Media

The media in our society is extremely influential. Movies, celebrities, television, and the news play a huge role in how we live as a society. Much of our nation cannot decipher the true effect media has on us as a whole. Media is biased and conveys only what will be beneficial to them. Instead of bringing the facts, they give us misconstrued stories that boost their ratings. Movies and television portray a false way of life to the viewer; meanwhile, celebrities make deleterious impressions on children. The way media affects our society, especially the younger generation, is a serious problem and more people need to be aware of it.
Movies portray unrealistic and unethical situations to the public. The impact this has on the younger generations of our society is enormous. Children from 7-16 are in the time of their lives where they are impacted greatly by the things they see. A study by the Payne Fund showed that children will remember 3 out of every 5 intense scenes from a movie. That means that if there are a combination of 20 murder and sex scenes in a movie the child will recollect 12 of them. These images are not short term but enduring memories; this problem should not be ignored but revealed to all the parents of children from 7-16. When thinking about movies most people think of the entertainment it provides us; we should be thinking about the negative affect it is having on the younger generation. Another part of the study showed that children of all ages tend to accept everything they see in movies as true or forthcoming. When children see these inappropriate and exaggerated movies they believe the things they see to be common or acceptable. The problems with the media are obvious but ignored; we need to face this head on and bring people in the light about the effect media has on kids.
“I am not a role model... Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids”-Charles Barkley. This quote is a great example of a celebrity being honest. Younger kids look up to celebrities because they have a certain talent that is glorified. Celebrities have disparaging lifestyles and do not provide good examples for the younger generation. When children look up to these terrible examples they see not only the talent they have but how they live their life as well. The majority of celebrities do not provide good examples; many get addicted to drugs, get divorces, don’t manage money well, and live wild rambunctious lives. When children see this they think it is acceptable and the norm. When kids see the way these icons live they begin to compromise in their own life. This causes them to fall into the same destructive and unproductive lifestyle as the celebrity’s without their glamorous profession. If children look up to celebrities who use bad judgment we are going to see the same judgment in them. To unveil this problem we need to be great examples for kids, and encourage them to look up to great examples in their life like parents or siblings.
Television and the news make considerably the most impact in the media realm. The average kid spends 28 hours a week in front of the TV. This shows how vulnerable they are to being influenced by the things they see on TV. Television gives kids a false sense of reality. When they watch TV shows like Jersey Shore or The Real World (or should we say The “Fake World”) they see how these people live and think it’s normal. In reality it is far from normal; these shows are doing more harm than good. The entertainment does not outweigh the negative effects it has on children. Reality TV shows are not only unrealistic, but they convince kids that it is acceptable to act like fools. Kids in this generation are doing drugs and drinking at earlier ages, television and the media can be blamed for contributing to this problem.
When kids watch the news they expect to hear the truth. What they do not understand is that the news is overwhelmingly bias. They are convinced of certain things because they believe they are being told the truth. When children think of the news they think of hearing the truth. The sad fact is that many news channels are not bringing truth. A young kid can go to CBS, FOX, and CNN and find different information about one story; if this is true is it deleterious to let children get information from the bias news media. The news channels these days misconstrue information on a daily basis. In many cases the news media changes details to get more attention and publicity which brings in more money.
The media accounts for the lack of interest in education, the awful judgment kid’s use, their false sense of reality, drug and alcohol use, and many more problems we see today. We should not sit back and blame these kids for their stupidity; rather we should seek out the cause of these actions. The media does not care about bettering children’s lives or improving their social standards. The media is out for one thing, and that is money. As long as television, movies, celebrities, and the news are making money they do not care how they are affecting children across the nation.