The Media Affect on teenagers

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Ahmed 1 Sami Ahmed Professor Grannis English 112 7 December 2008 The Medias Affect on Teenagers The rise of violence and sexual activity in teenagers has placed the entertainment industry under scrutiny. Parents blame the industry for exposing their children to inappropriate content at a tender age. The industry has argued that the rating system at place should give the parents control over the content viewed by their children. Now let us find out whether the content of the media has an affect on teenagers? Or if it is the parent’s responsibility to regulate what teens watch? And how about the rating system, Is it really effective? If limitations are imposed on this industry, would this violate their freedom of speech? When a teens watch a movie like Clock Orange or play a game like Grand Theft Auto does it affect their behavior or will they brush it off as a mere fantasy? Many people outside of the industry believe it affects teen’s sexual activities and violence tendencies. A recent study in the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested that the display of sex on television can contribute to preadolescent sex. Rebecca Collins et al Ahmed 2 argued in their article that sex in entertainment can lead to teens having sex. She argues that when teens start to become sexually curious, the programming on television showing sexual content influences their idea about sex, specifically in regard to gender stereotype. The amount of sexual content on television is huge. During the 2001-2002 season 64% of television programs had some form of sexual content, 61% of television talked about sex, and 14% displayed an act of sexual intercourse (Collins 3). Only 15% of shows during the 2001-2002 seasons displayed a depiction of safe sex (Collins 3). During high school 46% of students have sexual relationships that contribute to the high rate of teen
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