vulnerable and capable of becoming addicted. People need to realize that technology is affecting the teens of America and making them psychologically ill.
Males, Mike (1994). “ Bashing Youth: Media Myths about Teenagers”. Online at: , consulted on March/April, 1994.
A common phrase that adults can testify to hearing from any given teenager is, “You don’t understand!” This proves a struggle between the youth and the adults that quite possibly is never-ending. Adults make assumptions about kids, based on the way they dress, which pushes kids farther and farther away. In the essay, “Goths in Tomorrowland” by Thomas Hine, he emphasizes the beliefs that adults began the idea of youth alienation from older societies and the teenagers keep it that way. Donna Gaine’s essay, “Teenage Wasteland,” discusses four teenagers who were mocked and misunderstood by adults and reporters alike. Jon Katz lets the kids explain themselves about their seclusion from society and the misconceptions about them in his column, “More from the Hellmouth: Kids Tell About Rage.” The fear that elders show towards young people is merely a fear of the unknown. Adults are worried about the younger generations because of their misunderstandings of the youth culture, their failure to accept youth into the adult society, and the instigation provoked from young people.
The Web. 9 Jan. 2014. Mokeyane K. Nola. Media’s Positive & Negative on Teenagers. Everyday Life: page 2.
...when they are at their most impressionable. Researchers try indisputably hard to turn every teenager into one type of statistic or another to be analyzed and then portrayed in an entirely different way. Adults look at teenagers from the wrong perspective to research them objectively. The stereotypical view of teenagers as portrayed by the media has become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Teenagers see themselves portrayed as violent and good for nothing so they decide to live up to that label. I believe that teenagers simply seek approval from adults and their peers; they see living up to what is portrayed as a way of getting said approval.
Every person everywhere in the United States is consumed by what the media tells them: what to do, what to wear, where to go to shop. People will swear up and down that they want to have their own identity, and they will even go to great lengths to attain it, yet, inevitably, they all fall into a “clique” with millions of others. Nobody wants to be a follower, but in terms of youth culture, nobody can really be a true leader.
“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.