What Are the Effects on Teenagers Who Listen to the Media?
About 51 percent of American households leave the TV on most of the time, according to a report by the University of Michigan Health System. Beyond television, teenagers are bombarded by a continuous stream of information, broadcast through various media outlets. Ideas presented by the media can significantly impact a teen's outlook on life and lead him to make choices that create consequences which he may not intend.
Other People Are Reading
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Violence
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According to the Media Education Foundation, "By the time the average child is eighteen years old, they will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders" on television. Viewed over and over again, this apparent indifference to human life can translate into real-world aggression, as violence becomes common-place in the mind of a teen. Mediums of entertainment may also endorse the inappropriate use of physical force in social settings, causing a teen to "act out" in ways that are ill-suited to circumstance.
Marketing
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Today's marketers present the products they sell as a means of gaining acceptance and prestige. Teenagers are still attempting to develop a sense of identity and belonging and are therefore very susceptible to these forms of advertising. The images expressed in ad campaigns can easily affect the mind of a young adult, causing her to seeking acknowledgment and approval through material gain. This cycle can lead a teen to constantly look for gratification from outside sources, as opposed to seeking to find and develop her own inner resources.
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Obesity
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As teenagers spend more and more time tuned in to various media outlets, less time is spent performing conventional physical activities. Eating is often done while being entertained by a television, radio or computer. This results in consuming meals and snacking while distracted. Proper nourishment, in these cases, is often neglected. In the U.S., the obesity rate of teenagers has risen dramatically, as healthier forms of entertainment are undervalued.
Stereotypes
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Without the extent of life experience to construct a well-grounded perspective of society, teenagers often adopt stereotypical ideas reflected by the media. Media programming is chiefly designed to gain and hold a consumer's interest, a process that often substitutes truth for base concepts that stimulate the imagination. Teenagers then learn to prejudge others whom they perceive to, in some way, resemble popular cultural prototypes,
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- Photo Credit two hip teenagers image by Elke Dennis from Fotolia.com
