Sociology Final Paper

Redina Demushi
Introduction to Sociology
December 6, 2012
The Effects of Media on the Teenage Culture

Whether some people notice it or not, the media, that surrounds us every day, no matter where we may be, effects each an every one of us in one way or another. Not all of the effects of media are bad, but there are points in which is may harm someone’s health or perspective of the world which they live in. Today’s society, specifically in the United States, is filled with media; through television, magazines and newspapers, computers, or even in the palm of our hand, with the way technology is progressing. We have these cell phones that do everything for us. We can call or text our friends, search the web, and even watch TV/movies on it. It is progressing day by day. Who knows what they’ll come up with next. In this paper, I will be talking about the positive, as well as the negative, effects on society, but primarily on todays teenage society. Teenagers have to be the most effected and influenced group in society, by the media around them. They are constantly on their phones, watching TV rather then doing homework, reading what’s “hot” and what’s “not” in the latest Seventeen magazine. At some point, they know what’s happening before it even happens. Now, how does this influence them? It can’t all be a positive influence. The main point that is influenced by the media is the behavior of today’s teens. All of the other factors revolve around a persons behavior. For example: a persons attitude is linked with their behavior. Their behavior influences the type of attitude they may have towards something, or simply for that moment in time. Study shows that the points that are influenced the most, particularly in adolescents, is violence, attitude, communication, health. And, all of this is caused by the desire for an every day teenage boy or girl to fall into socialization and adapt to societies norms and expectations. Let’s start with the basic problem adults always have with a typical teenager; their attitude towards society, their peers and their elders. Teenager, and humans in general, have the tendency if mimicking what they see others do. They are aroused by it and the amount of acknowledgment it receives from society, that they feel they must then act that way too, in order to be socially accepted. A great example of this is the latest popular show, The Jersey Shore, has left such a huge mark on kids for the last few years. Everything they see happening on the show is automatically considered “cool” and “funny”, and due to that, children as well as teens, are walking around “fist pumping”, shouting out famous phrases, such as “yeah buddy”, “taxi son aqui”, “she’s too young for you bro’’, etc. This shouldn’t exactly be considered a positive effect, considering the fact that it is showing children around the world that being drunk is fun, making a fool of yourself in public is cool, and also contains a lot of sexual content, making it seem acceptable and normal to the untrained eye. People wonder why the amount of teenagers who are sexually active has sky rocketed in the United States, when almost every thing on television is in some way, shape or form, provocative or contains sexual content. The media contains so many subliminal messages that, without the person’s knowledge, affect their perspective on the specific topic or behavior and attitude. Because the media can affect ones behavior and attitude, that behavior and attitude can become violent. Day by day teenagers are become more and more hostile, which at times turns to violence. When a person sees a famous person or someone on TV react to bad news or problems with violence, they adapt that reaction to become their own. They begin to act violently towards one another, sometimes because of bad situations, and other times to claim their position and show the other who’s “boss”. It is sad to see peers attempting to dominate one another, as if they have this

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