How the Media Influences Youth
In today’s society, media plays an enormous role in what is interpreted as cool or how everyone should look or act. Smoking commercials, alcohol commercials, beauty and clothing advertisements, and violent and provocative advertisements are undoubtedly shaping society. They all shape and reflect social values, provide new information which is usually inaccurate, and act as a source of observational learning by providing models which teenagers may try to imitate, as told by Jess Wiener on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwXbEDDbS6E
One of the biggest ways that the media influences the media is the way it portrays body image. This is by far the most distorted media strategy of advertising. In almost every commercial, especially clothing advertisements, the women and men in them are gorgeous with slim and cut-up bodies. It makes it seem as if you have to look this way to be good looking and cool. Models especially help distort the way people ‘should’ look. They are extremely skinny and usually are very pretty. However, an interesting fact is that the majority of models are considered obese. This is because they have more fat on their body than lean mass. I find it interesting because so many overweight girls will develop an eating disorder in order to become skinny and look like a model, or look the way the media wants them to look, when models are considered to be obese anyway. 69% of girls in a recent survey said that magazine models influence their idea of perfect body shape. Since 1970, eating disorders have grown 400%. This is because as years progress, the image everyone sees in the media is distorted. A lot of the advertisements and billboards are completely photo-shopped and computers are used to turn an average looking woman into a beautiful model. An example of this can be seen in this Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U. This clip demonstrates how the media truly is not accurate at all and tricks youth into believing what everyone is supposed to look like. Girls who aren’t even teenagers yet are becoming more and more aware of these media distortions. They are becoming weight conscious at eight years of age, and a recent statistic shows that 80% of nine-year-old girls are on diets already. Another clip from the Dove Self-Esteem Fund shows how the beauty industry sells products and influences young adults: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I. In another recent survey by Teen People magazine, 27% of girls said that the media pressures them into having a perfect body. The media does not only affect adolescent females, though. The amount of males in today’s society that are influenced by the media is also inclining at a steady pace. More and more males are becoming self conscious about their body shape and base their knowledge of a ‘perfect body’ from the way media portrays it. Many males are turning to anabolic steroids, dietary supplements, and are becoming obsessive weight trainers. As Susan Bordo points out in “Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body,” clothing advertisements such as Calvin Klein do not even advertise their clothes in their ads. They will be advertising their jeans, but the picture will be from the beltline up of a very muscular man. Hollister, American Eagle, and many other clothing lines all use this strategy. It’s almost like they want you to believe that if you buy the jeans you will transform into the muscular figure. This is media’s way of showing what the ‘perfect body’ is supposed to look like. Obviously, they are not going to have a fat man in jeans with his shirt off and stomach rolling over his belt to sell their product because no one would want to see that. The same strategy is used with women. The media realizes that no women would want to buy a bikini if the girl in the picture is overweight, so they use a perfect-bodied women to advertise it. This is where adolescents get the image of a perfect body. Girls know that guys think the women in the advertisements are sexy, and the boys know that girls think the men in the advertisements are sexy. This is what fuels the fire of teenagers trying to achieve the perfect body that the media portrays.
Another major influence of the media is the portrayal of sex. The average TV viewer will see about 14,000 references of sex each year, which are some of their leading sources of information about sex and sexuality. Only a small fraction of that number includes references to safe sex or STDs. Some studies have shown that repeated exposure to sexual content influence teens to have sex at an earlier age. One major media corporation that is responsible for exposing teens to sexual content is MTV. In music videos especially, women are portrayed as a sex objects and send sexual messages to viewers. Many teens are not mature enough to understand that it is just an act and that women are not actually supposed to be looked at as sex objects. A perfect example is the music video “Love Sex Magic” by Justin Timberlake and Ciara: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raB8z_tXq7A. In this video, the women are very sexual and teens that watch this definitely would believe that this is the way women are supposed to dance and act with boys. Not only do movies and music videos demonstrate the distortion of sexuality, but videos games are now beginning to make women more and more provocative. For example, In the video game Grand Theft Auto, many of the women in the game are wearing tight and revealing clothes, not to mention you can pick some of them up and pay them to ‘have a good time in the back of your car.’ There are also commercials that demonstrate sexuality, such as Axe commercials or any clothing or fragrance/beauty product commercials. A perfect example would be an Axe commercial that frequently uses ‘balls’ in reference to a man’s genitals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPwhMoQBg_8. Amazing enough, this inappropriate commercial made its way to mainstream media. The balls used in this commercial are referred to as dirty, fuzzy, and other words that could also describe men genitals. One can only think that youth watching this commercial is going to make sexual jokes in their own lives, which will then progress to even more sexual actions.
A third major influence that the media has on youth is adolescent violence. Research on violent television and films, video games, and music reveals evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. Adolescents that are exposed to violent media for even a short time period are more likely to be more physically and verbally violent because of new words or actions they have witnessed and want to try for themselves. Many of the games the teenagers play, movies they watch, or television programs they watch send messages of conflict between the winner and the loser. This causes the viewers to imitate this in real life. If one loses, they usually are not too happy which causes problems and fighting between adolescents. The violence in movies and television also does not realistically depict violence. In the movies, they will show a fight and will show people getting punched a bunch of times, but the character will emerge with nothing but a little scratch on their face. Realistically, people are being put into a coma and/or dying from fighting. In the movies, they don’t show everyone after the brawl in the hospital making sure their head isn’t damaged or fixing their broken jaw and nose. When kids watch these kind of movies, their idea of violence is completely distorted. They think they can just punch someone and get into a fight without their being serious consequences. In today’s society, you can get arrested for fighting, yet in movies when a fight breaks out, the characters rarely are put in jail. This sends very inaccurate messages to youth.
A last major influence on the youth stems from alcohol and drugs/cigarette exposure. In a lot of movies, they show teens smoking cigarettes. For example, in the movie The Outsiders, the gang of kids are shown to be really tough and cool and they smoke cigarettes. A young kid that sees these tough cool kids smoking cigarettes is obviously going to be tricked into believing that smoking cigarettes is the cool thing to do. Alcohol is portrayed the same way in movies. In the movie Superbad, a major portion of the plot is based around getting alcohol for a high school party in order to look cool. This clearly sends adolescents the message that underage drinking is cool.
The media’s influence on today’s society is very real in that it is clearly shaping teenager. The media helps them choose what to wear, how to look, what to eat, decide what is sexy and what is normal for sexuality, and what is cool to do illegally. It depicts violence as a non-significant issue. I believe that if the media is not soon controlled, our society will be a very violent and sexually provocative one because our youth is being extremely persuaded by its distortions.
Bibliography:
"Media Influence on Youth." Crisis Connection, Inc. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm>.
Anderson, Craig A., Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, and Ellen Wartella. "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth." Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4.3 (2003): 81-110. Print.
"Sex, Violence, and Profanity in the Media Fact Sheet, TV Statistics - Parents Television Council." Parents Television Council - Because Our Children Are Watching. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/facts/mediafacts.asp>.
Bordo, Susan. The Male Body: a New Look at Men in Public and in Private. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999. Print.
"Media Influences on Today's Teens by Edrecovery." IM Faceplate - Brand Yourself! Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.imfaceplate.com/edrecovery/media-influences-on-todays-teens>.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
How the Media Influences Youth
http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm
In the above site, I discovered a few statistics that I will be able to use in my final blog paper. This website uses polls from different magazines and other sources that are helpful in backing up my statement that the media does indeed have a big influence on the youth.
Among this website, there are also many different links that bring me to other sites about the same topic, each site with a different background and new statistics and ideas.
I also found a few youtube videoes that supports the idea that the media affects youth, especially young girls and the way they look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omBfg3UwkYM
In the above site, I discovered a few statistics that I will be able to use in my final blog paper. This website uses polls from different magazines and other sources that are helpful in backing up my statement that the media does indeed have a big influence on the youth.
Among this website, there are also many different links that bring me to other sites about the same topic, each site with a different background and new statistics and ideas.
I also found a few youtube videoes that supports the idea that the media affects youth, especially young girls and the way they look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omBfg3UwkYM
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
'Distracted by Everything' PBS Video
In this video, M.I.T. students are researched in multitasking. It is a proven statistic that America, especially young adults such as college students, are becoming more and more relient on technology. During almost every minute of every day, students have some sort of screen in front of them, whether it is a cell phone, iPod, or laptop. Students find themselves having to multitask while they are doing homework or just lounging around on their laptop. For example, they could be doing a homework assignment on their laptop while texting on their cell phone. The student could even get distracted by random curiosities and procrastinate by researching that curiosity with Google or another search engine.
I found this video to be extremely realistic. Although M.I.T. is a very prestigious school and is known for being a very smart institute, this multitasking does not only happen to them, but to all college students. Here at Sacred Heart University, I cannot walk to class without seeing at least five people texting on their cell phones. When they're not texting on their way to class, they are sitting in front of either a laptop or a powerpoint screen in class. When class is over, they are back in the halls texting again.
Our society today has become very dependent on technology whether it is communicating or teachers lecturing students. I believe this has caused a decline in communication skills because people rely on technology to communicate more now. Person-to-person communication is slowly but surely deteriorating. Technology is also the culprit of procrastination, multitasking, and distraction.
I found this video to be extremely realistic. Although M.I.T. is a very prestigious school and is known for being a very smart institute, this multitasking does not only happen to them, but to all college students. Here at Sacred Heart University, I cannot walk to class without seeing at least five people texting on their cell phones. When they're not texting on their way to class, they are sitting in front of either a laptop or a powerpoint screen in class. When class is over, they are back in the halls texting again.
Our society today has become very dependent on technology whether it is communicating or teachers lecturing students. I believe this has caused a decline in communication skills because people rely on technology to communicate more now. Person-to-person communication is slowly but surely deteriorating. Technology is also the culprit of procrastination, multitasking, and distraction.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Television & Advertising
“All the News that Fits”
Although this article was written in 1983, the central idea of the article is still very true. The article discusses how anchormen and newscasters distract the viewers from the news it is presenting. For example, the anchorman could be announcing a natural disaster such as a tornado, tsunami, hurricane, etc. ,but if the anchorman is smiling and saying non-threatening, cheerful words, the viewer will most likely take the news better than if the anchorman looked scared and was telling everyone to panic. The same could go for any type of situation whether it is weather, crime, or world news. As long as the anchorman is presenting the news well and in a happy manner, the viewer will most likely be optimistic about the news. A quote in the article from Art Buchwald that demonstrates this is, “I remember once when the astronauts were in trouble and I was worried, my wife said, ‘Don’t worry, Walter will solve the problem.’ Twenty minutes later Walter came back on the air…and fixed it." This goes to show that it is just how you present the news that can make it seem much better. Newscasters use the technique of 'happy news' to make the audience believe that the serious and tragic areas of the news report aren't as bad as they may seem.
I believe that this is still in effect today. I especially see it on weather channels when they are reporting a thunderstorm. Obviously a thunderstorm is nothing too serious and tragic, but it can put a damper on a lot of people's days and usually is looked at as gloomy. Whenever the weather reporter says that there will be a thunderstorm, he always announces it is a cheerful tone and almost looks happy about it. Even on the weather channel when there is no weatherman, they will show the 7-day forecast will cheerful music in the background making the bad weather go almost unnoticed. On local news stations, I notice that if the newscasters are reporting a sad article, they will surround it with happy reports.
“With These Words I Can Sell You Anything”
This article describes how companies use specific wording to sell products. For example, "New and Improved," are the most frequently used words in advertising that convince the consumer that the product is better than the last or better than its competitor. In the article, Lutz explains that the product is commonly not new or improved, but changed insiginficanlty to legally use the term. These are examples of 'weasel words,' or words that describe a product to make it seem better and more desirable than it really is.
I can definitely say that I have experienced these weasel words before. They are seen with literally every product, whether it is food, toys, appliances, or toiletries. A personal example of mine is the use of weasel words with baseball bats. When I was younger, I would get a magazine called 'Baseball Express." Every year there would be 'new and improved' models of these bats made of 'high performance' material with a big sweet spot and the magazine would also use science and technology to back up why their bat has become so improved and why it is the best. A perfect example would be this commercial for an Easton Stealth baseball bat advertised by Sports Authority: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LtGbCm_tv4
Clips
Relative to the article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LtGbCm_tv4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iPu6GNnhKs
Can't believe it's on tv/effects me negatively: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEWeOhezlwM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c
Although this article was written in 1983, the central idea of the article is still very true. The article discusses how anchormen and newscasters distract the viewers from the news it is presenting. For example, the anchorman could be announcing a natural disaster such as a tornado, tsunami, hurricane, etc. ,but if the anchorman is smiling and saying non-threatening, cheerful words, the viewer will most likely take the news better than if the anchorman looked scared and was telling everyone to panic. The same could go for any type of situation whether it is weather, crime, or world news. As long as the anchorman is presenting the news well and in a happy manner, the viewer will most likely be optimistic about the news. A quote in the article from Art Buchwald that demonstrates this is, “I remember once when the astronauts were in trouble and I was worried, my wife said, ‘Don’t worry, Walter will solve the problem.’ Twenty minutes later Walter came back on the air…and fixed it." This goes to show that it is just how you present the news that can make it seem much better. Newscasters use the technique of 'happy news' to make the audience believe that the serious and tragic areas of the news report aren't as bad as they may seem.
I believe that this is still in effect today. I especially see it on weather channels when they are reporting a thunderstorm. Obviously a thunderstorm is nothing too serious and tragic, but it can put a damper on a lot of people's days and usually is looked at as gloomy. Whenever the weather reporter says that there will be a thunderstorm, he always announces it is a cheerful tone and almost looks happy about it. Even on the weather channel when there is no weatherman, they will show the 7-day forecast will cheerful music in the background making the bad weather go almost unnoticed. On local news stations, I notice that if the newscasters are reporting a sad article, they will surround it with happy reports.
“With These Words I Can Sell You Anything”
This article describes how companies use specific wording to sell products. For example, "New and Improved," are the most frequently used words in advertising that convince the consumer that the product is better than the last or better than its competitor. In the article, Lutz explains that the product is commonly not new or improved, but changed insiginficanlty to legally use the term. These are examples of 'weasel words,' or words that describe a product to make it seem better and more desirable than it really is.
I can definitely say that I have experienced these weasel words before. They are seen with literally every product, whether it is food, toys, appliances, or toiletries. A personal example of mine is the use of weasel words with baseball bats. When I was younger, I would get a magazine called 'Baseball Express." Every year there would be 'new and improved' models of these bats made of 'high performance' material with a big sweet spot and the magazine would also use science and technology to back up why their bat has become so improved and why it is the best. A perfect example would be this commercial for an Easton Stealth baseball bat advertised by Sports Authority: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LtGbCm_tv4
Clips
Relative to the article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LtGbCm_tv4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iPu6GNnhKs
Can't believe it's on tv/effects me negatively: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEWeOhezlwM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
NET NEUTRALITY
Net Neutrality, or Network Neutrality, is defined as 'a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed.' Net Neutrality is a network design that argues for broadband network providers to be completely detached from what information is sent over their networks. This concept basically supports the idea of no one piece of information or news being held at a more significant level than another. Network Neutrality would be most recognized and useful when used on the internet because it is the way in which the majority of people in the world, let alone America, receive their news. Net neutrality allows people to access different websites from a search engine, such as Google. The following video demonstrates net neutrality very clearly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U
With net neutrality, every network company has the same speed and quality for their internet and search engines. Without it, broadband servers such as Comcast or AT&T would be able to charge search engine companies money so that their search engine could run fast. For example, Comcast Internet could become a gatekeeper and block, slow down, and decrease the quality of Google, which would cause Google to lose money. Google would then pay Comcast a sum of money in order to keep their search engine alive and prevent the company from losing or even going out of business.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11kLmWha6o
There are many arguments circulating about this concept. Some say that not allowing net neutrality would hurt the economy even more. It could put search engines out of business as well as Internet providers. Net neutrality also meets internet standards because it does not discriminate.
An argument against network neutrality is that it provides innovation and investment. As it could put some companies out of business, it could also cause an internet provider to become very popular which would make it worth a lot of money.
I am for network neutrality. I am for it because I do not think it is fair for an Internet company to be able to decide which sites go fast or slow, or which ones don't load at all. This could cause many small, growing internet companies to lose major business. People who might start a business online and create their own website could be put out of business also if their website is shut off. I do not think it would be fair for American citizens if net neutrality is taken away because there is a high risk of damaging our economy even more.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~raylin/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11kLmWha6o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U
With net neutrality, every network company has the same speed and quality for their internet and search engines. Without it, broadband servers such as Comcast or AT&T would be able to charge search engine companies money so that their search engine could run fast. For example, Comcast Internet could become a gatekeeper and block, slow down, and decrease the quality of Google, which would cause Google to lose money. Google would then pay Comcast a sum of money in order to keep their search engine alive and prevent the company from losing or even going out of business.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11kLmWha6o
There are many arguments circulating about this concept. Some say that not allowing net neutrality would hurt the economy even more. It could put search engines out of business as well as Internet providers. Net neutrality also meets internet standards because it does not discriminate.
An argument against network neutrality is that it provides innovation and investment. As it could put some companies out of business, it could also cause an internet provider to become very popular which would make it worth a lot of money.
I am for network neutrality. I am for it because I do not think it is fair for an Internet company to be able to decide which sites go fast or slow, or which ones don't load at all. This could cause many small, growing internet companies to lose major business. People who might start a business online and create their own website could be put out of business also if their website is shut off. I do not think it would be fair for American citizens if net neutrality is taken away because there is a high risk of damaging our economy even more.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~raylin/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L11kLmWha6o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand
After reading this article, I am much more aware of the fabrication of news. Military officers had major pull during the War in a Iraq with media. "Many Americans, polls showed, were uneasy about invading a country with no clear connection to the Sept. 11 attacks. Pentagon and White House officials believed the military analysts could play a crucial role in helping overcome this resistance." This quote shows that the analysts truly did have an impact on American citizens. The government was using the media to change the citizens' minds so that more people would agree with the war. A paragraph that I found interesting was : "Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration “themes and messages” to millions of Americans “in the form of their own opinions.”" This caught my eye because it shows proof of the government manipulating the media in way that would change the American citizens' opinions.
According to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_e8Fsw4jls , the Pentagon used military analysts as a "media Trojan horse" to spread pro-war propaganda to Americans.
Another site agrees (http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=36&contentid=7930) stating that "It's recently been revealed that the U.S. government contracted HBGary Federal for the development of software which could create multiple fake social media profiles to manipulate and sway public opinion on controversial issues by promoting propaganda." By creating these social media profiles, not only can they sway the public opinion but they also can use the profiles as surveillences to view the common public opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_yOfwB3VfQ also demonstrates this idea. This is a video about how the U.S Pentagon used the Media to full the people by hiring retired generals to inject pro-Iraq-war ideas into the masses.
A last site that I came across was http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/07/afghanistan-iran-pilger-war , which describes how the media manages to cover up atrocities of war under the Pentagon's word.
Personally, I find this all ridiculous on our government's part. We live in a democracy with free press and we should have the right to know the truth about what is going on over seas. They should not be able to cover up atrocities of war and promote the war if it is not going well. We have the right to know whether or not the war is going well or not.
I chose the above articles because they all related to the topic of the Pentagon manipulating the media and also support my stance of how ridiculous and un-American this act is.
According to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_e8Fsw4jls , the Pentagon used military analysts as a "media Trojan horse" to spread pro-war propaganda to Americans.
Another site agrees (http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=36&contentid=7930) stating that "It's recently been revealed that the U.S. government contracted HBGary Federal for the development of software which could create multiple fake social media profiles to manipulate and sway public opinion on controversial issues by promoting propaganda." By creating these social media profiles, not only can they sway the public opinion but they also can use the profiles as surveillences to view the common public opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_yOfwB3VfQ also demonstrates this idea. This is a video about how the U.S Pentagon used the Media to full the people by hiring retired generals to inject pro-Iraq-war ideas into the masses.
A last site that I came across was http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/07/afghanistan-iran-pilger-war , which describes how the media manages to cover up atrocities of war under the Pentagon's word.
Personally, I find this all ridiculous on our government's part. We live in a democracy with free press and we should have the right to know the truth about what is going on over seas. They should not be able to cover up atrocities of war and promote the war if it is not going well. We have the right to know whether or not the war is going well or not.
I chose the above articles because they all related to the topic of the Pentagon manipulating the media and also support my stance of how ridiculous and un-American this act is.
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