“How does the media portray teenagers and how does it affect
them?” We have all seen movies where teenagers are drinking, engaging in
promiscuous activities, using drugs, disobeying their parents and a lot more. I
became interested in this topic because of the article entitled “The Media made
them do it” and “The Media made me do it.” I was shocked at the things I read
that people did because they saw it on television or in a movie. I was
astounded at the fact that anyone would set a baby’s crib on fire because it
was in a movie or jump off the top of a waterfall, only to plummet to their
death. It seems so crazy to think people would actually do things they saw on
television or in a movie or read about in a magazine. I would never do
something I thought would endanger my life or someone else’s.
I wanted to
see different perspectives. I assumed there were going to be differing opinions
in the topic but as I began my research, I quickly realized that everyone
believes teens are portrayed as horrible, disrespectful human beings within the
media. I wanted personal opinions and thoughts, from interviews with teens and
adults, as well as professional statements like that of the American
Association of Pediatrics. I was expecting to find opposing opinions- some
people believing the media portray teens as the world’s worst age group and
actually considering that to be true and some thinking it’s a false accusation.
I wondered
where people got the idea to include teens drinking, abusing substances, and
having sex, in the media. Do movie writers include teenage drinking, substance
abuse, and sex, because they see and hear about teens doing it or do teens do
it because they see on a screen or in a magazine? Not all teens drink on Friday
and Saturday nights; not all teenagers engage in promiscuity; not all are
aggressive; not every kid in middle school, high school, or college smoke weed
or abuse other substances. The media seems to generalize, creating an image in
the minds of adults when they hear the word “teenager” or “adolescent.”
I had an
experience in high school with a group of girls, none of which were very heavy,
who stopped eating because of the models they saw on a television show one
night. One of the girls passed out at the gym and was rushed to the hospital
where she was found to be extremely underweight for her height. My cousin who
is thirteen years old used to be very heavy. She is very tell for her age and
definitely overweight. Recently, I found out that she has been going to
counseling for having an eating disorder. I was completely shocked when I heard
and saw pictures of how much weight she had lost. Body image is something every
girl and a lot of boys struggle with and the media just makes it a lot harder
to deal with and be happy in their own skin. Personally, I have never had
experiences with doing things I see on television or in movies or hear in a
song, but other people have.
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