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  • Essay / The Effects of Media Exposure on Adolescence

    Adolescence is one of the most critical and vulnerable stages of human development. This is true for any boy or girl and, in fact, is the most susceptible to changes, largely affecting the psychological level of the human being (Craig & Baucum, 2001). In modern culture, the media (both audiovisual) exert a great influence on the adolescent mind. Video games alone were once essential and a potential threat to a teenager's rapidly changing mindset. However, media encompassing both print and television plays a very worrying role in the deterioration of the minds of adolescents. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Tailored Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original Essay Young, rapidly evolving, developing minds were once victims of violent games on their gadgets and this role is now shared by films , commercials and various television shows. programs showing extreme violence and dangerous life-threatening activities, action stunts of various types, exposure to the female body as a commodity, emphasis on sexual content. All of this and more is continually broadcast on billboards, television and radio, and heavily biases adolescent minds toward potentially disturbing realities. This is not proven by research, as the subject is under debate and the literature is therefore not a sufficient resource to establish a viable link between media and adolescent behavior. However, there is no denying the potentially negative impact all around us. We see our children imitating dangerous stunts and various adult behaviors that are televised daily. Unfortunately, these incidents and their deadly consequences are also reported by the media itself. Speaking of psychological development, we cannot ignore the contribution of Albert Bandura, a psychologist specializing in social learning studies. According to Bandura, the media will be considered the third viable source of influence on the minds of adolescents, after family and society (Huston and Wright, 1996). In fact, “the acquisition process can be greatly shortened by the provision of social models” (Bandura, 1963, p. 3) in relation to these observations instead of observing or learning a certain behavior. Related to Bandura's (1963) social learning theory, learning through observation or modeling provides us with sufficient evidence by listening and seeing other people around us. Our memories act as storage devices that capture the actions and ideas we observe daily. Role models predominate in all kinds of cultures and it is through these models that adults, adolescents and young people learn various patterns of behavior (Bandura, 1963). , p.47). In most cultures, most adult behavior is imitated and this has no clear and justifiable explanation. In Western cultures, parents are likely to provide their children with gender-specific toys that are miniatures of actual devices used by adults. They grow up with these toys and easily acquire adult behaviors (Bandura, 1963). The physical images shown on television, especially in advertisements, are just an exposure effect to rule over the adolescent's mind. The media constantly displays various idealistic images of a perfect body that place extreme pressure on adolescents' lives or expectations regarding different modes of.