Effects of Television as Mass Media on Children of 10 Years

-Mass media-any written, printed, visual, electronic, auto-visual media developed to reach mass audience and the public.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability do not develop as well when they have a television in the background while they are playing and interacting. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teenage pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to large amounts of television and video games become socially awkward and have issues interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly, which is leading to shows that should be restricted by a V-chip being watched by children, rendering the restricting system null and void.

Today nearly 98% of American households have televisions. This makes television the single most important source of media in the lives of children and adolescents. Research shows that about 21- 23 hours per week on average, that children between the ages of five and twelve are exposed. This brings much controversy as to how television delivers the news, media, and violence to young children and adolescents. Many argue that the viewing of television during these crucial years of development can be very harmful involving the link of violence with aggressive behavior, hindering emotional and social development, the lack of exercise, health and activities, the development of temperament in young children, and sleep deprivation.

Within our society today, media plays a huge role in everyone’s life - an important role. Media offers entertainment, news, information, and education; however, with these benefits come negatives as well. For example, foul language, drug abuse, and sexual content may be presented to an unsuitable audience, specifically children. It’s easy to see sexual content on tv, hear foul language in songs on the radio, or even hear about the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Children are especially good at mimicking what they see and are easily influenced. So, with all this content being shown openly with no censorship, children think this is a social norm, as well as spending long periods of time watching TV, playing video games, and using the internet. Modern technology has transformed the way children learn and interact within their environment, it is having a negative effect on them in this younger generation with all the easy access to all genera’s of media material for long periods of time.

Mass media is communication that reaches a large audience. This includes television, advertisement, the Internet, newspapers, and so on. Mass media is a significant effect in modern culture in America. It creates ideas and sustained within society not only send ideological messages out to the public but to advertise this ideas which are tend to manipulate our mantalities.

Media Analysis ‘Media’ is the plural of the word ‘medium’, which often refers to different ways of communicating with other people; if the target is a large number of people, then it is called ‘mass media’. There are many types of media, such as TV, radio, films, newspaper, Internet etc. The main purpose of media is to entertain; however they can also be used to persuade, inform, explain and advice. Media can be very powerful; therefore people are influenced and affected by them.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability does not develop as well when they have television in the background while they are playing. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teen pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to too much Television and video games become socially awkward and have trouble interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly which is leading to shows that should be blocked

Mass media, simply put, is just another form of communication. We see it as ads, newspapers, the internet, and over the radio.It reaches large audiences around the world, and plays a significant role in modernization, especially in America.

Popular culture in today’s society is capable of reaching out to more people than ever before at ease. Growing up, popular culture affected us even if we may not have realized it happening. Everything from who your favorite sports team is, to your favorite television when you were younger, directly relates to pop culture. Although most people do not realize this phenomenon taking place it is not surprise that mass media has a firm grip on what they want children to believe and think when they are going through one of the most important stages of their lives. The messages that they convey are the thoughts that children reproduce, and the personas that they build of themselves are all relative to how popular culture has effected them.

The media damages the minds of our youth. The Medias negative images are strongly linked to Anorexia and Bulimia both of which are life-threatening eating disorders causing the sufferer to desire to be thinner. Anorexia causes the patient to deliberately lose weight by refusing to eat, and bulimia is a disease which causes the patient to purge their food up, causing them to vomit. Doctors have proved there is a direct link between these eating disorders and the unrealistic photos produced by the media, which cause young girls and boys to aspire to be more like them. It is outrageous that we live in a society where we are brought up with the media having such a strong hold on us, telling us that females should be tall, thin, have perfect skin and teeth and that males should be

     What impact does sex, violence, drugs, etc. in the media have on children? What can we do about it? How do we balance the tension between freedom of expression and the need to protect children? When you talk about the media and whether or not it is harmful on children, you must examine the whole industry and all aspects of its effects on children. It is that the media as a whole is not as harmful to children as some intense other can, but over exposure to certain aspects of certain types of media can be harmful. To say that all media can be harmful to children is a fallacy that must be avoided when examining this topic. Most people when analyzing this issue tend to focus on drugs, sex, and violence in terms of

Research has greatly indicated and proven that media exposure has an impact on the normative perceptions of substance use and relationship behaviors among adolescents. Studies have shown that media content and patterns of usage are considerably related to adolescent perception of gender roles, romantic relationships, and sexual behavior. Repeated contact or subjection to sexualize subject matter on television or different forms of media has been related to individuals perceived normative gender roles (Herrett- Skjellum & Allen, 1996). Negative and socially impaired beliefs about relationships, for example such as ‘‘fate brings soul-mates together, disagreement is destructive to a relationship, partners should be able to sense each other’s thoughts and feelings’’ (Holmes, 2007). Also with persistent disclosure to sexually explicit content related with more positive attitudes or norms toward “uncommitted sexual exploration” as well (Brown and Bobkowski, 2011).

There is a great debate on whether or not mass media has an influence on teenage pregnancy. A study done by the RAND Corporation shows that teens are twice as likely to have sex or engage in sexual acts if they see similar sexual behavior in the media. Many objects in the media that involve sex target teens. Reality TV shows and teen dramas often portray the "cool kids" as the ones who are having sex (Chandra).Today’s teens are highly influenced by what they see in the media and this can change their behavior and choices. Some will argue that the media doesn’t influence teenagers, but how can we be sure of that? Today, the media portray teen pregnancy in movies, television shows, magazines, music, news reports, and books. The problems

This shows that children spend more time involved in the media than they do with their parents and education. This means that the media is imposing a negative impact on children by eliminating important factors in a childs growth such as learning and spending time with family.

Negative effects of Mass Media for teenagers,  The exposure of sex images and excessive portraits of violence in movies and dramas have instilled negative thoughts and taboos in the mind of these teenagers for they have been consistently getting increased exposure to things which are not suitable for their age.