Teens And The Consequences Of Music And Teen Music

Exposure to controlled substances through media platforms such as music, television and movies can warp young peoples ideas. Worldwide governments have removed the advertising rights of tobacco companies and limited alcohol promotion. The depiction of drugs is more prevalent now than it was in the 1950s (Rich 2008: 88-90). The subject matter of teenage movies, such as ‘American Pie,' found that substance use is more predominant in teenage fiction than in real life. Studies conducted on music television, shown during prime time adolescent viewing hours in 1994 found that rap videos frequently portrayed alcohol and tobacco usage in their content more than any other genre in music (Du Rant, Rome, et al., 1997 quoted by Rich, 2008: 88-90) The frequency in which teenagers observe this behaviour can reinforce their desire to dabble in

With the average American spending roughly five hours of T.V each day, it’s no wonder the media has an influence on an individual's life (Koblin). No matter where a viewer's looks there are drugs, alcohol, and sexual innuendos. It’s portrayed on the news by celebrities, in movies, music, T.V. shows, and a majority of commercials. Portraying drugs, alcohol, and sexual allusions draw viewers in.

Regarding this time period as well, teenagers of the 21st century rely on social media and advertisements in their decision making (Hopkins n.pag.). When a troubled teen has personal problems, they seek shelter on drugs and alcohol to get themselves distracted until they ponder about situations that they have seen on advertisements to help them forget or efface their problems (Hopkins n.pag.). As statistics show, those who are around the ages of twelve to twenty are more exposed to alcohol advertising than adults over the age of 35 (Hopkins n.pag.). Seventy percent of what industries advertise is more likely to be seen by teenagers instead of adults who are actually in the legal age to drink (Hopkins n.pag.). Multiple advertisements forget to emphasize the dangers of drinking in their articles or magazines.

Teens rank the media as the leading source of information about sex, second only to sex education programs in school. The media now shows sex between unmarried partners 24 times more often than sex between partners (Lowe). This is also true for alcohol and smoking the largest breweries spend $200 million each year on advertising. Teenagers see between 1000 and 2000 beer commercials with the message that ‘real’ men drink beer which has been shown to have increased underage drinking (Lowe). Mass media has had a huge influence on our society due to the fact that we rely on mass media for all our information be it news, information, education or entertainment (Matthews).

More specifically, Chen et al. (2006) found a relationship between teens who listen to rap music and the use of marijuana. This study included asking teenagers about their music preferences and whether they had used marijuana or not. This study was conducted through an anonymous survey. The results of this study showed that teens who listened to rap music on a regular basis were more likely to use marijuana during their teenage years.

Media has a lot to do with adolescent substance abuse. Many times in advertisement, adolescents see people drinking alcohol and having a great time. Media spends over $25 billion dollars on advertisement yearly. Many celebrities are seen smoking or drinking alcohol in movies, TV, and on commercials. This makes adolescents think that drinking, smoking, and taking drugs are cool and will make them popular. Over 5000 deaths yearly are caused by alcohol consumption. (Strasburger, 2010)

When it comes to hip hop music and hip hop culture all together, it can have many influences on people who like the culture of hip hop. His may be from the clothes that are worn and even the lyrics a specific hip hop artist says in his or her music. But one group of people, in my opinion, that hip hop culture influences the most is the youth. Now see the youth are at the age where they look for guidance and wait for someone to tell them how things should go and what things should go. Now when you put hip hop culture together with the seeking guidance of the youth you have positives and negatives. Believe it or not the youth could also be

Young people are easily influenced by celebrities, and most have bad influences. Songs make it easier for teens to gain knowledge and gain a false sense of enjoyment from these substances. Almost all songs, according to this study, are exposing people to taking drugs or drinking

Teenagers listen to an average of nearly two and a half hours of music per day. One in three popular songs contains explicit references to drug or alcohol abuse. That’s about thirty five references every hour. One might argue that kids do not pay that much attention to music, but national surveys have shown that nine out of ten adolescents have an MP3 player. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine studied 279 popular songs from 2005, nine percent of pop song contained drug and alcohol references, fourteen percent for rock, twenty percent for R&B and hip-hop, thirty six percent in country music and seventy seven percent for rap music. Notably, three percent of the songs portrayed tobacco use, fourteen percent referenced marijuana use, twenty four percent depicted alcohol use, and twelve percent the use of other substances. Surprisingly, four percent of the music provided was “anti-drug and alcohol” messages.

In the article “ Under the influence of music” by Tara parker pope published in the New York Time on February 8,2008 explains about how  popular songs can dominate an individual life by using abusive substances such as alcohol and drug. In one of the paragraph, the studies show that “ one in three popular song” listen by kids or young adult refer to substance related to abusive songs. In addition, the behaviors of an adolescent's can affect by what he listen from their childhood to their lifetime. Also, the Archives of pediatrics and adolescents states that  Media can influence a young life by using images of smoking and alcohol which can turn as bad habit and destruit someone life. Through the

Popular culture has served a major role in the way adolescents view drugs and drug use. Films portray characters revered by teenagers as drug users. But today, even alcohol commercials are targeted toward adolescents with their favorite musicians enjoying the advertised alcoholic beverages in the very same way children's favorite cartoon characters were drawn on boxes of sugary cereals.

“They stole my heart, now plenty people ‘bout to die.” -Boosie. In Boosie’s song, Not My Nigga, he stated these lyrics out of retaliation from one of his friend’s death. However, he began to realized that some of his old songs had a negative effect on children who listened to his music, so he decided to be a positive role model by rapping on the reality of drugs and violence. Other rappers do not present the truth in their music, and it has made a huge impact on the younger generation, but not in a positive way. Today’s music has changed from the worse.

Researchers have conducted different researchers aimed at investigating the relationship between illicit drug use and specific music genres. In a study conducted by Hesse and Tutenges (83) it was clear that specific music genre promote drug abuse as they contain different lyrical content, imagery in videos and public image artists who attracted huge following among the youths. A study conducted by Edmondson (406) revealed that music could be used as a model to use drugs while the listeners may share the same music choice with drug users since they will interact in the dances. Additional researchers have associated popular rap and rock songs with deviant messages in their lyrics that encourage drug use (Aldridge and Fachner 20). Another research by Vuolo, Uggen and Lageson (538) revealed that young people who listen to rap and hip hop are more prone to alcohol and drug abuse compared to listeners of other types of music. The researcher connected the findings with the sponsorship done by alcohol companies that use rap in their advertisement and endorsements. In a different study, more than 50 percent of hip-hop and rap mention alcohol or drugs in their lyrics as compared to only 10% of other music genres, Electronic Dance Music included (Van Havere et al. 369). The use of drugs is associated with the frequent exposure of users in music with reference to substance abuse (Vuolo, Uggen and Lageson 539). There are few gaps in the literature

Jetté, Wilson, and Sparks (2013) conduct focus groups in Female Youths’ Perceptions of Smoking in Popular Films to ask female adolescents their opinions about the celebrities smoking in certain films. They conducted interviews with 20 smokers and 17 nonsmokers. Five of the groups were 14 to 16-year-old nonsmokers and the other five groups comprised of 14 to 19-year-old smokers (Jetté et al., 2013). During each focus group, they showed movie clips of My Best Friends Wedding, Center Stage, Fight Club or 10 Things I Hate About You and had a discussion after

The more smoking and drinking that young teens see in movies, the more likely they are to start smoking or binge drink, according to a pair of new studies.