The Impact Of Mass Media On Children

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.

As mass media continues to expand through our use of everyday electronics, children 's socialization skills may be suffering by the lack of face to face, physical, and natural interaction. Mass media like television, computers, radios, newspapers, video games and many others play a huge role in socialization in children. Children need interaction, and mass media offers no physical interaction at all. Children are spending more and more time in the house on their tablets, watching TV, and surfing the internet. It is cutting into their time with friends and family, as well as time getting physical exercise. It is also affecting their cognitive thinking and abilities to socialize with others.

As you’re walking down a street you may notice a young group of girls or women walking and they see a huge billboard of a beautiful model. They might stop and stare at her and then discuss about her perfect her body is. Not knowing in the next five minutes they’ll be comparing their bodies to the model and feeling bad about themselves wishing that they had her body. Not to mention, that the photo may be photoshopped to make it seem as her body is perfect, or she had plastic surgery to fit the idea of having the perfect body. The fact that the media thinks they’re encouraging young girls and women to embrace their beauty, they’re influencing them that they have to have a perfect body in order to get attention. The media has put a lot of pressure on young girls and women to look perfect and second guess their bodies, when plastic surgery is never the answer to build their self-esteem up.

Children today spend an average of forty hours a week consuming all types of media, while parents spend an average of seventeen hours a week with their children (Steyer 44).

Technology used for communication has created social awkwardness that is believed to make the younger generation ineptitude when it comes to social skills. Today however stereotypical ideals, perceived mostly from adults, are inaccurate with today's youth because it actually enhances social skills through a constant way for one another to keep in "touch."

My hypothesis was that if adolescents are largely exposed to media; they will be affected it to a point where they learn and accept certain things about sex through it. Independent variables would be the extent to which adolescents are exposed to the media. The dependent variables were the ways in which adolescents were affected by the media. I used resources such as Gale and SIRS to look up articles related to my topic. Eventually, I went out and used the information from my articles to help create questions for my questionnaire and interview. To research my population I used these two methods of research: a questionnaire and interview. I conducted my research in Cocalico High School. I asked my SAT prep class, civics and government class,

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Media in the United States has a prominent role on the youth of America. A majority of children and young adults have access to internet, television, radio, newspapers, and video games practically any time they want. The violence in media, along with the availability of media are increasing, however the most predominant form of media for children is video games. Because of this, many are concerned with the effects on the youth. The violence in video games is a cause for aggressive emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in the youth of America.

“What’s on the outside doesn’t matter, its what’s on the inside that matters”. We hear sayings such as this all the time, yet we live in a society that contradicts this idea constantly. There is no doubt that due to media, the way teens see themselves has changed. The media is setting unrealistic beauty standards, which influences everyone, and this is having a detrimental affect on adolescents. The impact of media on teenagers is appalling. These beauty standards are negatively affecting teenage girls as well as teenage boys, and due to the prominence of this issue, several efforts are being made to combat this.

Many young girls are worried about what their body looks like and if they are thin enough to be considered beautiful. Over several years the thin bodies that are promoted through magazines, movies, etc. are displayed as the ‘perfect body’. Very few companies and brands do not use Photoshop or women who are considered plus sized models. The thinness of the models that are promoted is unachievable naturally. Media is a key factor in putting this thought into young girl’s minds that they often carry throughout lives. Parents pressure their daughters to be thin and have this “ideal” body because they want their child to fit in with everyone else and to be considered beautiful among others. Peers bully one another because someone might not have this ‘perfect’ body. The media is what causes parents and peers to think that every girl needs to have this body. If the media were to be more accepting of bodies in all shapes and sizes, parents and peers would begin to feel the same way. Females have too much pressure put on them by media, parents, and peers to have a perfect body. Media needs to be more infl uential in a positive way on different body types.

Forum presses for effective policies and practice at local and national level – with the aim of

The media is a part of everyday life in American kids. Children are surrounded by technology, entertainment, and other media that is full of violence. Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet all contain violence. Today's media has a negative influence on children. The media does have an influence on them, but does it really influence them to act out even though they know it's wrong? Mass media, and its components, are very powerful and can influence one's mind, as well as their behavior. Children that imitate characters who use violence in the media and display aggressive behavior, tend to give them reason to believe that violence can happen without consequence. For children who grow up with poor adult examples or an

Depictions of sexual behavior and erotic material are observed in the media on a regular basis; often in movies, video games, television shows, music and many other sources of mass media. Aside from those depictions occurring in the media, sexualized intimate behaviors take place in the public sphere every day as well. Sexual media content is frequently held accountable for minors’ early engagement in sexual activities. While there are large amounts of research on the influence of media on adolescents, there is a deficiency of investigation of media impact on adults, in addition to the insufficient amount of research on people’s attitudes toward public display of affection (PDA). With the shortage of observation in these areas, the proposed study is designed to explore both topics, while simultaneously attempting to determine if a relationship exists between them.

Media influences through many types of communication systems and has a massive effect on people’s life, but are Americans fully aware that food industries generally targets children? The lawsuit brought by two teenagers, Ms. Bradley a 19 years old, weighs 270 pounds, Ms. Pelman a 14 years old, weighs 170 pounds, was whether McDonald’s was responsible for their obesity because McDonald’s did not provide the necessary information about the health risks associated with its meals that they eat. Placing the blame into the fast food industry for allegedly contributing to their obesity and health problems. The media through many types of advertisement promotes unhealthy foods, high in saturated fat, large amounts of fructose sugars, salt, as the ideal food options. Many may agree that it was their own wrongdoing that contributed to their obesity, but what about if people would give the teenagers some credibility to their allegations. Therefore, people can take into consideration the theory that media has a huge negative influence on what American children eat. Media influence is something people should certainly always be aware of. Children on a daily basis read magazines, listen to the radio, watch television or check their online social media for the latest trends in the world, children are opening themselves up to be programmed by the media routinely. Why are children the main target by the food industries? Media has a negative influence on children’s food choices through

In a study by Iman Sharif and James D. Sargent, 4508 students participated to find out whether or not certain television content affected the grades of young children. In many analyses they found that,