The Media and The Youth: How The Media Affect Children and Adolescents
The Media and The Youth: How The Media Affect Children and Adolescents
Have you ever compared your own childhood with the childhood of kids nowadays? What do you feel when looking at your children, little siblings or any young person in your family spending a whole day stuck in front of a computer or laying on a sofa watching television? Have you ever thought about the impact that the overexposure to the media produces over the youth? The truth is that, nowadays, the media influence the way we think and the way we act in a dramatic way. Therefore, we are gradually losing the balance between being informed and connected with the world, and becoming completely dependent or controlled by the Internet and the television programs. Under these circumstances, who are the most vulnerable to the media’s invasion? The answer is evident. It is clearly noticeable that the media produce several negative effects among children and adolescents. Being naive and immature individuals, they are the ones who mostly absorb their influence. Virtually all areas of their life are being negatively affected by the constant and free exposure to the media. Firstly, new patterns of behaviour are being developed as a consequence of the uncontrolled access to inadequate information. Secondly, unfavourable habits and learning difficulties are produced as a result of the Internet and the television’s overuse. Lastly, materialist attitudes are continually promoted through advertisements and commercials that particularly affect young people’s thoughts.
To start with, the media provide children and adolescents with plenty of information which is unsuitable for their age, level of emotional maturity and stage of cognitive development. In fact, the amount of violence, inappropriate or strong language and sexual scenes is abundant in films, programs, web pages and even in news. As a result of this, children and adolescents´ thoughts and behavior are seriously affected. Considering the fact that
Have you ever compared your own childhood with the childhood of kids nowadays? What do you feel when looking at your children, little siblings or any young person in your family spending a whole day stuck in front of a computer or laying on a sofa watching television? Have you ever thought about the impact that the overexposure to the media produces over the youth? The truth is that, nowadays, the media influence the way we think and the way we act in a dramatic way. Therefore, we are gradually losing the balance between being informed and connected with the world, and becoming completely dependent or controlled by the Internet and the television programs. Under these circumstances, who are the most vulnerable to the media’s invasion? The answer is evident. It is clearly noticeable that the media produce several negative effects among children and adolescents. Being naive and immature individuals, they are the ones who mostly absorb their influence. Virtually all areas of their life are being negatively affected by the constant and free exposure to the media. Firstly, new patterns of behaviour are being developed as a consequence of the uncontrolled access to inadequate information. Secondly, unfavourable habits and learning difficulties are produced as a result of the Internet and the television’s overuse. Lastly, materialist attitudes are continually promoted through advertisements and commercials that particularly affect young people’s thoughts.
To start with, the media provide children and adolescents with plenty of information which is unsuitable for their age, level of emotional maturity and stage of cognitive development. In fact, the amount of violence, inappropriate or strong language and sexual scenes is abundant in films, programs, web pages and even in news. As a result of this, children and adolescents´ thoughts and behavior are seriously affected. Considering the fact that