Essay1

Ashley Frederick Prof. Sherman English 111: _090___ July 9, 2012 Negativity of Television on Today’s Youth Television and media can have devastating and negative affect on today’s youth. It can start at an early age. It does not discriminate on any one age, race, or social class. The negativity not only influences our young boys, but it can impact the lives of our preteen and teen girls, and these influences can start rearing their ugly head at as young as four and five years old. There are not only short term effects from the yucky stuff on television, but the short terms effects usually turn into long term effects. There are plenty of positive things to watch on television, say the people who rally that television is great for our young people, but this takes much time and effort from a very busy society, and non-sealant parents, and takes more work than most caretakers/parents are willing to do, unfortunately. Today, in order for most of us to be interested, and for things to sell, there has to be, blood, gore, violence, and sex. This is especially true for things that young boys like to watch and find their heroes in. What is portrayed on television are boys, teens, living a fast and easy life, consisted of a life of crime, with fast money, fast cars, and fast women. They must live up to the status as the fighter, ladies’ man, and gangster. On television, this lifestyle seemingly has no bad consequences. So what, you get a young girl pregnant, you can just leave her, you can sell drugs until your old and grey, and never get caught, and if you will not fight and commit violent crimes, well, you’re not a real man. In true fact this type of life is very hard to maintain and is also very dangerous with life costing consequences. They do not show that on the movies though. If most of these acts were permitted, this world would really be a terrible place to be in. In the movies, these things are of the norm., not going to jail, not caring about anything but the present. Most of the men that live this way end up in jail, broke, or dead, or all of the above. Do you actually think they warn these young boys of this on 9.5 out of 10 shows and movies' There have been numerous studies done on the effects of television and young boys. There have been studies on boys that either watched nonviolent films or boys that watched non-violent films. PsycologicalScience.org dictates that young boys that watched a short violent film were more aggressive and would even hit and kick, and be physically harmful to one another shortly after watching the films. This happened significantly more than when boys would watch non-violent films. The APAA cited a 15 year study published in developmental psychology in 2003, in which 329 youths participated. Laura Agadir tells us of some of the long term effects their study showed to have on the boys. In this study, they were all of random levels of intelligence, social status, and all had different initial aggression levels. “The findings were” Agadoni goes on, “that when the boys who watched more television violence, as they grew up, they were significantly more likely to push, grab and shove their spouses, or to respond to insults by shoving. They were also three times more likely to have been convicted of a crime than the other men were. EHow.com. these things not only happen to young American boys. In the European Journal of Scientific Research, Dr. Hassan sis a study on the effects of watching violence in movies in a middle school in Malaysia. “Further results showed that there is a significant difference between heavy and light viewers of movie violence in any dimensions of their attitudes about aggression. Adolescents with violent movies preferred, however, were significantly more supportive of the attitudes that aggression is acceptable and warranted as compared to those who preferred movies with little or no violence”. Additional results demonstrated that the “aggression acceptable attitude was significantly related to a set of variables. The strongest predictors of the attitudes in adolescent boys were affected toward movie viewing and adolescents movies preferred”. Violence on television heavily impacts how our preteens and teen boys will immediately act. Not only that age group, but even preschoolers. I have seen little boys who whenever they watch, violence on television, want to fight like and act like the “cool guys” on television. What the world has come to think are the cool guys are usually the bad guy. Not saying that when someone watches a violent film is going to go out and start trying to beat people up, but the studies show that the young boys are increasingly likely to copy and try to portray what they see on television. The negative effects are not only on boys today. Today girls are affected in many different ways as well. When girls watch other women and teen idols on not only movies, and shows, but also on music videos, three want to live up to, what the media has told us is acceptably beautiful. They want to be dangerously thin, and have an unrealistic idea of what their bodies should look like, at any age, but especially when they are first developing. Eight out of ten actresses that we see on television have extensions in their hair, have tons of makeup to hide their flaws, or are airbrushed to perfection, and have professional trainers to help them achieve the body image of the runway model, or the Barbie type figure. Most girls do not realize that to look this way cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. “Girls often take drastic measures to emulate media images they view”. Many end up with low self-esteem, some even with dangerous eating disorders. Elissa Gittes remarks that it is even starting to influence their self-esteem at younger and younger ages. Parenting expert Anne Pleshette Murphy reports “It really has an effect on their mental health and their attitudes toward themselves. And it can really have lifetime negative consequences.” ABC News. As time goes on this is also proof on now the ages of young girls that are worried about that the ages of girls worrying about their looks keeps getting younger and younger. “In a survey of girls nine and ten years old, 40 percent have tried to lose weight, according to an ongoing study founded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. National Institute of Media and Family. Not only can it make them have unrealistic view of what they should look like, but it can make them act sexually at an earlier age. Things that these young girls, pre-teens, and teens see on television are high school girls having babies and young girls popping right back into shape and looking the same, if not better, than they did before they got pregnant, after they give birth. Not knowing, and nobody explains it, that they have millions of dollars to spend on personal trainers, that the celebrity has probably had plastic surgery. The teens do not see all the rigorous workouts and grueling eating habits/diets the celebrity has to follow through with. The way that television influences our preteen and teen girls to dress and act, and ways they perceive real life situations, is “as easy as pie.” This can affect the way that she acts, which can lead to children raising children, or babies having babies. This not only affects her, but it affects her family, and the child of the young girl will more than likely have to endure some type of hardship, especially economically. Watching this negativity on television not only has negative impacts but the short term effects lead to long term effects ultimately. This seemingly issue can turn into a devastating cycle. Television is close, if not the best way for us to fill our brains with information. There are plenty of negative effects from television, however, today’s youth can be affected in a positive way, critics would say. Yes this may be true for our preschoolers and really young children. “The sex education and Brainiac offer a fun and insightful way to learn about sensitive issues and complicated subjects. TriadLaw.Com. True enough, there are ways to ensure that our children only view healthy, wholesome, shows with only good morales in it, but that would mean influential things on television that that we would have to be with our children at all times, watch their every move on the television/computer, at friend’s house, and at school. Which may be possible when they are only toddlers, but what kind of censorship does media offer to instill good values into our growing adults' It is up to the parents and caretakers to do the censoring. In 2012, when the world is filled with such busy parents that have to work, etc. and parents that just are nor responsible, how is this going to help' Sure there is PBS kids, but that is for, yes, young kids. I have two young boys’ ages 5 years and 1 year. I can usually find them something great for them to watch, but when they get older, in just a few years, there are not a whole lot of shows to choose from that will influence them positively. Matter of fact, I cannot think of more than five. There are key components to making sure that your children is safe from the negative impact of television, but how long can we make sure those key components are applied to their everyday life' There are many influential things on television; though there are a few healthy things, there are way more negative influences. They not only affect poor children, it affects children of all ages, geographic locations, and race. Not only are there short term effects, but most of the time, the short term turns into a long term effects. Works Cited Agadoni, Laura. EHOW.COM. Violence on Growing Boys. Web. 2012, June 24 Hassan, Salleh Bin, MD. NCLIVE.ORG. European Journal of Scientific Research. 450-216x Vol. 38. No 1. 2009, pp.141-156. Web. 2, July 2012. WebMD.COM. Web 2011. National Institute on Media and Family. ABC News. Web Triadlaw.com. Board Certified Specialist in Family Law, Greensboro, NC, 3b8469. Blurt it. Web. 2012