Lily Clark

Media, Violence and Influence on Youth

Background Information• In the last thirty years, the media has been completely transformed.

• For example, it was only twenty five years ago that the World Wide Web was made. Now, in 2014 there are new websites being made everyday (there are over 555 million websites).

• There are so many ways that negative messages can be spread.

• For example, a social network is a goldmine for negative posts and they have completely blown up in the last decade; in 2011 a survey showed that 60% of all Canadians are online social networking which is 32% more than it had been in 2010.

What is the Issue?

• Today’s youth dedicate too much of their time to the media.

•The things that they are seeing, listening to, and reading about in the media are negatively influencing them. Examples of the different types of media:

- Social Networks (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr)- TV/ Movies (drinking, drugs)- Video Games (violence)- Magazines (celebrity gossip)

• The media can make a child do anything. Something as simple as pressuring a parent to buy the newest toy, or in more tragic situations:

• Girls will starve themselves in order to obtain the media’s unrealistic standard of beauty.

What Kind of an Impact Does the Media Have on Our Youth?

• It makes them self conscious about their bodies, this is especially the case for girls. They are constantly being berated by photo shopped images of beautiful, flawless, stick thin celebrities in magazines and on the internet.

• Men are usually portrayed as being “manly” and often when they feel emotional (ex. crying) they feel like they can’t express how they are feeling because they are male.

• In TV shows or movies it often shows the characters doing things that would be inappropriate for someone underage. When the media shows famous actors using drugs and alcohol and engaging in violent behaviours, it influences kids to follow in their footsteps.

In 2012, many arrests had been made across the country as a growing trend of young people had tried to copy “Project X”

• Teenagers are not obtaining the same social skills that the generation before them had. Often times they would rather talk behind a screen rather then talk with someone face to face.

How is it Affecting School?

• Teenagers are up all night on Facebook or are watching videos on Youtube so they wake up exhausted and not ready for school.

• It is so much easier now a days for students to get distracted from doing homework or studying.

Case Study• Two twelve year old girls from Wisconsin attempted to kill a friend of theirs.• Their reason is because they wanted “Slender Man” to take them to his home.• The girls became obsessed with the made up figure after watching videos and reading stories about him.• The issue with the media is that it is difficult to sort what is fantasy and what is real.• There have been reports that the two girls were mentally unstable, but it is what they read about in the media that influenced their violent behaviour and ultimately their motive to kill their friend.• Media is a big contribution to people becoming desensitized.

*A second “Slender Man” stabbing has occurred.

Next Steps…

• There need to be more guidelines with content in the media so that parents have a better control on what their children are looking at.

• Parents should be more educated on how youth are influenced.

• Also educating youth on what they need to be more critical on what they read and see in the media.

• The different mediums should be encouraged to represent all different types of people rather then to just sticking to one type; beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.

Discussion Questions:

• Do you think that it would be better for the well being of our youth to grow up in a society that was not influenced at all by media?

• What is it about violence in movies and video games that is appealing to so many youth?

• Should governments act to control the Internet or should it be uncensored?