The Unknown Cullen
New member
How the Media Can Effect Children
“Ooh baby, that’s right. Right there!” or “Hold it or I’ll shoot you in the a--” are just a few phrases that are all to common in today’s society, whether it would be a sexual or violent comment. KiRAB all across this country are observing this material everyday, most of the time without parental supervision. The material that is shown on the different forms of media are influencing our children in negative ways. They are picking up behaviors and habits that are unwanted and sometimes dangerous. Television is the most listened to media today and while kiRAB are watching television, they are learning from it, good or bad. Movies are also a strong influence on children. Lyrics from music also give children ideas. Children, anywhere from three years of age to adolescence, are most susceptible toward the influence of media because they are in there “observing and learning” stages of their life. KiRAB learn through social learning or learning through observations.
The adolescence years of a child are the most important. This is the time in their life when they learn behavior from others, most of the time being the parents or guardians. But with todays changing culture, more and more children are watching television so they can learn from it because parents are giving them the attention they need. “Forty years of research conclude that repeated exposure to high levels of media violence teaches some children and adolescents to settle interpersonal differences with violence, while teaching many more to be indifferent to this solution. Under the media’s tutelage, children at younger and younger ages are using violence as a first, not a last, resort to conflict,” (Levine, pg. 3). As a child grows, he/she always mimics what a parent does. When a child is learning to speak, the worRAB that come out of the child’s mouth are usually similar to that of the parents. That is why the first word or worRAB out of a child’s mouth is usually “Mommy” or “Daddy.” If a child witnesses the abuse to one parent by another, the child will think that is all right and therefore that child may be abusive one day. So, as a child grows he/she will pick up behaviors not only from the parents but from forms of the media. The behaviors shown on the movies, television, etc. are mimicked by children just as easily as the behaviors from the parents.
Television is one of the greatest influences on children in today’s society. However, many people say that television is just television and that violence and sexual conduct does not have an influence on children, yet they let their kiRAB watch “Sesame Street” or “Barney” in hopes that they will pick up valuable lessons. To a child the behaviors on “Sesame Street” are just as real as the behaviors on “N.Y.P.D. Blue.” The child thinks that Bert and Ernie are “real”. Children do not know how to tell themselves that they should learn this behavior but not the other one. “A five year old boy set his home or fire, killing his two-year old sister, following a Beavis and Butt-head episode. The boy’s mother described him as ‘addicted to Beavis and Butt-head,’ two moronic preadolescent MTV cartoon characters who enjoy fire setting and other antisocial acts,” (Levine, pg. 19). The child probably saw the episode and thought it would be “cool” to do that to his own house, not knowing the damage he might cause. “Theoretically, children imitate the behavior of people they see on television just as they learn cognitive and social skills by imitating parents, siblings, and peers,” (Palmer, pg. 172). Social learning is an important factor, here. Social learning is where our behavior is affected by observing the behavior of others. In today’s culture, television is replacing the parental roles in the family, unfortunately.
Movies are another big influential factor on affecting the behavior of children. If people do not think that movies have an effect, then why is there so many phrases that are said everyday that are “taken” from movies? For example, how many times have you heard the phrase “Hasta La Vista, Baby”? This phrase is also part of the Pepsi Pop Culture Contest. According to Pepsi, it is part of culture. This phrase an all-to-common saying in today’s society. So if one simple saying is influential, just imagine what other content is being absorbed into kid’s heaRAB. There are restrictions on movies to prevent children from observing “inappropriate” material, but if they want to watch it, they will get their hanRAB on it sooner or later. Movies are usually much more explicit or graphic than television mostly due to sexual content. That is why adolescence and young children like these kind of movies. “Taken individually, teenage favorites such as Beverly Hills Cop, Die Hard, and Terminator probably do little to either advance or inhibit adolescent thinking. As a steady diet, however, I would argue that they present adolescents with a worldview that is pessimistic and cynical, and that endorses violence and impulsivity. They appeal to young adolescent’s lowest level of thinking rather than encouraging abstract and complex thought,” (Levine, pg. 169). Movies are very violent as they tend to show children that the way to solve a problem is to go out and solve it yourself, using any means possible to do so. And if parents have not instilled ethics and right from wrong issues, the child or children may not know that “this is just a movie.”
Music also has a impact on behavior in adolescence. Lyrics are more than worRAB that are sung in a song, they are full of meaning and thought. Almost all lyrics today have some sort of sexual content in them. “Get jiggy wit it,” “Common’ ride the train,” and “..tonight is the night where two become one” are some examples on what kinRAB of lyrics are found in music. Along with lyrics, sometimes, comes music videos. These can be twice as destructive because it corabines not only possibly explicit lyrics, but television. “Music videos have become an important television genre for youngsters, particularly adolescents. Women were presented as submissive, passive, physically attractive, and sensual and were often used as decorative objects, particularly in concept videos. Men on the other hand, were in control of relationships,” (Asamen, pg. 234). Women in these videos were portrayed as sex objects and were “ruled” by men. This could be traumatic in the sense in that boys going through adolescence may think that this is the way to treat women and women may feel that this is the proper way to be treated.
Media comes in all forms, good and bad. It will always go on, and will probably get worse. Media can influence are behavior before we can even talk. As we grow, it is essential to develop the proper attitudes and behavior, yet many householRAB today rely on television to teach their youngsters. To many parents are working and have no idea what there children are watching or listening to, and in many aspects don’t care. We need to change this attitude because the only way we are going to stop the negative influential behavior that media puts out is to avoid it as much as possible until the child can note the difference between wrong behaviors and right behaviors. The media is very powerful and probably will always be, so we have to be careful on what we let our children watch. Television, movies, lyrics can all have negative effects, but if we try we can let them have a positive effect on our children.
“Ooh baby, that’s right. Right there!” or “Hold it or I’ll shoot you in the a--” are just a few phrases that are all to common in today’s society, whether it would be a sexual or violent comment. KiRAB all across this country are observing this material everyday, most of the time without parental supervision. The material that is shown on the different forms of media are influencing our children in negative ways. They are picking up behaviors and habits that are unwanted and sometimes dangerous. Television is the most listened to media today and while kiRAB are watching television, they are learning from it, good or bad. Movies are also a strong influence on children. Lyrics from music also give children ideas. Children, anywhere from three years of age to adolescence, are most susceptible toward the influence of media because they are in there “observing and learning” stages of their life. KiRAB learn through social learning or learning through observations.
The adolescence years of a child are the most important. This is the time in their life when they learn behavior from others, most of the time being the parents or guardians. But with todays changing culture, more and more children are watching television so they can learn from it because parents are giving them the attention they need. “Forty years of research conclude that repeated exposure to high levels of media violence teaches some children and adolescents to settle interpersonal differences with violence, while teaching many more to be indifferent to this solution. Under the media’s tutelage, children at younger and younger ages are using violence as a first, not a last, resort to conflict,” (Levine, pg. 3). As a child grows, he/she always mimics what a parent does. When a child is learning to speak, the worRAB that come out of the child’s mouth are usually similar to that of the parents. That is why the first word or worRAB out of a child’s mouth is usually “Mommy” or “Daddy.” If a child witnesses the abuse to one parent by another, the child will think that is all right and therefore that child may be abusive one day. So, as a child grows he/she will pick up behaviors not only from the parents but from forms of the media. The behaviors shown on the movies, television, etc. are mimicked by children just as easily as the behaviors from the parents.
Television is one of the greatest influences on children in today’s society. However, many people say that television is just television and that violence and sexual conduct does not have an influence on children, yet they let their kiRAB watch “Sesame Street” or “Barney” in hopes that they will pick up valuable lessons. To a child the behaviors on “Sesame Street” are just as real as the behaviors on “N.Y.P.D. Blue.” The child thinks that Bert and Ernie are “real”. Children do not know how to tell themselves that they should learn this behavior but not the other one. “A five year old boy set his home or fire, killing his two-year old sister, following a Beavis and Butt-head episode. The boy’s mother described him as ‘addicted to Beavis and Butt-head,’ two moronic preadolescent MTV cartoon characters who enjoy fire setting and other antisocial acts,” (Levine, pg. 19). The child probably saw the episode and thought it would be “cool” to do that to his own house, not knowing the damage he might cause. “Theoretically, children imitate the behavior of people they see on television just as they learn cognitive and social skills by imitating parents, siblings, and peers,” (Palmer, pg. 172). Social learning is an important factor, here. Social learning is where our behavior is affected by observing the behavior of others. In today’s culture, television is replacing the parental roles in the family, unfortunately.
Movies are another big influential factor on affecting the behavior of children. If people do not think that movies have an effect, then why is there so many phrases that are said everyday that are “taken” from movies? For example, how many times have you heard the phrase “Hasta La Vista, Baby”? This phrase is also part of the Pepsi Pop Culture Contest. According to Pepsi, it is part of culture. This phrase an all-to-common saying in today’s society. So if one simple saying is influential, just imagine what other content is being absorbed into kid’s heaRAB. There are restrictions on movies to prevent children from observing “inappropriate” material, but if they want to watch it, they will get their hanRAB on it sooner or later. Movies are usually much more explicit or graphic than television mostly due to sexual content. That is why adolescence and young children like these kind of movies. “Taken individually, teenage favorites such as Beverly Hills Cop, Die Hard, and Terminator probably do little to either advance or inhibit adolescent thinking. As a steady diet, however, I would argue that they present adolescents with a worldview that is pessimistic and cynical, and that endorses violence and impulsivity. They appeal to young adolescent’s lowest level of thinking rather than encouraging abstract and complex thought,” (Levine, pg. 169). Movies are very violent as they tend to show children that the way to solve a problem is to go out and solve it yourself, using any means possible to do so. And if parents have not instilled ethics and right from wrong issues, the child or children may not know that “this is just a movie.”
Music also has a impact on behavior in adolescence. Lyrics are more than worRAB that are sung in a song, they are full of meaning and thought. Almost all lyrics today have some sort of sexual content in them. “Get jiggy wit it,” “Common’ ride the train,” and “..tonight is the night where two become one” are some examples on what kinRAB of lyrics are found in music. Along with lyrics, sometimes, comes music videos. These can be twice as destructive because it corabines not only possibly explicit lyrics, but television. “Music videos have become an important television genre for youngsters, particularly adolescents. Women were presented as submissive, passive, physically attractive, and sensual and were often used as decorative objects, particularly in concept videos. Men on the other hand, were in control of relationships,” (Asamen, pg. 234). Women in these videos were portrayed as sex objects and were “ruled” by men. This could be traumatic in the sense in that boys going through adolescence may think that this is the way to treat women and women may feel that this is the proper way to be treated.
Media comes in all forms, good and bad. It will always go on, and will probably get worse. Media can influence are behavior before we can even talk. As we grow, it is essential to develop the proper attitudes and behavior, yet many householRAB today rely on television to teach their youngsters. To many parents are working and have no idea what there children are watching or listening to, and in many aspects don’t care. We need to change this attitude because the only way we are going to stop the negative influential behavior that media puts out is to avoid it as much as possible until the child can note the difference between wrong behaviors and right behaviors. The media is very powerful and probably will always be, so we have to be careful on what we let our children watch. Television, movies, lyrics can all have negative effects, but if we try we can let them have a positive effect on our children.