Introduction
Social character exhibited by society members is significantly influence by a number of dominating external elements which are found in that given society. These elements usually constitute the practiced religious beliefs, cultural background, media influence and political administration found in any given country. Media is one of the factors which is known to extensively influence the behavior and character which is held by society members. This is through vigorous campaigns and advertisements which are designed to lure in any accessible audience. Some aired movies have a rating system which stipulates clearly that the appropriate group to watch that movie is of which age. Nevertheless, these ratings have been neglected and assumed to be part of the movie with no decisive meanings. In most of the cases, parents have been blaming the media for airing movies and other materials which are not appropriate to the children. However, these parents do not consider the rating style which is usually broadcasted before a play of any given movie. This has led to a tag of war between parents and media groups. This paper analyses how these media contents have brought controversial and contentious issues to both parents and media groups in the modern society.
Movie rating issues
The main objective of for the existence of media groups is to keep the community entertained updated on either current or even historic events through delivery of timely information to the society members. Conversely, due to technological advancement and social revolutions, media has extensively diversified to venture into other sectors such as entertainment with a much emphasize on the movie industry. With such a venture in the entertainment industry, celebrities and supermodels have distinctively been developed in the social settings. For example, in the American society, TV celebrities and supermodels have been dominating the television channels. In addition, great musicians especially the hip hops and rock music singers have formed the teenager’s models for the last three decades. Formation of such clusters in the society has lured in the teenagers to engage in some considerable extreme activities levels (Sayre and Cynthia 54).
Conflicting issues have emerged between the parents and media groups on who is responsible for some extreme behaviors which are exhibited by the teenagers at this tender age. Basing on the research which was conducted in the American societies, parents have been constantly pointing a finger towards the media for antisocial behaviors manifested by teenagers. According these parents, the media create a negative influence through a virtual manipulation of the teenager’s psychology or mental capacity. The media has a role of distinctively and vividly selecting their target population before embarking in the advertisement of any product or service they offer. For example, glowing images of supermodels and their posh life conveyed by various television channels and print media are more likely to influence the character or behavior of any teenager. A teenager is more likely to adopt the characters such as walking style, dress code and any other habit linked to supermodel. For instance, majority of American teenagers who are fond of action and tense movies have found themselves as drug abusers as it is advocated by some reggae musicians. One of the abused substances which are linked to drug lord movies is the cocaine (Nabi and Oliver 59).
Other extreme behaviors which are significantly presumed to be contributed by the media contents include the dress codes. According to surveys which have been conducted in the US, many young individual would prefer to have a dress which conforms to the society models. The nature or the originality of the design had minimal contribution in the process of decision making concerning the dress code. As a consequence, scantly covering tight clothes have found themselves in family wardrobes. This has affected the moral and social ethics which initially dominated majority of societies. For example, some teenagers may dress like certain music celebrities as a mean of gaining popularity. Subsequently, media has played a greater role in the rise of social vices which are currently dominating the society. For example, sexual immoralities are on the rise due to nude pictures which are dominating media channels. Internet has played a greater role in the premature sex rates in the American societies. This is through an easy access of the available nude and pornographic pictures found in the Internet (Wingfield and Nesbitt-Larking 123).
Nevertheless, media has obtained a defensive stance on their influence on individual’s behavior. Though media has the responsibility of delivering information selectively to different age groups, it has no substantial control on who can access the availed content. For example, majority of the television programs have a rating based on years as a prior warning to the audience. Subsequently, the role of the medial seems to end at this point. According to media representatives, parents and society as a whole have a role to play in the selection of media audience (Preiss 45). For instance, parents should restrict their children from screened or presented media contents which might affect them psychologically capacity. Such contents may include violence scenes, sexual contents or abusive dialogues. In addition, parents have abandoned their parenting role as guides in the growth of their children. As a consequence, young people have turned to media to acquire extra information and guidance in their social life. According to surveys which were conducted in the United States of America, approximately forty percent of American teenagers have an easy access to media centers such as television channels and radio stations as compared to their parents. These teenagers frequently contact these media channels through telephones and mails through which they get their queries solved (Sayre and Cynthia 54).
Conclusion
Social behavior manifested by any group of individuals is greatly influenced by the accessible media channels. Media has formed a central area through which information is conveyed form different parties in the existing modern societies. Nevertheless, though media has a significance influence in social settings, every individual has a free will to adopt the appropriate desired way. Despite that media has been blamed for emergence of anti social behaviors, other factors such as poor parenting techniques and social settings equally contribute to these vices.
Works cited
Nabi, Robin L and Oliver, Mary B. The SAGE Handbook of Media Processes and Effects,
London, UK: SAGE Publisher, 2009. Print.
Sayre, Shay and Cynthia King. Entertainment and society: influences, impacts, and innovations,
New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Publisher, 2009. Print.
Preiss, Raymond W. Mass media effects research: advances through meta-analysis, London, UK:
Routledge Publishers, 2007. Print.
Wingfield, Paul and Nesbitt-Larking. Politics, society, and the media, Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 2007. Print.
