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.
Media affects adolescents’ development of self-esteem identifiably. Very often some young people stricken by low self-esteem find faults in the mirror and try to fix them, low self-esteem , when one’s self –esteem is low. Many adolescents are smothered by the crowd, but the media gives them a voice to express themselves, not only to their nearby community but internationally therefore reaching the entire world. The media, such as news channels, newspapers, educational programs, enhance adolescents’ knowledge and understanding, giving them an awareness of their community. Adolescents are exposed to substantial amounts of sexual content and violence through the media that can also promote sexual activity, eating disorders and violence. Thankfully all this can be tempered with proper parental guidance.
Sexual actions of these adolescents are heavily inspired by...
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There is no doubt that children are like sponges. They soak up the information shown to them though television and the media on a daily basis, and copy it in the real world. In a matter of seconds, children can mimic a popular character; sing a song used in a beer advertisement, or even strike a “sexy” pose. All children have to do is put a DVD into the player, open a magazine, watch TV, or click on a web site to see these types of messages. The media offers us information on the world such as news, sports, and education; but what about the negative things it offers such as advertisements depicting young teenagers and children in scantily clad outfits, or impossible ideals that can almost never be lived up to such as “Victoria’s Angels” for females or Hollister models for males. Children are exposed to these on a daily basis, and are often unaware that they are being exploited. Television stations such as Disney and Nickelodeon depict children and teenagers in adult situations, and the media projects can lead unhealthy consequences in both males and females.
American author and political activist, Ward Churchill, once said, “The American people are free to do exactly what they are told.” The influence and control mass media and propaganda has on modern society is comparative to the mastery a puppeteer has over his puppets. Due to the technological advancement in mass media over the past several decades, it is now easy, and very common, to tune-in, plug-in, and be in “the know”. Whether the majority of our society realizes it or not, mass media and propaganda controls many because of the broad exposure it has. Besides the numerous issues needed to be discussed, I will focus on the harmful, degrading influence mass media and propaganda has on adolescent girls throughout their teenage years. With Photoshop, television, and social media clouding our world, these young girls are not only adopting unrealistic standards for beauty but also unrealistic lifestyles portrayed on television. When a problem arises, a solution is sought after. Problematic behavior arises from the negativity portrayed through outlets of communication. If media and propaganda can influence negative behavior, it can also promote positive behavior. Television provides us with great plays, operas, music, sporting events, and all kinds of other entertainment. There is nothing in the medium itself that suggests the hyper sexuality and violence found within it. Arthur Asa Berger stated in his book, Manufacturing Desire, that “television is a mass medium and economic and commercial considerations tend to drive the programming decisions, so what we get, all too often, is a cultural ‘wasteland’”. (Berger 3) We can reform our world by our thoughts and harmful propaganda and negative mass media has made me and many ...
Imagine what the world would be like if when people came home from school or work, they were not able to sit in front of their television and watch their favorite shows. This would be hard to think about considering that not a day goes by that people don’t use some form of media. Media is used to obtain information and watch entertainment. There are many forms of this, and some include newspapers, the Internet, television, and so much more. While there are obviously many great benefits to the growth of media, there are some undeniable and harsh downsides. “In a study on fifth graders, 10 year old girls and boys told researchers they were dissatisfied with their own bodies after watching a music video by Britney Spears or a clip from the TV show “Friends”" (Sanders). This is only one of the many disturbing statistics about the effects that media can have on people. An extensive amount of research and studies have been done over this topic, and it is very evident that media influence has greatly affected society and its peoples’ behaviors in a negative way.
In this century there has been a lot of attention toward the media and how its affects young people. Joyce Garity, author of “Is Sex All That Matters,” and Steve Lopez, “A Scary Time to Raise a Daughter,” write about how media such as magazines, the internet, and television affects teenagers. Both authors talk about how the media is using sex and violence to sell products, thus leading teenagers to commit wrongful deeds, including lack of using birth control leading to unwanted pregnancy, imitating girls on the magazines, and cannot distinct between fantasy and reality. Both Garity and Lopez explains how the teenagers do not have individuality and lose their virginity at a young age; Garity uses personal experience to state the point about media pounding messages about sex and violence directly at young people.
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 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
Today’s media is a significantly prominent source of our delivery of information, and by most individuals their views of particular subjects are influenced by the media. It is through the media that we learn most of what we know about or believe in regards to politics and world and local affairs. It is a common and significant aspect in our lives, with many forms of media from which the public form their views. In particular, adolescent exposure to sexual content through television and other such electronic media forms is of growing concern, where its potential effects on their sexual attitudes and beliefs may be harmful. Sexual content can affect any demographic, however adolescents are most vulnerable. The group may be
Adolescence is a time where an individual’s sense of identity starts to emerge and a majority of their social norms are perceived. In this day and age, adolescents live in a world heavily submerged around media, which plays an important and habitual part of an adolescents' life. In a national survey conducted in 2009, adolescents on average spend more than 7.5 hours using some sort of media a day (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, 2010). With this unprecedented access to the world, individuals are learning and connecting with many different people and ideas through the media (Brown & Bobkowsi, 2011). With different forms of media playing an influential part in an adolescents’ life, their perceived social norms may be seriously influenced. “Adolescents are influenced by the content they are exposed, with respect to their knowledge about the world, their attitudes and values, and their behavior” (Steinberg, 2012). Media could lead to negative perceived social norms for individuals, since adolescence is an important time because a sense of identity is emerging. Those assumed norms might have an affect or dictate an individual’s identity. These false norms can be possibly prevented through education and awareness therefore the youth should be taught the fallacies of the media through MLE (Media Literacy Education).
Sexual content first appeared in the media in the 1980s. It was in the shape of a sex education newsletter (Rich, n.d.). Puberty is a strange stage for a teenager. During this stage in life they go through different developments such as hormone increase, sexual desires etc. The media can sometimes influence adolescents to become sexually active. They are more susceptible to being swayed to accepting sexual acts as being normal during the puberty stage. Depending on the age and phase of growth the adolescents are going through, their cognitive skills permit them to decisively explore the hidden messages found in the media. Studies show that adolescents’ sexuality is linked to the media; however, the affiliation is not apparent (Grube & Gruber, 2000).
Many studies have been conducted in order to understand why media is affecting youth in such a manner. The common thing which researchers have discovered is that the upbringing of children and adolescents plays a key role towards their way of thought. Famous French psychologist Jean Piaget, developed a theory which explains children’s thought process: “He envisioned a child’s knowledge as composed of schemes, basic units of knowledge used to organize past experiences and serve as a basis for understanding new ones” (The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology). As children go through new experiences in their lives they use former knowledge to make sense of the newly found knowledge. Children also use...
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.
Mass media has a huge influence on sexuality and opens windows on sex, there is a huge concern regarding sexual contents in television, internet and media in general, in the absence of improper sexual education in school, youth tend to derive partial information and misinformation about sex by themselves. Such sources include Hollywood movies, pornography and also TV show. The media is the fastest way of spreading information to the public, subsequently films are becoming more and more explicit, children these days are exposed to pornography, According to journalism professor and media critic Jane Brown, the media is piquing teen i...
Media has changed over the years, but what has remained the same is the influence media has over adolescents. Everything from television, the internet, even printed media plays a major role in how adolescent view them. According to Walsh and Ward (2008) state that media may play a powerful role in socializing adolescents, making their portrayals important to understand (p.133). Media places stigma on social norms of what society thinks of adolescent and most importantly how they are seen by peers. I will be focusing on the television aspect of media publication. TV accounts for a majority of adolescent time. Adolescents are estimated to spend approximately three hours per day watching television, resulting in their spending
“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.