Television: A Distortion of Reality Television has become a false reality for millions of Americans and the majority of the global society. “The use of television to promote primarily materialistic values has become a severe, although largely unacknowledged, mental health and public health problem for the United States and the world” (Elgin 105). Duane Elgin speaks about the impact of television on the youth of our nation and how it is “being used to promote mindless consumerism around the planet” (Elgin 104). The negative effects of television are clear, and the reality is that this communication device is changing the important values of the global youth. The lucid shift in values has been from developing a meaningful philosophy in life to being well-off financially.
This is known as the deviancy amplification spiral, in which the media makes a relatively small problem much worse, thus presenting young people as a problem group. In Wayne et al. 's (2008) content analysis of 2130 news items across all television channels during 2006, he found that young people were mainly represented s being a violent threat to society. They also found that it was very rare for the media to feature the opinion or perspective of young people. The media often gives a very one dimensional picture of youth that encourages fear and condemnation.
The physical and mental effects on teenagers through technology are causing concerns for many parents and experts. According to Strasburger, Jordan, and Donnerstein, "parents and professionals are seeing an increase in aggressive behavior, sexual experimentation, weight gain and loss, and school academics” (Strasburger, Jordan, & Donnerstein, 2010). The average teenager will have viewed almost 200 000 violence acts on television. Interactive technology can foster antisocial beliefs and behavior in teens because of the violence in new technology, which can be found video games. An example is "In the aftermath of the West Paducah, KY School shooting, it was revealed, the shooter had never fired a real gun in his life, yet his marksmanship was both accurate and lethal” (Strasburger, Jordan, & Donnerstein, 2010).
Research Paper Word Count: 1274 How successful can a company become before it is an economic danger for our country? That is the question a lot of Americans have begun to ask about the massive super store Wal-Mart. In a struggling American economy Wal-Mart thrives while smaller companies struggle and some even go bankrupt. There is always going to be companies that make it while others don’t, but when do American citizens need to step in and draw the line when one mega company like Wal-Mart becomes too powerful? With Wal-Mart using materials from other countries while its growing and expanding everyday it knocks out smaller businesses everywhere, which in turn hurts the economy and is literally a growing Monopoly in America, which we cannot
These athletes are around 20 years old and are receiving millions of dollars all at once, which can be overwhelming and tempting to spend. They are left vulnerable to entrepreneurs looking for investors. They are tempted to invest in businesses that are almost guaranteed to fail. They are big name superstars and want a big name business behind them, such as night clubs, restaurants, or car washes. They are told that if they throw large chunks of money into these businesses they will double, triple, or even quadruple what they put into it.
The media had to go through $1.25 billion in damage and lost battle. In fact, the industry claims that 30-70% of the videos on YouTube are illegally downloaded. Since customers were now watching movies for free, this put a great impact on them. Sales of DVDs were declining while downloading and watching movies online were growing. So, to solve this problem, the movie and television studios decided to do something about this.
Statistics have shown that the violence among young people is increasing every year. Many people blame musicians and other types of artists who portray negative actions as something positive. Others might blame the parents for not watching over their children. But many people fall short to bring up technology as an issue. With the new DVD that shows sex and violence or computers that gives kids access to unauthorized sites, technology is something that many parents need to look out for.
Unfortunately, many of today’s television programs are violent. So does TV influence kids that violence, drugs, alcohol and sex are ok? How much violence, drug references, alcohol usage, and sex references does the average American child come across? How much of this do they take in? Hundreds of studies have found that children and teenagers that watch television may: • Become “immune” or numb to the horror of violence • Gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems • Imitate the violence they observe on television; and • Identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers Also, Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness.
VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA In recent years we have witnessed an alarming increase in the crime rate, especially among young people. We have been left shocked and at a loss to find explanations for why teenagers rob and blackmail, why young people commit physical violence, why children become murderers. Some people place the blame on the way violence is represented in the media and, as a consequence, demand that there should be stricter controls, or even censorship, put in place. However, this way of dealing with the problem is not undisputed. It is necessary to take a closer look at whether or not violence in the media really is responsible for this development and then to examine what censorship may entail before taking such a far-reaching decision.
Aside from the extreme amount of time wasted, video games teach players questionable life lessons. They have the power to mold children into violent criminals and thieves. They have been shown to cause a player’s physical and mental health to deteriorate. Underneath the pixilated fun that video games attempt to portray, is a great underlying malevolence that harms society. Video games have a strong addictive power.