Affects of Popular Culture on Today's Generation

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People today blame popular culture for the “corrupting” of today’s generation. Many Americans do not think of the other factors that go into popular culture. There are in fact many factors that go into the things such as teen pregnancy, education failure, and violence of today’s youth. Factors such as money, home life, and enviorment. Not only do Americans feel popular culture is to blame, but also feels popular culture is having its affect too soon.

Before being able to discuss the effects popular culture has on children, what exactly is “childhood?” With the ongoing debate of abortion many people do not agree on when a child’s life beings. Does a child’s life begin the moment the sperm and egg meet? At the second trimester in a pregnancy? At birth? When thinking about childhood, many think about a young child going through the different stages to grow up into a mature adult. Many Americans do not agree on this, and do not even agree when a child’s life begins, so how can we define childhood and say when it begins and when the stage ends?

If childhood can not be defined then how can people blame popular culture for changing childhood or having a detrimental affect too soon? They can not because childhood is defined differently to different people. Therefore if it can not be determined when a child’s life begins then it can not be determined when childhood is over. With that said, it is impossible to say when a child is “adult” enough to handle the influences popular culture may have. To many people a child transitions into adulthood when they get their first job and start taking care of themselves, and taking on more responsibilities. However, the country says adulthood begins, legally, at the age of eighteen.

So what de...

... middle of paper ...

...uths of today to strive for more in life and to prove that popular culture does not necessarily affect all youths negatively. Also with all of the information and role models children have to look up to Americans can overcome the “corruption.”

Works Cited

Abelson, Phillip H. “A Major Generation Gap.” Science 256.5059 (1992): 945. Student Edition. Web. 28 June 2010.

Allender, Dale. “Popular Culture in the Classroom.” The English Journal, Vol. 93, No. 3. (2004). 12-14. Print.

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Brain Candy.” The New Yorker. 15 May 2005. The New Yorker Online. Web. 7 July 2010.

“Negative Effects of Music.” Media Awareness Network. n.d. Web. 7 July 2010.

“Parental Controls.” Time Warner Cable. n.d. Web. 7 July 2010.

Sternheimer, Karen. Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture: Why Media Is Not The Answer. Colorado: Westview Press, 2010. Print.

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