Effect of Media

The Impact of media/advertising on teenager's behaviour in the U.S.A in the 21st Century

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Table of Contents

The Effect of media/advertising on teenager's behaviour in the U.S.A in the 21st Century 1

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 4

Body 6

Questionnaire analysis 6

Causes 9

Negative attitude encouraged by television and the music industry 9

Peer pressure 10

Effects 10

Body Image 10

Increased the rate of pregnant teenage girls, single mothers and abandoned children 11

Conclusion 12

References 12

Questionnaire 14

Outline 17

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Executive Summary

Media, something each and every one of us encounter in our daily life. Is it helpful or destructive to our minds and how does it affect adolescents?

I will discuss the causes like negative attitude encouraged by television and music industry, peer pressure and the Medias superfluous sexual content .The things that i mentioned lead to lack of self esteem which will lead to depression and it will also lead to a brainwashed generation that stands for nothing and that would fall because of anything.

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Introduction

Media is something all teenagers encounter during their daily life through internet, radio and television. Media has a huge influence on teenagers, whether it is negative or positive, but I believe that the negatives outweigh the positives. Ethical advertisements can have positive influence on teenagers like awareness programs on smoking, drunk driving and safe sex but these programs are rarely seen these days or are not amongst the top favourite shows to be watched by teenagers.. In the 21st century the negative side effects are all over, media contributes in glorifying harmful habits and appalling behaviour. I believe Media is a double-edged sword, although it contributed in the expansion of our society and technology and many other aspects, but it also caused a great deal of harm to it.

Adolescents are the youth of the nation and the role models of future generations. The world depends upon them to continue to advance along the path that has been brought to them by the efforts of past generations, but how can they expect to fulfill their purpose when many people from their generation choose and take the wrong path by being mislead by the media. Media is the means of communication in today's world it comes in many formats like television, radio, internet, magazines and newspapers. It is a doubtful advantage. However, each individual is responsible for what they believe in but we are obliged to set them on the right track instead of being brainwashed.

The media set standards of what a "cool" teenager should be a great example to illustrate this is the movie American pie which was released in 1999 and had six other parts after it. This movie basically talks about a couple of guys that made a deal to lose their virginity by the end of high school and the other parts are just basically same group of guys in college smoking up ,excessive drinking and engaging in sexual intercourse. It is really rare that we see a movie which consists of teenagers working their way to a better future and about better decision making, instead in movies they regard the good girl that volunteers and gets goods grade as a "nerd" or a freak. (Stern, 2005)

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Body

Questionnaire analysis

In order to compare the research I have done with the people's opinions I decided to conduct a survey about the impact of media on teenagers behaviour and see what teenagers and what do adults think and compare the results. 20 individuals have answered this survey and 10teenagers have answered this 5 were male and 5 were female.10 adults have also answered this and they were also divided into half based on gender.

5 Teenage girls feel pressured and strained to look skinny like the people they see on T.V

-Agree

-Disagree

- Neutral

-Strongly Disagree

This question really got my attention because this is something most teenager girls obsess about, looking like celebrities for example Megan fox, Angelina Jolie and many others. Most of the girls seem to agree it because the celebrities are viewed as "beauty icons" and they feel they must look like them. Adult women and men seem to agree because they have seen it happen to their daughters going through weight issues either obesity or anorexia.

8 Media's superfluous sexual content is corrupting teenagers morals:

-Agree

-Disagree

- Neutral

-Strongly disagree

The statistics show that teenagers think that Media's superfluous sexual content is quite normal unlike what the adults think. They regard to sex as fun and not for a committed relationship while adults regard it as trouble. This really demonstrates how bad the situation is, they are now referring to these wrong habits as if it is normal and that's when we know that we are facing some serious trouble.

7 Today's youth weekend's seems incomplete if the fake IDs were not put to good use at the newest club or bar in town:

-Agree

-Disagree

- Neutral

-Strongly Disagree

This question also proves my point the majority of the teenagers agreed to my point, these days fake ids are really easy to get, it approximately costs $40-60 most of the teenagers use it. Clubbing is an American teenagers way of having fun , all music videos and songs talk about dancing in the club and drinking at the bar example of a song " club can't handle me" by Flo rida featuring David Guetta or "Blame it on the alcohol" by Jamie fox featuring T-pain. This type of music glorifies the act of drinking and bad habits.

Causes

Negative attitude encouraged by television and the music industry

One of the main causes of corruption in adolescent minds is the use of drugs and the over consumption of alcohol. Today's youth weekend's seems incomplete if the fake IDs were not put to good use at the newest club or bar in town. (This negative attitude is further encouraged by television, and even the standard of today's music has dropped to something worse than degrading. The beat enhances a primitive feeling that creates a desire to defy rules or to misbehave. Music, television, and media in general, are out to convince teenagers that one cannot enjoy one's time without the superficial influence of mood enhancing chemicals.

Another addition to the things mentioned above media contains superfluous sexual content; a great example of this is the famous teen series Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl is one of the top ranked shows, not only in US but around the world. Gossip Girl talks about several teenagers some live the glamorous life on the upper east side of Manhattan and others who take the subway from Brooklyn to new York the show basically shows us how they both interact and how they will take their future decision with experiencing romance, sex, and drugs .Usually in these shows they let young teenagers take on sex at a young age and not for serious relationships but instead just for fun just for a one night stand. Teenage girls are always referred to a girl that's into dating and shopping and being with several guys in a "sexual way" that's also sets an image on how girls should be and a lot of teenage girls in our world today idolize these actresses in every single way. Teenage boys are always seen in these series as the player that always smokes and drinks and has a ton of girls around him they are often very muscular