(TV)Media Influence on Youth - Essay Example

B. Lower the self-esteem of preteens resulting to lowering self -confidence about their bodies. III. Watching many programs consumes much time for academic work and physical exercises A. Result to poor academic performance. B. Contribute to development of obesity and unhealthy weight gain due to lack of physical exercises. IV. We need to promote watching beneficial programs and encourage parental participation in children activities. A. Censored programs are important source of knowledge and entertainment for preteens. B. Parental involvement in child upbringing protects preteen from being negatively influenced by Television.

Media plays an important role by shaping our social, religious, economic and political aspects. In this era of rapid technological advancement, information is flowing at unprecedented rate and though there are many forms of accessing information, television remains one of the most common and influential to all people in the society. Young people especially preteens and adolescents form a major segment of TV audience and according to Comstock and Paik (1991, p51), television programs have major influence on their behaviors.

In United States, the public is concerned over the frequent depiction of violent and sexually explicit programs and the harm that the programs present to the youth. This development comes after many studies have established that such programs adversely affect children on short term and long-term basis (Anderson & Bushman, 2002, p234). This paper expounds on the negative influences of television on preteens and adolescents. According to Comstock and Paik (1991, p59), television programs with violent content enhance immediate and long-term development of aggression and violent behavior on preteens and young adults.

The intensity of these behaviors depend on the severity of the violent programs, with Rosenthal (1986, p 143) noting that preteens who watch extremely violent programs have higher likelihood of developing severe forms of aggression. Empirical studies have established that short-term exposure to violent programs increases the likelihood of preteens developing physical and verbal abuse behavior, aggressive emotions and violent thoughts. Many research studies attribute aggression by adults later in life to the effects of frequently exposing children to violent content in the television and other forms of electronic media.

These behaviors are manifested in the high prevalence of violent crimes such as aggravated assaults, homicide, physical assaults, domestic and spousal violence in addition to rape among others (Freedman, 2002, p37). Behavioral scientists have developed several theories to explain how exposure to violent or sexually explicit content affects the behavior of the viewer. According to Comstock and Paik (1991, p61), violent programs in the television initiates a short-term effect that increases the existing aggressive cognitions in children and young adults.

This results to an increase in psychological arousal that triggers an automatic reaction to emulate the observed behavior. Therefore, exposure to violent content produces long lasting effect on the young persons, through several learning processes that lead to acquisition of long-term aggressive behavior. The long-term behaviors include development of aggression supporting beliefs, abnormal response to violent behavior such as; tolerating violence, aggression in social