The Effects of Media on Teenagers and Adults

We all know that we live in the technological age and that different people find various forms of media to be destructive of the minds of children and teenagers. I am here armed with the facts of highly specialized experts to crack some of these new world myths.

The average teenager in these days is a far cry from what most parents think of them. Most parents believe “oh if my child sees these violent images they will think that is ok”. The fact of the matter is that most of these games do not leave the slightest dent in the behavior of children. Kids know “ok this isn’t real and if this were to happen in real life this would be really bad”. Adults aren’t the only ones with common sense you know.

The “common sense” productions that can be seen on the free videos on demand channel of time warner cable seem to be the incarnation of the myth that most parents believe in. That myth is “I know everything and I have all the common sense so if I don’t be careful about what my kid sees he will become a serial killer or something.” Kids do have the ability to distinguish from real and fantasy even if most parents do not think so. Most of the parents are worried about their kids killing people in the games.

But honestly is that so bad. Would you rather let a kid pick up a fake gun and blow off steam on fake pictures or kill real people in rel life. I think kids like games with shooting because it puts them in control. It gives them the power to choose to shoot or not. I believe the fears of parents are self inflicted. When parents do not allow their kids to play video games at all the child believes he has no power. And come on, every body likes to think they are in control of something. So when you take away your child’s ability to do that it can turn them into a control freak in the future to make up for the fact that they did not get the chance to have control as a kid.

Parents views of the average kid are also shady at best. Some parents give their kids ten minutes of media exposure a day. That is any kind of media, TV, Video games, the Internet. Ten minutes isn’t even enough time to start up some game consoles and play one round. One round of any game in Halo 3 is at least fifteen minutes. The true average Kid gets probably three hours of media exposure a day in the school year and even more in the summer. To give you an idea about the extreme contrast between What parents think the norm is and what the truth really is.

According to the facts put together by the Common Sense productions I Should be a horribly disturbed boy because of the amount of cartoons I watch. As an adult I will be extremely moody and aggressive. Because I saw a scary movie I will be scared for the rest of my life. I am addicted to video games and because I have seen so many movies with alcohol in them I will probably have gotten drunk by the time I finish eighth grade. The truth? I am a normal thirteen year old boy who watches some TV and loves computer science. I like to spend time playing video games and I play about the average amount of time a day as all of my friends. I love to watch scary movies and can still sleep soundly at night after watching them. I think alcohol is disgusting and the smell of some booze makes me want to vomit. I want to grow up to be an engineer or a computer science technician. I like to play outside with my friends and have pretend wars.

I hope this essay has helped to clear up some of the myths surrounding media. And please if your son or daughter wants to become a geek, or media expert, Be supportive. Geeks will be the innovative thinkers of tomorrow and will be the best suited for the future. As people grip as hard as they can to the values of old they are just prolonging the advancement to a futuristic super society. So in a world on a crash course towards change and it is good to know that some people have braced for impact.