Media’s Influence on Today’s Youth (FGCU) Randye Brindle

Most parents would like to believe that they are the ones who have the most influence in their child’s life.  To help them make decisions and to let them know what is right and what is wrong.  The truth is that there are many other factors that will ultimately shape the child’s decision making skills.  One of these factors is the mass media.  Most people are fascinated by the exciting and glamorous life of the celebrities.  Some of the different things that we read in the magazines and see on entertainment television aren’t intended for younger children to see, although it doesn’t mean that they don’t.  To support the idea that it isn’t good for young children to see the way celebrities act and portray themselves in the media is supported by the research from RAND and the University of North Carolina it states that if children are more exposed to sexual talk and inappropriate behavior on TV then they themselves are more likely to engage in this behavior.

Another big topic that is in this category is violence on TV and in Video Games.  According to the National Institute on Media + Family in the United Sates 20-25 violent acts are shown in a children TV program every hour.  Considering all the children around the country that are watching it,you have to believe that some of them are thinking that they can imitate it and do it themselves.  This is a scary thought because everyone knows a children that is in grade school and you don’t want them going to school with kids thinking like this.  Youth between 8-18 years of age spend more time in front of the computer, Television, and playing video games then doing any other activity, on average they spend 44.5 hours a week, or 6 1/2 hours a day according the the National Institute of Media+Family.  With all of this time spent watching different forms of media we would have to be crazy to think that children don’t see any of the inappropriate things there are to see.  

There are a few reasons that children are affected by the media more then adults.  First they are more easily impressionable, because they haven’t really established a sense of themselves yet, they are still forming their personality.  Second they have a harder time seeing the difference between reality and fantasy, they can’t understand that Hollywood, television, magazines,and video games are not how normal people act in real life.  Another reason is they can’t determine motives for violence, they don’t understand why you get mad in some cases, and when something else makes you angry you let it go, but you never act in a way to hurt someone.  Lastly children at younger ages learn by imitating others, they see someone acting one way and they do the some thing and say the same things, which if they are watching something with vulgar languages or actions then they can repeat those too.  

As you can see parents really need to watch and be aware of what their children are watching.  What makes it hard is they can access things at friends houses and learn that way too.  You can’t shield a child forever but you really have to instill your own beliefs and morals into them at a young age so when they encounter some of these forms of media they know and understand that it is not how the normal person acts in real life,and it won’t be accepted by everyone. 

This entry was posted on 2. November 2009 at 20:31 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.