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Negative Influences of the Media
Since the 1920’s, when the first television was invented, to the 1980’s, when the internet was created, the media has developed and became a significant component of our everyday lives. Everywhere we go we are surrounded by televisions, billboards, computer screens, magazines and newspapers. The media has a massive influence on society as a whole, but teens are impacted the most. Since human behavior is influenced by what an individual sees, the effect is greater at a younger age. Present day media has a detrimental effect on teenagers, especially pertaining to violence, sex, and the influence of alcohol and drugs. How many movies and cartoons on the television show that violence is okay, that violence resolves problems, that violence is funny? In 1952, the U.S. Senate held hearings to determine if media violence contributes to adolescent aggression. The answer now is clear: It can (Children). The average child sees 12,000 violent acts on television annually, including many depictions of murder and rape (Impacts). Studies show what exposure to watching too much television increases the risk that a child will be aggressive (James). In shows, perpetrators go unpunished 73% of the time (Media). Parents of young children need to understand that exposing their children to PG-13 and R-rated movies that contain a lot of violence can also be quite scary and produce anxiety (Children). Music is another huge problem involving the influence of sex. Lyrics in the past years have become more of a reference to sex, drugs, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, ECT (Media). Teens struggling with any of those problems will be attracted to the music that expresses their feelings. It is not just song lyrics that can influence teens; it is also the music videos. A lot of music videos show inappropriate behaviors and false stereotypes. More than half of the music videos contain violence that is often committed against women (Impacts). Many of the most popular video games include killing, and abuse of women. Kids, who are in school shootings, learn their techniques from video games. Exposure to violent video games increases the risk of the child having aggressive behavior. Many games are not suitable for the correct age group, yet are bought (Teens). Violence mostly appears in video games particularly rated M for mature, or T for teen.
In today’s society, sex is openly advertised in many ways. Television is now the leading sex educator in Canada, and United States of America. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western world (Children). Television exposes children to adult sexual behaviors in ways that portray these actions as normal and risk-free, sending the message that “Everybody does it” (Impacts). They never tell about the unwanted pregnancies, and the transmitted diseases. Three out of four teens say ‘TV shows and movies make it seem normal for teenagers to have sex.’ (James). In the movie “Juno” it allows teens to think that having sex and getting pregnant is fine. They make it seem as if it is a good thing, and everything will turn out alright. Movies and shows do not talk about the financial issues, or the STD’s, or how it will affect your future. Another problem is that everything gets out to the internet, so when people are talking about sex and how everyone is doing it, then it influences more people to do it too. There are a lot of websites that not only encourage sex, but also cybersex. Up to 75% of videos contain sexually explicit material. Teens whose iPods are full of music with raunchy, sexual lyrics start having sex sooner than those who prefer other songs, a study found (Lionel). Rap music and hip hop, with their particular emphasis on sex and demeaning depictions of women, were blamed for encouraging early sexual behavior, leading to the spread of disease and underage pregnancies (Pope). Teenagers who preferred popular songs with degrading sexual references were more likely to engage in sexual intercourse. Drug abuse is a major problem in the media. Lots of reality shows and movies show the actors drinking, smoking, and doing drugs (Lionel). Which encourages teens to also do it. Movies can show people doing illegal drugs and the “cool” effects of it. This increases the teen’s risk to picking up that habit. Many teens get the idea that it is okay to smoke, and drink underage. If the teens in the movies are doing it, they might think ‘why can I not do it then?’ In the show “Skins” it is influencing teens that it is fun to smoke weed, and it is harmless. The actors play 16-18 year olds, making it seem like it is legal to drink and smoke at that age. On the TV and internet, 10% of advertising is spent advertising drugs. Thirteen billion is spent on cigarettes, five billion on alcohol, and four billion on prescription drugs (Children). Interestingly, one recent study found that as the amount of smoking depicted in the 25 top box-office hit movies has declined from 1990 to 2007; so has the number of eighth-grade smokers (James). Many news sites on the web show actors constantly doing drugs and getting arrested. With social networking sites such as Facebook, and MySpace, many teens think it is cool to do drugs or drink and smoke underage. With this, it influences more people to do the same. Teens use internet to find information on a wide variety of over-the-counter and prescription drugs (Teens). One in three popular songs contains explicit references to drug or alcohol (Pope). That means kids are receiving about 35 references to substance abuse for every hour of music they listen to (Pope). Only 9 percent of pop songs had lyrics relating to drugs or alcohol. The number jumped to 14 percent for rock songs, 20 percent for R&B and hip-hop songs, 36 percent for country songs and 77 percent for rap songs (Pope). Marijuana being a common theme in rap music.
What is watched on TV, what is heard on the radio, what is seen on the internet, what is read on magazines, and what is played in video games will have an effect on the individual. It affects society as a whole, but it impacts teens more. Media plays an important role in our attitude to life. Society has no control over what happens in the media. Society does, however, have the decision on the path they choose to take. Even though the media affects teenagers by violence, sex, and the influence of alcohol and drugs. The media has influenced teens and society this far, but the rest is in their control.