Shows and Movies Changing Our Youths Behavior

Televison Shows Which, Through Mind Altering Messages,

Turn Our Youth Into Rebellious, Sexually Promiscuous, Self-Centered, Disrespectful and Desensitized.

The young cast members are paid to do nothing but party and create drama. With partying, comes drinking, mistakes, and confusion and this show is designed to “appeal” to the young viewers. MTV is glamorizing a lifestyle of drunken mistakes.  We see out own everyday teen aged girls with their hair done up in the famous snookie hairstyle (The poof), trying to talk like Snookie, and even act like Snookie.  These young girls must think that the Jersey Shore cast are just the coolest.  I look at them and see changes in her personality. Why? Because look who their role models are! People who drink their problems away and let their hormones do the talking.

Another effect is that children begin to show bad behaviors, like fighting, using profanity, etc. For example, a reality TV show that airs on MTV called The Real World, majority of the roommates fight a lot and use profanity over the most idiotic and unnecessary things due to either misunderstanding or high intake of alcohol. 

Pay close attention to what you see, because you have no idea how much it impacts you and your children as people.

"Noneducational" reality TV includes shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Teen Pregnancy, and My Sweet Sixteen. These prime time shows target youth, but they do not teach lessons. In fact, they do the opposite, since many young people think it okay to emulate these reality show stars.

These shows promote drinking and heavy sexual content. Nonetheless they air in the time slot that targets youth. Kids seem to be growing up faster than just 20 years ago; perhaps disrespect and aggression can be blamed on the influence of the shows they are watching.

Instead of fighting and being rude to each other, it would be nice if the characters in these shows could, for example, reflect how ten ordinary people come into a house and work together to make the quality of life better for everyone. They could show the reality of working together to pay the bills and keep food on the table. They could teach how to step in when something bad happens to someone else and help them get back on their feet in one way or another.

Video Games:

A study of video games found that the few female characters in those games are often highly sexualized—wearing tight revealing clothing and having unrealistically large breasts and distorted small waists. (Girls and Gaming, Children Now; 2000)

• Video games and other media sometimes use prostitutes as characters that are targets for the male hero. In a game from the Duke Nukem series, prostitutes are forced to strip and are then killed. In the number one selling video game for 2001, Grand Theft Auto III, the player can "clobber" a prostitute with a baseball bat, with a new game technique, that allows the player to feel he or she is really doing this. In other popular media, prostitutes and strippers are often included to add scenes of female breasts and rear-ends on camera. These "games" offer viewers images of women and female sexuality associated with exchanging sex for money, and sex with violence.

Non-realistic and unhealthy body image:

• The women seen most often in the media are fashion models, pop stars (singers) and actresses. (We don’t like the word "supermodel," ‘cause they really don’t do anything that super.) Many women seen often in the media, especially models and increasingly actresses, are seriously underweight, and many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off. (A girl or woman who diets and is underweight can be undernourished, sometimes even losing her menstrual period. Prolonged loss of periods can lead to fertility problems---while constant or extreme dieting also carries health risks and can actually lead to long-term weight gain.) (Body Wars, by Margo Maine, 2000)
• In a 1992 study of female students at Stanford University, 70% of women reported feeling worse about themselves and their bodies after looking at magazines. (A British study also had a similar finding.) Roughly 50% of teen girls in the U.S. read teen or adult fashion magazines. (Body Wars)
• In movies, body doubles are often used to substitute for "imperfect" female movie stars (such as America’s favorite actress Julia Roberts, in one of America’s favorite movies, Pretty Woman). Eighty-five percent of these body doubles have breast implants. (Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love, 2001)
• Scientific evidence suggests many women with breast implants have some adverse affects: pain, permanently deformed skin if implant is removed, loss of sensation in breast, interference with early detection of a tumor, and potential links with serious auto-immune disorders. (National Research Center for Women and Families.ca: Wash., D.C.)
• Studies show that all plastic surgeries among teens increased by almost 50% from 1996-1998, mostly for girls. At the same time there have been more advertisements for breast implants and other surgeries, and more models, actresses, and singers as "advertisements" for the surgeries (think Cher, Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Mariah Carey, and some have suggested, Britney). (newswecanuse.com; 1/9/01)

Hate and violence directed at women:

• Words expressing hate and disrespect toward girls and women are used frequently in popular media, and especially on TV and radio. Use of words derogatory to girls and women like "bitch," "slut," "whore," and "ho" can be heard on many TV and radio programs, especially those watched and listened to by kids, including WWF (wrestling) programs, That 70’s Show, and Boston Public, as well as on the radio.
• Advertisements from some segments of the fashion industry use images of violence against a woman and try to make it fashionable or erotic. An ad for jeans in Elle shows three men physically attacking a woman; an Italian edition of Vogue shows an ad with a man pointing a gun at the face of a naked woman wrapped in plastic; from an American skateboard manufacturer, an ad aimed at young men shows a man pointing a gun at the head of a female, along with the slogan "bitch." (Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love, 2001)

Dragon Age: Origins Video Game- City Elf Trailer Depicts Violence Against Women

Some Things You Should Know About Media Violence and Media Literacy

• Media violence can lead to aggressive behavior in children. Over 1,000 studies confirm this link.
• By age 18, the average American child will have viewed about 200,000 acts of violence on television alone.
• The level of violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of violence during prime time. There are 3 to 5 violent acts per hour in prime time, versus 20 to 25 acts per hour on Saturday morning.
• Media violence is especially damaging to young children (under age 8) because they cannot easily tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Violent images on television and in movies may seem real to young children. They can be traumatized by viewing these images.

Media violence affects children by:

a)   Increasing aggressiveness, rage and anti-social behavior.

b)   Increasing their fear of becoming victims.

c)    Turning them against their parents, making them disrespectful to their parents, elders and authority figures; sometimes even violent.

d)   Making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of    violence.

e)   Increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life.

Media violence often fails to show the consequences of violence.

This is especially true of cartoons, toy commercials and music videos. As a result, children learn that there are few if any repercussions for committing violent acts.

• Parents can reduce the effect media violence has on children by:

Limiting the amount of television children watch to 1 to 2 hours a day.
Monitoring the programs children watch and restricting children's viewing of violent programs.
Monitoring the music videos and films children see, as well as the music children listen to, for violent themes.
Teaching children alternatives to violence.

• Parents can help children develop media literacy skills by:

1. Helping children distinguish between fantasy and reality.
2. Teaching them that real-life violence has consequences.
3.  Watching television with children and discussing the violent acts and images that are portrayed.
4. Ask children to think about what would happen in real life if the same type of violent act were committed. Would anyone die or go to jail? Would anyone be sad? Would the violence solve problems or create them?

I have added a post (above) of an article which I found to be interesting regarding teen anger/rage

and am including the link to it below; 

it suggests that overwhelming anger /rage may be a disorder.

 http://unscenelyzettetomorrows.blogspot.com/2012/07/teen-rage-intermittent-explosive.html