Mass Media
Running head: MASS MEDIA HAS A NEGATIVE AFFECT ON YOUTH
Mass Media Has a Negative Affect on Youth
Simina Nekesi
Salt Lake Community College
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Mass Media
Abstract
Media is in our everyday routine such as: listening to music while in the car; watching the news
in the morning, exploring the internet and late night movies on a Friday night. Basically, Mass
Media entertains us. What we fail to acknowledge is how adverse it is affecting us. Mass Media
tends to negatively affect our health and children. It sometimes gives us the wrong impression,
and is greatly leading our future leaders which are children off course in education. We must
recognize that Mass Media is not only for our amusement and it can be detrimental to our lives.
Mass Media needs to have a certain boundary and under control.
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Mass Media
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Mass Media Has a Negative Affect on Youth
Mass Media tends to destructively affect our health, send wrong messages and
impressions, and is highly influencing young children. People need to contemplate twice before
considering it as just entertainment. It can change our whole viewpoint on how life should be
viewed.
“Mass Media affects our health especially in young children. Recent data shows that
certain media almost overwhelmingly leads to adverse health effects for children, both physically
and emotionally” (Myers 1). In the journal of Pediatric, it states that media violence through
video games, television, or movies led to aggressive behavior, antisocial behavior,
desensitization to violence, nightmares and fear of being harmed. Mass Media also shows that it
can cause the life style of obesity. When children are playing video games or sitting in front of a
TV for a long period of time can increase weight gain. Media tends to restrict children from
enjoying the outdoors and being active.
Mass Media inclines to mislead and send out the wrong ideal or impression. For example,
magazines have pictures of skinny models in bikinis. For young female teens, they are pressured
to look just like them. Teens will then try to decrease weight drastically by the most common
eating disorders which are Anorexia and Bulimia. They do not mention that most of the pictures
are first edited before put on display. Being under pressure by the media can lead to drugs,
alcohol, depression and suicide. Magazines reflect models of having a “perfect body” and young
teens feel that it is a must have, no matter what the cost is. Another example is exposure to media
with sexual content such as music and movies. It sways the youth to have sex earlier which may
cause young teen pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases. It discourages them, also allows
them to deny self acceptance.
Mass Media
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The opposition claims that Mass Media is a preeminent form of entertainment. Some say
that media can be used for educational purposes in an effective way. Media is used to
communicate and interact with those from afar. It is said to actually inspire kids to want to be
better, dream bigger, and make a difference (Sarah). They say that it is the audience’s
responsibility for whatsoever they chose to act in response of the media.
However, what they fail to acknowledge that when it comes to children it is a monkeysee-monkey-do situation. They are taking advantage of their most common audiences for
fortune. Today the prevalent consumers worldwide are kids more than adults. Kids, as our future
leaders are exposed to mass media for entertainment. The study shows that media may affect
their grades in school. The study also mentions that it can negatively affect reading and writing
scores which causes academic difficulties. “Research also demonstrated that the amount of time
spent watching television in a childhood and adolescence predicts lower academic achievement
for college-aged students” (Christopherson 1). Young children are easily influenced at a young
age. Our future leaders should be exposed to appropriate and beneficial meanings in the media.
In conclusion, the media negatively affects our health, conduct wrong messages and are
highly influencing children. Mass Media pursues to transform our future; it is up to you how you
respond to it. It should regularly not be visible to young children. They fail to uphold the full
information needed. For us to be more active, educated, safe, and morally clean, lessening mass
media in your everyday routine would be advantageous. Our goal should be to have a restriction
for the benefit for our future and our children. We do not want our future to be filled with
slothful and indolent leaders. We want our leaders to be sturdy and independent.
Mass Media
Reference
Lad, Kashmira. (n.d.). Pros and Cons of Mass Media.
Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-mass-media.html
Myers, Wyatt. (2010, August 3). Can Media Consumption Affect Kid’s Health? Page 1.
Retrieved from
http://www.everydayhealth.com
N.P (1995, June). Media Influence on Youth. Vol. 95, no. 6.
Retrieved from http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm
Sarah, Naomi. (2012, January 31) Impacts of Media on Children.
Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/impact-of-media-on-children.html
The National Institute of Media and Family. (n.d.). Media Influence on Youth.
Retrieve from http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm
Wetherington, E. Crista. (2010) Can Media Consumption Affect Kid’s Health?
Retrieved from http://www.everydayhealth.com/back-to-school/can-media-consumptionaffect-kids-health.aspx
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