the media

Tina Le
Professor Brannon
English 1301 2S3
08/03/14
How The Media Affect Teens And Young Adults?
The media is inescapable given that everywhere we go. We are surrounded by magazines, newspapers, computers, and televisions. Being we are massively exposed to the media, it is sculpting our society as it controls the structure of our civilization. Granting everybody is being affected; teenagers are more vulnerable to the media and suffer the highest impact. This is because; they are exposed to the media eight hours a day typically. They spend more time under the media’s influence than with parents; instructors, or even friends; as a result, these deliberate and unsettling messages rendered by the media are demolishing the mentality of teenagers today as it alters their views of the world and their place in it.
Teenagers feel immense pressure to mimic the twisted images being shown by the media. Even though, these images that are being presented are, in fact, unrealistic and unattainable to the majority of the people watching it. So, in an effort to turn out to be identical to these individuals seen in the media, teenagers face an enormous assortment of self-esteem issues, disturbance in eating behavior, and sometimes depression. This is because; during their regular disclosure to the media, they think as if society has set the standard for good looks, and if they cannot live up to these principles, then they are not beautiful. They critic themselves by the media’s standards and compare themselves to others as they endeavor for fresh looks. In magazines, the messages portrayed by the media are blatantly signifying that one’s body should be without faults. Katharine Seelye the author of Lurid Numbers on Glossy Pages! says that “Sex still sells, of course, especially when mingled with celebrity” (Seelye 606) which completely agrees with my argument. For females, titles on the face of magazines are generally associated to eating right, working out, plastic surgery, etc. The women on the front page of these magazines have remarkably emaciated figures, lengthy legs, and large breasts; similar to Barbie doll proportions. It is unfortunate when bearing in mind the amount of girls in the quest of a similar half-starved body. By portraying a standard, tough to reach; the weight loss pill industries are guaranteed growth and proceeds. The same goes for men as they come across body building supplements and steroids in order to attain that excessively muscular body. As an entirety, the effects of the media have turned our civilization into one that is almost entirely aesthetically orientated; where the standard being portrayed and attempted, for is completely going against nature.
It has turned out to be more and more evident that the media can exhibit a big impact on teenagers nowadays, through affecting the ways in which they behave. This has given them the ability to sway certain behaviors as “cool” while using celebrities to aid in further encouragement of this image. When asking Justin Jedlica, who gone through 149 cosmetic procedures to look likes Ken Doll, “Was there something or someone you did want to look like? Where did you pull inspiration from?” he said Michael Jackson and Joan Rivers were his idols. These celebrities seen on magazines and television are accepted by teenagers all over, some even worship the characters they play on TV or the bands that they belong to. However, the degree to which they are admired can trigger teenagers to impersonate their actions in an effort to be just like them. Some of these behaviors involve; doing drugs, smoking, drinking, taking part in violence, etc. Their desire of becoming just like them has gone sky-high these days. This is because of the extensive amount of celebrity weeklies, which illustrates them participating in ordinary activities, like taking out the trash, walking their pets, or getting coffee. Moreover, popular reality television programs, which indiscriminately choose their cast has given a lot of teenagers hope that they will be able to one day, be discovered and acclaimed as famous. The reason that teenagers mimic the behaviors of celebrities is possibly due to lack of self-confidence. Teenagers that do not sense acceptance by their peers, feel forced to act like celebrities in order to be effortlessly accepted by people. It is known that the media is theoretically a reflection of our society. Douglas Rushkoff’s article, Bart Simpson: Prince of Irreverence states "These days television in general seems to be feeding on itself. Parodying itself” (Rushkoff 249), which is exactly what I am trying to prove. As a result of teenagers impersonating the behaviors of celebrities, any prior to teen morals and values that may have impacted their behavior, become dwindled. This is because; they are thought to be unaccepted and unimportant to a celebrity’s way of life and as a result needless to a teenager's life. Consequently, the media relinquishes a teenager of their uniqueness as it influences them to act as celebrities are viewed.
Another prominent attribute of the media is that it deliberately dictates standards of appropriate behavior. These days, there is a massive amount of pressure placed on women, mainly to be seen as sexually attractive. In advertisements, TV, and in movies, provocative images of women half clothed are common as well as; any messages relevant to sex are depicted in all ads. This radical switch from steering clear of sex in the media to becoming excessively explicit is due to the fact that advertisers grasped the realization that sex sells. As a result, once more the media is corrupting the brains of teenagers through showing sex to be casual, for motives revolving around money. Even movies targeted towards teenagers such as “Scary Movie," “American Pie” and “Girl Next Door” are completely based on sex. Messages that sex have a repercussion, and safe sex is imperative are disregarded by teenagers as they are not proclaimed by the media. As a result, through the messages that are conveyed by the media, teenagers are forced to believe the attitudes towards sex are proper and accepted by society. Therefore, in an effort to fit in, teenagers soak up these attitudes and incorporate them into their individual set of values.
Steven Johnson's whole dispute rests on the information that television programs have grown more intricate over time. As a support, he mentions one of his beloved television shows, 24, which involve much more characters and intersecting storylines than old-school dramas. “To make sense of an episode of 24, you have to integrate far more information than you would have a few decades ago watching a comparable show... to keep up with entertainment like 24, you have to pay attention, make inferences, track shifting social relationships”. First off, Johnson thinks that all viewers view TV similar to he does and for the same reasons. It's a safe bet that the majority viewers are not getting as much from the complicated plots as an intellectually interested guy like Johnson does. If the show's producers took out the violent behavior and typical patriotism at the core of the show, they would almost certainly lose a large amount of their viewers. I will admit that TV shows nowadays may possess more plot complexity than programs in the past; however, that in itself proves nothing. Johnson’s ideas of how “TV Makes Your Smarter” is total nonsense, and I completely have to disagree with him on this subject.
Archives, in the forward to Joanne Griffith's new book Redefining Black Power: Reflections on the State of Black America, a famous quote stated: “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Yet, the media has prevented teenagers from distinguishing the distinction between what is seen in the media, and what is seen in ourselves and those all around us. This is because; the media has successfully manipulated our world and our assessment of the world. Knowing this, it seems as if the media has destroyed any recognition and counter action that might aid to transform this environment that the media has shaped, in affecting our idea of beauty, influencing the way we behave, and dictating standards of appropriate attitudes. After all, the impression of the media on a teenager’s world today will play a big role in shaping their minds when they are adults.

Work Cite
Griffith, Joanne. Redefining Black Power: Reflections on the State of Black America. San Francisco: City Lights, 2012. 113. Print.
Jedlica, Justin. Personal interview. 15 Apr. 2014.
Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." The New York Times. N.p., 24 Apr. 2005. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.
Rushkoff, Douglas. “Bart Simpson: Prince of Irreverence.” Media Virus. New York. 1996. 249. Print.
Seelye, Katherine Q. “Magazines Exploit What Sells.” Lurid Numbers on Glossy Pages! 10 Feb. 2006. 606. Print.