The influence of media on teenagers

In a day only about 8% of the teens, do not report online according to a study done by Pew Research Centre. This large access to media has been facilitated by the readily available smartphones, which are at a disposal to almost ¾ of the teens. An age bracket of 13 to 17 forms almost half (56%) of teens going online daily according to the research done by Pew Research Centre. It is normal for parents to get worried about the influence media might have on their children and they should understand the influence media may have on their children can be deliberate or more indirect. For instance, adverts are often directed to children and teens meaning the children and teens are increasingly aware of new brands present in the market.

Despite Facebook policies being clear on what it does and does not tolerate, somehow there are always caveats. Facebook moderators usually remove content ‘upon report only’ meaning that graphic violence, animal abuse and even non-sexual child abuse could be seen by millions of teens before an alert is raised and the post flagged out (Nichols and Good 51). Such kind of contents however do not always show teens what befalls people if they behaved violently in the society. This means that teens are not aware of what happens when you are violent in real life and therefore they may act blindly not knowing what the consequences are. It is therefore clear that media has influence on risky teenage violent behavior in our society.

Some teenage boys now want muscle enhancers to improve their ‘body image’ and teenage girls greatly desire laser hair removal and breast implants which media portrays to be ‘fitness’. This behavior is risky among children and teens, that are why media literacy should be done in order to help teens and children make wise decisions on the media contents to absorb and ignore. Media influence and other unhealthy behavior including drinking alcohol, smoking, and indulgence in other drug abuse. Risking of adolescents is a viral behavior recognized recently by which teens show their independence from the constraints they were exposed to during their years of childhood. This is one way teens communicate to adults their independence. Social media especially Facebook meets the desires of teens as it helps create their own identity as well as playing a role in shaping the image that the teens project apart from the basic role of interacting with peers.

Teenagers can also learn some crucial health tips from the media such as messages aimed at discouraging suicide amongst youth, encouraging healthy living styles and those messages promoting positive relationships (Prabandari and Yuliati 39). Media celebrities especially those who are role models have powerful influence on teens who are majorly their target audience and the teens tend to go by what the celebrities have recommended in terms of a particular product, lifestyle or behaviour. It is even more inspirational to teens when the role model celebrities succeed. However, children and teenagers should be made aware that not everything that their favorite celebrities advertise is good and that some celebrities are paid to endorse a particular product in market. For instance, having family discussions about media influence and how the media works is helpful as a practice aiming media literacy.

Since the social media landscape is continuously evolving, a model that parents can use to promote healthy internet use is a three step model which comprises of: balance- which refers to the importance of having an equilibrium between young people’s online and offline worlds, communication- which refers to the importance of creating a free interactive environment between adults and the young to talk about how the youths use the internet and lastly boundaries- which refers to the importance of having guidelines on what is good and bad during online interaction. Work Cited Mangwere, A. , et al. "Influence of the Electronic Media on the Behavior of Children/Teenagers in Zimbabwe. Good. "America's Teenagers--Myths and Realities. ” Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008, vol.  1, 2004, pp. Prabandari, Kinanti, and Lilik N.