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Media is everywhere. Left and right you turn; it is inescapable. “Research has revealed that media is responsible for influencing a major part of our daily life” (Oak, "Positive Effects of the Media."). It is your best friend and your worst enemy. Worst of all, it is extremely accessible with today’s technology; one click on the cell phone and you can find everything you want about your favourite celebrity. People’s obsession over them probably means they will follow them on Twitter. Essentially, they are following their footsteps. They want to say the things they say, and do the things they do. They get a certain haircut and it becomes a trend, and they follow suit. The list goes on and on. Years and decades have passed and now we live in a world that is sucked right into the media like objects near a black hole. We’re in and can’t get back out. It is easy to see that this does not bode well with parents trying to raise their children. Children are exposed at such an early age and they will never know what it would be like not to. As they grow older, they hit the rebellion stage and they start to feel like they’re on top of the world and stop listening to their mundane parents. That is when they turn to the one thing that is flashy and will easily attract their attention: the media. However, “the sophistication of advertising methods and techniques has advanced, enticing and shaping and even creating consumerism and needs where there has been none before, or turning luxuries into necessities” (Shah, “Media and Advertising”). They watch the commercials and they start to want the things that are not essential to the growth of them and can in fact, hamper them. They watch shows and movies and believe everything is true and that is how to live life. Advertising and the media are highly influential to adolescents in an overwhelming and perturbing way. It promotes sexual activities, gives guidelines of how to live and encourages violence.
The producer of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane, got it right in the opening theme song: “It seems to me, that all you see/is violence in movies, and sex on TV” (Family Guy). Media likes to attract its viewers by giving them what they want to see. This is why they are guilty of the overexposure of sexually related activities and blood-shed violence. The simple explanation to this is: sex sells and in retrospect to their own dull lives, they want to see exciting violence. An adolescent in their nature is to rebel. Their parents constantly encourage them to stay away from those two things. They say:
“The media has its way of showing us constructive information when it comes to news channels, travel and other educational shows. Kids benefit from watching these, since it can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels in a particular subject, or encourage them to ask relevant questions” (Manohar, "How Does the Media Affect Our Culture).
However, most kids find this boring. Since when do you hear of a kid that likes to watch the news or watch educational shows? The only time they would do this is when they are sitting in a classroom because they know that will help pass the time. When they go home and turn on the television, they watch the shows that actually tickle their fancy. This leads to a whirlwind of commercials and shows that depict sexual activity. This is derived from the need to “develop breakthrough advertising that meets the advertisers’ goals of sales and profits” (Schultz 3). One of the great ways is to use sex as a symbol to get the viewer’s attention. They know what they are doing is wrong since it is bound to reach adolescents, but in today’s world, everyone is doing this and there is no slowing down.
Another perk of the media is that “we have a sense of what is happening around us, with a fair insight about how things work elsewhere on the globe... It is a getaway to places unknown, foreign, and magical with knowledge of what goes on around us without being physically present in that place” (Manohar, "How Does the Media Affect Our Culture). This is true, but it is also the gateway to porn. Unlike a decade or so ago, it wasn’t as easy to find, but that was the days of yesteryear. In the present, the Internet is absolutely littered with porn. Even Facebook (although people can report as spam), is full of girls showing off their body in a provocative way (boys too). This leads to teens experimenting without learning all the facts. This will be the reason why ”among adolescent girls in the United States aged between 15 and 17 years, 75 per 1,000 become pregnant each year… [and] overall, 25% of sexually active teenagers and 13% of all adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 become infected with sexually transmitted diseases each year, representing 3 million cases or about 25% of all new cases reported annually” (Gruber, "Adolescent Sexuality and the Media."). As alarming as these numbers are, adolescents often live in an ignorant world and oblivious to these facts. And as curious as adolescents are, it would be seemingly fit to say that their ease of access to the aforementioned sexual contents are a gateway to heaven for them.
One of the questions men hate being asked from their better-halves is if they think they are fat. Women are often very subconscious with their weight and the media is only putting more insult to the injury. The media is the one that created “an ideal image of handsome men and a gorgeous woman, which shows the factors of a successful person” (Shafi, "Positive and Negative Influence of Media Among Young People."). Although it is good for people to have role models in their lives, people tend to become too obsessive and try by any means necessary to be exactly like those role models. What they tend to forget is that these “perfect” people do not exist since it is covered up by massive amounts of perfect makeup or have been touched up by Photoshop. What many adolescents do not know is that models on the runway are not what is ideally the perfectly fit girl, but is really the ideal shape that will flatter the clothes the best— essentially a coat hanger. Shows like America’s Next Top Model should be banned, and perhaps this will lower the percentage of anorexic girls. This want of belonging and blending with the rest of the world’s perfect image is not healthy for adolescents. It lowers self-esteem and often carries over past childhood and could affect them mentally throughout adulthood. We are gifted with the bodies that God gave us, and should not be constantly wondering and questioning if our bodies are too skinny or too fat.
What has been fascinating is the trending of hip-hop and its effects on adolescents. It is perfectly in tune with the rebellion stage that adolescents go through. It appeals to them since it is vastly different from the life that their parents have steered them through: predictable, well-mannered and steady. They want excitement in their lives and what better way to achieve that than to listen to music that is about “violent and gritty life on the street, or alternately, a life filled with the glamour of flashy jewellery, nice cars, women and money” (Booker 337). At a time that a “teenager [is] trying desperately to establish himself as a unique person” (Booker 337). This is especially true for a white teenager since it is “something that then sets him apart from his white peers. It is a means for situating himself in society” (Booker 337). The growing in popularity of hip-hop is a concern since it promotes violence and racism in a world that is already full of it— and threatening over the advancing threshold.
It is said that going online is safe— protected behind a screen— and ultimately, violence-free. Highly unlikely when you post in a forum that your life will be in danger and much less embarrassing to “express their thoughts and voice their opinions without feeling the pressure that they would normally feel in public… Many people join online communities with the intention of learning from other people, as well as exchanging and sharing information and knowledge” (Tong 384). However, this also does not stop others from posting whatever they feel like. There is an awful lot of flaming on the Internet, and the language use will be picked up by adolescents. “Short-term exposure increases the likelihood of physically and verbally aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, and aggressive emotions.” (Anderson, "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth."). The Internet is engaging and you can easily veer off into something that was uncalled for. Displays of unethical violence and crude videos await with a click of a mouse. It is out there because many people find it fascinating, although unhealthy. Vast amounts of exposure to this type of material will corrupt anyone. This is especially true when adolescents come across it.
With the technology of today, video games have evolved into sophisticated means of enjoyment: “video games today are increasingly active-oriented, making kids get off their behind and engage in games that require physical movement. This could help keep kids active indoors, if not outdoors” (Manohar, "How Does the Media Affect Our Culture). However, once again, kids will often find this too lackluster. Wii sports and other active, engaging games may be fun every now and then, but adolescents prefer games that involve action, killing and destroying. Killing zombies and other gun games have suddenly become a new phenomenon. Those are the types of games adolescents would consider as ‘engaging’. However, this is not healthy since “research on violent television and films, video games, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts” (Anderson, "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth."). Additional studies have shown that “more than 80% of adolescents report that their peers find out some or a lot about sex, drugs, and violence from television shows, movies, and other entertainment media” (Gruber, "Adolescent Sexuality and the Media."). This is not surprising news when some of the biggest sellers of all time are Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. Perhaps the one good thing from this is that the generation of the future will be more prepared for war, if there is going to be a World War III.
Media has been great to the world. It allows us to do countless things that people could only dream of decades and centuries ago. We have the world at our fingertips, literally. It has become the best friend of the laziest people. The media “tells you what is there, and it pulls you into its grip, but it does not suggest you or tell you what problems you may face later with it” (Shafi, "Positive and Negative Influence of Media Among Young People."). Seemingly impossible, but the black hole seems to be widening and threatening to destroy anything in its path. The consequences seem poised to rear its ugly head. The sexual activities that ensue, the ill-advised ways of living, and the inspirations of violence is deadly. The problem here is that the media does not hold back and can brainwash people forever. The advertising world and media have such detrimental effects on adolescents that one would wish that it could get rid of it altogether. So does it feel like it’s a lost battle? Not quite, since knowing is often said half the battle. Stopping the negative effects of the media and advertising is impossible, but it should certainly be hindered. At least just long enough so that adolescents can grow out of their ‘invincible’ stage and matured enough to understand its effects. That would be the ultimate goal.
“But where are those good old-fashioned values?/ on which we used to rely?” (Family Guy). Those were the good old days. “Lucky there’s a family guy, lucky there’s a man who, positively can do, all the things that make us, laugh and cry” (Family Guy). I guess those are one of its perks.