7 March 2013
The Remote Control
It has the power to control people’s lives without them even knowing it but the age group it controls the most is teens. It controls the minds of teenagers like a giant remote control (Manohar). Media is the means of communication that reaches or influences people widely. It influences the way teens think, how they act, and their perspective on the things around them. It shows teens what society considers “normal” and “not normal”; therefore, it influences their perspective of others and themselves. The influence is very heavy when it comes to music videos, video games, explicit movies, advertising, and television shows (Manohar). Most teens are being parented by television instead of their parents; which makes irresponsible and disrespectful actions look acceptable. Media presents a negative image in a positive way. Although it can have a positive influence on teens, unfortunately it has a higher negative influence because the most popular type of media is negative.
Video games are the most influential because they are much more realistic and hands on than music, music videos, television shows, etcetera. They influence the way teens act and how they think. It also cripples them academically (Manohar). Video games have the most violent influence overall. They are responsible for a 13% to 22% increase of violent behavior in teens according to a testimony given by Craig Anderson (director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University) (Clinton 130). The most popular and most distributed video games are violent and reward players who complete levels that involve violent acts. The number one most sold game of 2012 was Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Zacks). In the video game Black Ops II the player is required to kill a certain number of zombies or people in order to be rewarded, which influences teens that they will be rewarded in reality instead of punished.