home

= How the Media Influences Teens =

By Ann Marie Hickey and Sarah Brawner

Has the media influenced and changed teens' morals over time?


Over time, television shows, movies, and music have become more vulgar and focused on issues such as sex and alcohol. Teens are more exposed than ever before and the media has started to portray these topics casually, giving teens the wrong ideas. Studies show that three out of four teens say 'TV shows and movies make it seem normal for teenagers to have sex.' 

  On popular teen shows such as "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," almost every single one of teenage characters has sex, and many of the adults are having affairs, which makes it seem like these are the cool and acceptable things to do. Although the show is trying to inform kids about teenage pregnancies, sexual relationships, and affairs, it doesn't effectively portray the consequences that there are in reality because the main goal of the show is to entertain an audience. Most popular teen shows now have references to intimate teenage relationships with explicit details, exposing kids more than ever before to sex and rarely ever addressing the risks such as pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.Along with entertainment shows,reality shows such as "16 and Pregnant" now focus on sexually-active teens, but also expose the reality of the consequences. This show follows teenage girls through the obstacles that they encounter when they get pregnant and demonstrates hardships of becoming a mom at such a young age. 82% of young people who watch "16 and Pregnant" believe that the show helps young people better understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenting.media type="youtube" key="WGFAfqB6vpc" height="390" width="480" align="center"  Entertainment shows such as the Secret Life of the American Teenager send a message to their teenage audience that everyone is having sex at their age, and having a baby is not that bad and that teenagers can handle it.

 Television has obviously changed over time, with a 400% increase of sexual references between 1976 and 1996, and in 1996 it was also determined that children were exposed to eight sexual references per hour watching television. This exposure was proven to affect children's moral judgment, mainly in a negative way, and rightfully so, because TV shows and movies make sex seem normal and casual.media type="youtube" key="cYe5xD9bdyY" height="390" width="480" align="center"

 Music is also a more prominent issue in the media regarding the influence of teens. Almost all of the popular songs that teens listen to today include references to sex, alcohol, or drugs. A study found that teens who said they listened to lots of music with degrading sexual messages were almost twice as likely to start having sex within the following two years than compared to teens who listened to little or no sexually degrading music. Because society today accepts this music and the messages in these songs, teens see these messages as a common and acceptable thing to do. Alcohol is becoming another prevalent topic in today's music with one in three popular songs containing explicit references to alcohol or drug use. Even though the artists singing the song are usually at legal age to drink, the constant references promote underage drinking as well as drug use because kids don't see what the negative consequences could be. The focus on explicit topics such as sex and alcohol has greatly increased in television shows, movies, and music overtime, exposing children and teens more than ever to dangerous and risky acts and turning sex and drinking into casual things to do. The media glamorizes these behaviors, rarely mentioning the risks and consequences, which has portrayed intimate teen relationships, affairs, drinking, and drug use as more acceptable acts in society today.media type="youtube" key="qYx7YG0RsFY" height="390" width="640" align="center"Songs and music videos such as Asher Roth's I Love College portray messages to young listeners that drinking, smoking, and having sex is fun and everyone does it. The explicit music video just enhances the message with vulgar images and is accessible by anyone, so young kids are able to watch people smoke and drink at parties.