Media Emerging Adults

Add to this study a statistic from the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics “75% of teenagers now own cell phones, 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% of them use them for instant messaging” (Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe). We have an entire generation that is developing socially and emotionally while “plugged-in”. This negative effect is not only caused by just internet use and cell phones, our old friend the television is causing us harm as well. With the invent of newer ways to deliver television shows, the ability to better record television shows, and watch “on demand” shows it shouldn’t be shocking to know that according to Neilson Ratings the average American household watches “5 hours and 11 minutes of television a day” (Who Watches What (and How Much)? U.S. TV Trends by Ethnicity). Psychologists have proven that too much television has been shown to “hamper development of the pre-frontal cortex -- the area of the brain responsible for planning, organizing and sequencing behavior for self-control, moral judgment and attention” (Abell) there should be no doubt that this fact and the fact that nearly “1 in 10 children in America have been

Our social world is becoming increasingly sexualised as pornographic references and imagery are progressively more intertwined with mainstream media, social media, advertising, and pop culture. According to Tyler (2011), this intertwinement of pornography and pop culture consists of five fragments; the beginning of the pornographic boom, the

Pornographic videos in today’s society have become more and more accessible to everyone from pre-teens to older adults, essentially anyone who has access to the internet on either a phone or a computer they have the ability to access pornography. While most of us think adolescents view porn when they are older; O’Sullivan and Ronis (2013) found that viewing of pornography begins at early ages. In exploring viewing rates of pornography by adolescents, O’Sullivan and Ronis (2013) found that 85% of boys and 42% of girls have viewed pornography intentionally. It is clear that pornography is reaching young boys and girls at younger and younger ages and is becoming the main source of sexual education for them as well as for adults (Vannier, Currie, and O’Sullivan, 2013). It is a very tight rope we walk when consuming pornography. Often the images and representations of what the pornography industry views as intercourse distorts our own views of intercourse and what relationships aught to look like which has a profound negative effect on relationships (Grov, Gillespie, Royce, and Lever, 2011). How deep exactly does the influence of pornography go? Pornography has a major influence in how we view ourselves, our views of sex and relationships. Pornography is not the only culprit in this situation; we internalize the messages given to us by media as well as pornography (Simon and Gagon 2003). By internalizing these messages, we distort how we view ourselves and how we view our

Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social anxiety according to Mark W. Becker, Reem Alzahabi, and Christopher J. Hopwood’s study. These people conducted an experiment containing 318 participants. And the 318 people completed self-inventory tests to measure their media use, personality, depression, and social anxiety. The study suggests that the increased use of media multitasking show a risk to develop problems related to the individual’s mood and anxiety levels. With that being said this problem is raising concerns that media is replacing face to face interactions. “While overall media use among America’s youth increased by 20 percent over the past decade, the amount of time spent multitasking with media (simultaneously interacting with more than one form of media) increased by over 119 percent over the same period”( Becker, M. W., Alzahabi, R., & Hopwood, C. J. (2013)). Media multitasking has now been associated with attention control, meaning how to filter out any useless information and how to ignore distractions. Also in this study they looked at not only mood changes and anxiety disorders they also looked at traits of neuroticism and extraversion. All of these

Sexual activity among teens is on the rise as well. This statistic has been reported numerous times for the past 25 years. Many theorists believe the root of this stems from exposure to sex on television. Dr. Rebecca Collins and her associates conducted a survey of teens age 12-17. The researchers gathered a list of the 23 most popular television programs and rated them based on the program’s sexual content. Teens were then surveyed twice, one year apart, on their viewing habits of these specific 23 programs, their attitudes toward sex, as well as their own actual sexual activity. The results were astonishing. In her discussion, Dr. Collin revealed, “Predicted probabilities showed that watching the highest levels of sexual content effectively doubled the next-year likelihood of initiating intercourse and greatly increased the probability of advancing 1 level in noncoital activity. In other words, 12-year-olds who watched the highest levels 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).

Today’s society is corrupted with misrepresentations of how an intimate relationship should appear. Media often portrays intercourse as something to be taken lightly and that negative consequences are a rare occurrence. What is the effect of the misrepresentation of sex in the media on teenage sexuality? Christina Grant (2003) provides a careful evaluation of this question in “Teens, Sex and the Media: Is there a Connection?” leaning slightly towards the argument that sex in the media has a negative impact on adolescents. In “Teenage Sex and the Media,” Victor Strasburger (2012) adopts an assertive approach to this question, explaining why he believes that media should change the way it presents sexuality. Although both authors are credible, Grant writes for a set audience of potential researchers whereas Strasburger’s audience consists of parents, educators and adolescents. The reader is made aware of the intended audience through the differing format and language used by the authors. While Strasburger targets a wider audience, he is closed-minded in comparison to Grant, who leaves room for interpretation of arguments.

In the United States, it is widely available—pornographic websites are highly popular and get more traffic then Netflix, Twitter and Amazon combined—yet it is publicly viewed with disgust in a profound love-hate relationship. Since pornography appeared on the Internet, the accessibility, affordability, and anonymity of consuming visual sexual stimuli have increased and attracted millions of users and crossed into public health in many areas, including risk behaviors, sexual exploitation and gender roles and behavior. Yet only a few people consider pornography use as public health issues even though it can pose specific risks for its direct users and the user’s partner since pornography consumption bears resemblance with reward-seeking, novelty-seeking and addictive behavior. Like it or not (or shall I say, censored or not?), pornography has such a presence in our daily lives across the globe, yet few debates and effective policy actions have taken place to deal this dilemma due to the lingering taboo over the subject, while the nature, dynamics and impacts of pornography and its relevant sexual behaviors on society remains largely

Television, movies, music, magazines, and the Internet constantly portray sex unrealistically. The media advertises sex, but rarely promotes healthy sexual behavior (sex, sexuality..). Due to the lack of parental guidance, adolescents turn to the media to teach them about sex. Adolescents take their image very seriously and will do anything to be popular and cool- even if it means subjecting themselves to the views and standards that the media has set.

Modern day media is deceitful in a number of ways - stories about politicians can be easily fabricated, exaggerations about celebrities are all too common, and more often than not news reports are negative, fear-inducing stories. Perhaps the most deceiving of all is the sexual content that appears far too frequently. Sexual content in the media includes but is not limited to kissing, nudity, provocative clothing, sexual innuendos, suggestive language and of course any portrayal of the act of sexual intercourse itself. It is often shown to have no consequences, which can undoubtedly be misleading. Sexual content in the media - including television, movies, magazines, music, video games, advertisements - is detrimental to society and

Moreover, the way media’s depicts sexual content and aspects of sex, one could say it is very unrealistic. Think about it, from our celebrities to the crazy cartoons, it seems to be all glamorized. When I think of the way media portrays sex, it seems to make our adolescents believe that sex is always casual and consequence-free. Of all problems with sexual content in the media, this is only one. Considering media covers everything from print magazines, to films and photography too. The large amounts of sexual content in the media effects our young ones greatly. In order to get a completely better understanding of sexual content in the media, one must understand what sexual content is defined as, also what media refer to as I’ve stated before. Typically, sexual content can refer to many things from making out, or other physical actions that may lead to sex.

For years, many researchers have done individual studies on how media affects children. A review, which analyzed 173 of the strongest papers over 28 years, found that “80% of researchers are in agreement that heavy media exposure increases the risk of harm to children, including obesity, smoking, early engagement in sexual activity, drug and alcohol use, attention problems, and poor grades” (Szabo).

Adolescents in the United States spend six to seven hours a day with some form of media,

In modern days, the mass media have been shown to affect a broad range of health-related attitudes and behaviours including violence, alcohol and drug use. However, there is growing concern about people, especially those in young age's exposure to sexual content through electronic media such as TV shows, movies and music about its potential effects on their sexual attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. These media have been sources of such inappropriate contents such as sex, drugs and violence to most of adolescents as they are exposed to many sexual images and messages.

Studies have shown that pornography has several significant effects on an individual. A study in 2000 conducted by Oddone-Paolucci, Genuis, and Violato revealed information on the correlation between pornography consumption and behaviour (Oddone-Paolucci et al., 2000). Out of 12,323 people, eighty-five percent of people were sampled from the U.S.A, eleven percent from Canada, and two studies were done in Europe (Oddone-Paolucci et al., 2000). Overall, the analysis of the results showed “a thirty-one percent increase in the risk of sexual deviancy, a twenty-two percent increase in the risk of sexual perpetration, a twenty percent increase in the risk of experiencing negative intimate relationships, and a thirty-one percent increase in the