Media Effect on Today’s Youth Media plays a strong hand in the development of a child in society. Youth are easily influenced and could think actions of unsavory morals are appropriate because it was in media. This is a major problem today as the news make reports of children intentionally committing crimes as big as murder. Children are experimenting with drugs and alcohol at an earlier age and there is even a show dedicated to teen moms on MTV. Of course, media is not the only force at fault here as peers and parents are just as much to blame as media. The media is full of violence, sex and the use of addictive substances, that affects youth negatively. Being a youth in today’s society is challenging. On a daily basis, many positive and negative influences are thrown at us; Without proper guidance, a child could have a tough time distinguishing between right and wrong when their are many outlets to affect their decisions. In my elementary school we had a mentor who would talk to the men in the school. Occasionally these talks involved not being influenced by what we see people in media doing. He always spoke of how being an athlete or a celebrity is a job that few can get in because many individuals always want a place. I used to wonder how my friends could be so influenced by an athlete’s actions to want to be just like them. I have witnessed how television and music can influence a mind in both positive and negative ways. That being said, a negative influence is more common among the minds of youth. Television is the biggest outlet for violence in society. Households that lack a television are few and far between. People have all imitated something they’ve seen as children. Acting like we can fly after watching a superman movi... ... middle of paper ... ...uence declining would, of course, involve parents limiting the different media uses, but not seen as a punishment as a way to have more quality time with family. All media are intertwined with society. Media can change and influence adult minds on certain decisions, even their outlook on different aspects of life. If adults fall prey to media influence, how can this generations youth fight against it? Media contains violence, sex, and substance abuse that make an impression on children and teens. If the youth continues its current path of sex, drugs and violence, our country will become dystopian society, where no one feels safe. Media can do its part and reduce the sex, drug, and violence that’s broadcasted, but the parents of the youth should spend more time without media to make sure their children understand what is fiction and what is acceptable in our society.
...hild conforming to the ways of the media icons, then the kids will be less likely to act that way. The parents are a key part in loosening the grip the media market has on young children.
When we think of violence, we automatically picture guns and knives being used to kill people. Although this is a part of violence, it’s not the only way a violent situation can arise. Violence can be any harm done to a person through physical contact. Along with guns and knives, this can include one’s own bare hands or any object within proximity. On television, we see every type of violence carried out, whether it be a simple punch or a serial killer who finds pleasure in the violence he causes. Any form of a violent situation that you can think of has most likely been acted out on a television series or movie. TV is written to blow scenarios out of proportion and create unrealistic versions of different scenarios. Instead of a decent conversation to solve a problem, a punch is thrown or a gun is pulled. By portraying these types of solutions, television is promoting violent behavior. The characters in the action, crime or horror shows are actively encouraging these types of behavior. Although these scenes are needed to produce a captivating plot, there needs to be awareness as to the fact that these scenes are being idolized to the wrong audience.
Media Violence and its negative impact has been discussed and debated for many years As children grow into teens they encounter as vast amount of violence in the media, negatively impacting today’s youth. Teenagers who are exposed to media violence will fail to develop effective socialization strategies and resort more readily to violence, which makes society a more dangerous place.
The media is often blamed for having a negative influence on adolescent life. Whether it is presented by means of television shows, magazines, advertisements, news, radio or any other means in which people communicate, the media displays an identity to these adolescents that society deems as sexual appeal and is characterized by sex, quality or state of being sexual. Media portrayals add to confusion on personal image, and can affect ones outlook on competition and violence (Federman, 1998). The media influences adolescents’ psychological and physical development during their cognitive development stage when it’s exposed to them (Schmidt, 2008). This is the stage when the adolescent is most vulnerable and sensitive to the surrounding in which they are growing and willingly absorbing information. If explicit behaviors arise often it can be influenced by explicit media exposure.
...raying teens as “young trouble makers…like a pack of animals” with uncontrollable urges to destruct everything in their path. The world’s media has sunken to a new low, to a point where the enticement of money is now more important than the conscience of the honest truth. The media must undoubtedly improve their behaviour and representations of youth culture, or risks seeing an even greater division between youths and society.
The entertainment that television is now portraying is not exactly what the younger society of America needs to be exposed to, but unfortunately in today's economy that is the only kind of entertainment that sells. There is so much unnecessary exposure to violence, aggressive behavior, and sexual acts now being broadcasted daily on television, movies, music, and even the news. The broadcasting systems are now targeting younger children and teens. The crime rates have skyrocketed due to delinquent juvenile behavior over the past ten years. The whole viewing society is now becoming very tolerant and at ease with sex and violence. Youth and children are picking up on these behaviors daily. Studies have shown that by the age of 18, the average American teen will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television. The violence and sexual content that television and music are now portraying has negatively influenced younger children and teens to commit murder, exhibit aggressive behavior, and become tolerant of violence and sex.
...the exposure of media at home is also another common ground factor needed to establish a working solution. Jami VanCamp, the author of a review journal on “The Other Parent, The Inside Story of The Media’s Effect on Our Children” writes “Revealing that an astounding 66% of our children actually have televisions in their bedrooms, Steyer examines hour our society has allowed the media to saturate our children’s live” (pg 1) Monitoring the use of these 66% or even lowering the percentage is a possible solution towards monitoring and controlling media in children’s lives. The success of coming to a solution towards the problems, concerns, and issued faces when surrounding children in an ever changing world surrounded by media of different types and kinds is essential to the success of countries around the globe as well as the prevention and saving of lives throughout.
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).
As you can plainly see, we as a society cannot place the blame of the problem of today’s children on the media and saying that the media is harmful to children. True the media can be harmful, but if it is carefully monitor and parents use discretion before saying yes to what their children can play, read, or watch then this problem would be greatly lessened. If we blame the media without ourselves taking action then we are just as responsible because we are allowing the media to cause harm to our children with us just standing by and watching. It is true that the media as an industry must ensure that the products and programming that they are putting out is targeted to the proper markets, but in the end it is ultimately up to the parents to decide what is best for their children. It is the parents responsibility to determine what is or is not harmful to their children.
A media panic or often referred to as a moral panic, is a term that describes how the media is formulating issues amongst our society. Over time, our culture has shifted and caused for many conclusions regarding media panics and the relationship between youth and the media culture. Based upon previous knowledge and course readings, I have drawn a very disturbing conclusion; this being that no matter what age, children are willing or non willingly now under surveillance to determine what kind of role media is playing in their lives. With what I have gathered from the readings and class lectures, most authors strongly believe that different forms of media directly influence children's thinking or perception. What authors and researchers continue to imply is that there is a direct correlation to what youth today see on different forms of media and their behaviours. However, it is important to remember that children are humans as well and do have a mind of their owns. Our society cannot assume that these media panics ultimately take away their ability to think on their own and develop into mature individuals. The first media panic I will discuses is how video games have developed a relationship with violence amongst our children. The second media panic is the sexual objectification of young women online.
Strasburger, V. C., & Donnerstein, E. (1999). Children, adolescents, and the media: issues and solutions. Pediatrics, 103(1), 129-139. Retrieved from http://www.lionlamb.org/research_articles/strasburger%20'99.pdf
One of the main effects from an abundance of television is an increase in violence. In a paper done by Dietz and Strasburger they found that on average young people view over 1000 rapes, murders, armed robberies, and assaults every year while watching television. (Bar-on, 2000, p. 289) Numerous studies have shown that elementary children will imitate violent behaviors they see on television, particularly if the violence is rewarded. (Wilson, 2008, p. 100) With all of the violence on television children are developing more bad habits. It was found, in a study, that elementary school children exposed to a single episode of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers committed significantly more intentional acts of aggression such as hitting, kicking, and shoving compared to those who didn’t watch the episode. (Wilson, 2008, p. 100) The...
“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.
Young people especially the teenagers are sensitive and receptive to learning new things. The media provides more than they can handle. Access to different programs, shows, and movies affect the manner that the teenagers behave. Today, it is unfortunate to say that the media is becoming more sexual and violent than the older days, resulting in similar behaviors among the teens (Craig, & Baucum, 2001). By watching programs intended for the adults, teenagers are drifting even further. They start behaving like adults without the prerequisites of becoming one. This means that they have contents that do not match with their ages. And then terrible things begin – increased college dropouts, teenage pregnancies, and increased cases of suicides. Some teenagers who had bright future ahead of them will
...om humble and non-violent to harsh and violent. It can also may lead to a person awareness of one’s environment and taking responsibility for one's actions which is what the world requires(Rosengren, 2000). Society is able to transition from the past to the future through real-time information on the present (Hiebert & Gibbons, 2000). Society therefore becomes a living organization, complete with a feedback loop provided by the media, well equipped to sense oncoming danger and learn from its mistakes in readiness for tomorrow (Preiss, 2007). However, caution needs to be put in place to prevent the youth and children from participating in actions they do not have a clue on but do them on the justifications of the actions watched over the media (Wells & Hakanen, 1997). Mass media will remain beautiful but when precautionary measures are not in place, it becomes ugly.