Mass Media Influence on Youth
Mass Media Influence on Youth
We are all active consumers of different kinds of information, the flow of which is continuously growing. Abundance of TV channels, websites on the Internet, a huge amount of video and audio production, newspapers and magazines – all these information has become an integral part of our lives. Every morning we watch TV, read newspapers, on the workplace during lunch we are sharing the latest news in sport, fashion; talking about movies we saw with our colleagues. After work we again plunge into the world of mass media – TV, computer, radio. Can we imagine a specific time period, let`s say one week, during of which we will not be able to use any kind of mass media – no TV, no newspapers, no computers, no mobile phones? Not everyone would agree to do so since all our life - work, interests, hobbies are closely connected with media information. So, if we will think whether mass media has impact on us, we would definitely agree that it does – mass media is creating a specific “reality” around us, under influence of which we are forming our world outlook, values, preferences, etc. Hence, if even we, adults, are influences by mass media, what about our children?
Nowadays, mass media, like all other means of communication, operates as a special filter by selecting, assembling, and interpreting all information. Information can be knowledge; can be valid depending on source it comes from. So, considering that information coming from mass media is not always justified and true, we cannot always rely on it. Hence, there is a problem arising – young people who do not understand or do not know that information can be misleading are tend to believe it and, moreover, get influenced by it. Now it is already admitted that all institutions that young people go through (kinder garden, school, college) have to teach them to think critically about information which comes from mass media. The peculiarity of child`s perception is that they tend to
We are all active consumers of different kinds of information, the flow of which is continuously growing. Abundance of TV channels, websites on the Internet, a huge amount of video and audio production, newspapers and magazines – all these information has become an integral part of our lives. Every morning we watch TV, read newspapers, on the workplace during lunch we are sharing the latest news in sport, fashion; talking about movies we saw with our colleagues. After work we again plunge into the world of mass media – TV, computer, radio. Can we imagine a specific time period, let`s say one week, during of which we will not be able to use any kind of mass media – no TV, no newspapers, no computers, no mobile phones? Not everyone would agree to do so since all our life - work, interests, hobbies are closely connected with media information. So, if we will think whether mass media has impact on us, we would definitely agree that it does – mass media is creating a specific “reality” around us, under influence of which we are forming our world outlook, values, preferences, etc. Hence, if even we, adults, are influences by mass media, what about our children?
Nowadays, mass media, like all other means of communication, operates as a special filter by selecting, assembling, and interpreting all information. Information can be knowledge; can be valid depending on source it comes from. So, considering that information coming from mass media is not always justified and true, we cannot always rely on it. Hence, there is a problem arising – young people who do not understand or do not know that information can be misleading are tend to believe it and, moreover, get influenced by it. Now it is already admitted that all institutions that young people go through (kinder garden, school, college) have to teach them to think critically about information which comes from mass media. The peculiarity of child`s perception is that they tend to
Cited: HubPages. "Mass Media Influence on Society." HubPages. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. . Kidhealth. "How TV Affects Your Child." KidsHealth - the Web 's Most Visited Site about Children 's Health. 2010. Web. 11 Dec. 2010. . Mediaed. "MEDIA VIOLENCE: FACTS & STATISTICS." Media Education Foundation. 2005. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. Medvedeva, Galina. "Aggression. TV`s Influence on Youth." Web. 12 Dec. 2010. . MVD. "Statistics on Crimes." Website of MVD. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. . Note: plus research done by me