“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. The first effect of mass media on teenagers is violence. Aggressive behavior is the first example of violence in the media. Aldridge argues that, teens who watch violent movies may behave in an aggressive way towards others for example bullying and fighting in school. This is important because there are high risks of teenage developing into aggressive behavior that may last into adulthood if they are not being supervised on what they see on TV (2010). Fearful of the world may also occur for those who watch violence television programs. According to children and television violence, teens that are being over exposed to violent on television may worry about becoming a target of violence. The relevance of this idea is that teenagers will more likely grow up thinking that the world is a scary place and that something bad will happen to them (2008). Imitative behavior is another major effect of seeing violence in the media. According to Weldon, two teens from Johnstown, Colorado, killed a 7 year old girl by beating her to death. The teens claimed that they were imitating moves from a video game called “Mortal Combat.” This is an example case which shows that violence in the video game may lead to an imitating behavior (2007). Sexual activity in the mass media is another negative influence on teenagers. The first example is early sexual intercourse. According to Stockwell, a research shows that teenagers who are exposed to a lot of sexual content on television are more to likely to have sex by 16 years of age than those with limited exposure.
According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as "poverty, the easy accessibility of guns, domestic abuse, [and] social instability" may have a greater impact on a child becoming violent than the influence of the media (277). Even though other forces may be stronger, media violence does have some adverse effects on the members of society. If senseless violence on television and in movies had no effect, it would not be such a hotly debated topic. What type of effects and whom they affect are the most argued aspects of the discussion.
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
Although most of our media appears to be superficial and meaningless fluff, violence and chit chat, it is also a source of education, humor and non-violent entertainment. Both salesmen and individuals wishing to promote various things have at some point made use of the different forms of the media. They have used the media to promote what people should wear, eat, do and even value. The media informs us what is occurring around the world and how to react to the events shown. The affects of media will vary with a child’s age and stage of development. (Barbour, Barbour & Scully, 2008)
The media, that giant intimidating creation has taken the stereotypes of teens, the way people view teens, and the way we view ourselves, and has turned it into a delusional monster. The media at this point in time portrays teenagers as generally bad. Well to be honest, not generally bad, but mostly horrible. We are seen as the cause for alarm and trouble in society. The media portrays us as manic delinquents with no solid past and no concrete future.
Most studies of the effects of media violence have examined passive visual media (dramatic television and movies, television news, and music videos), that is, media that viewers observe only. A substantial of laboratory and field experiments over the past half-century have been set up to examine whether the exposure to violent behavior on film or television tends to increase the aggressive behavior of a particular teenager in the short term. The consistent finding from such experiments is that youths who watch violent scenes subsequently display more aggressive behavior, aggressive thought, or aggressive emotions than those who do not watch...
The adolescent stage must be the subject of the research, in that preliminary research suggests that in the adolescent stage of life, important social aspects are being noticed and formed, especially by way of media, while looking to family for social information or influence diminishes (Arnett, 1995). In researching the effects of media on adolescent views of relationships, one must first research if scholars have yet studied and answered if the media has any relationship or effect on adolescents at all. In the research conversation of media influence on adolescents, it has been found that there are five uses of media by adolescents, including entertainment, high sensation, coping, identity formation and youth culture identification (the two latter uses will be highlighted later in this paper) (Arnett, 1995). With this, adolescent’s use of media for a number of purposes is evident and has been established for some time. Moreover, research suggests that U.S. adolescents spend six to seven hours per day using media, with half of that time devoted to television/film (L’Engle, Brown, & Kenneavy, 2006). Furthermore, many studies have found that heavy television/film viewing does positively correlate with effects on an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions (Shrum, Wyer, & O 'Guinn, 2009). Professor and Researcher Dr. George Gerbner coined and introduced cultivation theory into this communicative conversation. The cultivation theory is defined as the “independent contributions television /film viewing makes to viewer conceptions of social reality (Gerbner, 1998). The cultivation theory describes and has both constructed a platform research in this area as well as prove that me...
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.
As we travel further into the age of technological advancement, media is being easily accessed by people of all ages. Whether it’s checking your Facebook, reading the newspaper, or just watching ads on TV, media is surrounding you a majority of the time. While media connects millions of people around the world in a positive way, there is a dangerous dark side to media that has become an increasing problem in our country. In the United States today, children are being abused on social media websites and getting access to websites that parents wouldn’t approve of. Other kids may be talking to someone who is their “friend,” but the person can actually be some sort of a predator. That said, this is an increasing problem in this country today, especially within our youth. The children of older parents are usually the most vulnerable due to the fact that their parents didn’t grow up with the technology, which makes it difficult for them to keep their children cyber safe. For these reasons, it is necessary to realize the negative effects media has on our youth and explore ways to make it safer for future generations.
It has been quoted “A 1992 study found that the average American child graduated from elementary school has seen more than 8,000 murders, more than 100,000 assaults, rapes and other acts of violence on television aone” (Wright). The amount of violence within children’s cartoons and music influences children negatively and plays off violence with humor. It has been proven, “with video games you’re not only passively receiving violent attitudes and behaviors, you're rehearsing them” (Cohen). The repetitive actions of shooting and violent behavior is replayed in the mind over and over, almost as muscle memory. It has been found “A recent analysis asserts that the correlation between virtual and actual aggression is stronger than those linking passive smoke and lung lung cancer” (Wright). Users of aggressive video games often do not realize how harmful the effects can be. Psychologists states “there is evidence that points to decades of research and more than a thousand studies that demonstrates a clear link between media violence and real aggression” (Wright). There is more than enough evidence that proves media violence is a link to actual violence. Children are more vulnerable to view violence on television. Children’s programs average between 20-30 violent acts per hour, four times as many as adult programs (Wright). The amount of violent acts shown to children at a young age is a factor that can lead a person to commit violent acts outside of the virtual
"The evidence is overwhelming. To argue against it, the link between media violence and teen violence is like arguing against gravity," said Jeffrey McIntyre, legislative and federal affairs officer for the American Psychological Association. As children are exposed to acts of violence in the media through television, video games, music, movies, etc. alarming results are occurring. The main negative effect being an increase in aggression among youth who are regularly exposed to the media and an increase in violent patterns as they mature into adulthood. If not resolved this problem of violence in the media will continue to push children, youth and adults to acts of aggression such as verbal and physical abuse and other more serious crimes.
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).
...ven after decades of extensive research, the result are still weak as there are intense arguments from both side trying to prove that media violence is one of the factor that contributes to violent behaviour in teenagers or not. The reason is because violence is a crucial constituent of numerous individuals' lives. In the youth culture it's a major factor that is resulting in an increase rate of criminal activity since society is manipulated by the imagery they are viewing, resulting in them mimicking the portrayals displayed by the media. We also hope that our research will somehow create an awareness to teenagers out there on the dangerous effects of media violence in their everyday life. The government should also take actions in controlling the content of media by that are shown on the media so that it wouldn’t be easily exposed to the young mind and teenagers.
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.
Television violence is also a cause of both violent and aggressive behavior in teenage boys. According to the evidence in a study done by Turner, Hesse, and Peterson-Lewis, it was concluded that watching television violence had a long-term increase in aggression in boys (Hough 1). In addition to this study, Dr. William A. Belson evaluated fifteen hundred boys, aged thirteen to sixteen years, and he determined that boys with heavy television exposure are more likely to commit violent acts than other boys (Langone 51). In Belson’s study, he discovered that the effect of each violent act on television was collective, and over time, Belson discovered that the boys engaged in many aggressive acts, including painting graffiti, breaking windows, aggressive play, swearing, and threatening other boys with violence (Kinnear 26).
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.