“Books and periodicals, television, radio, film and recordings — lumping together all these diverse forms of communication [is] the media” (Bogart, 1995, p.15). We are surrounded and sometimes even bombarded by these forms of mass communication every day, often without us even knowing it.

Think about the number of times you have walked down the street on your way home only to find yourself coerced into the nearest Gap outlet to try on a new shirt. (I know I’m not the only one who does it!) Or how many billboards you pass in a given road trip to the supermarket? The media is everywhere! According to Bogart (1995), “By the time he enters kindergarten, the average American child has already been exposed to hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours of radio and television. He has attended dozens of movies and browsed through scores of children’s books. He has cut pictures out of magazines and scowled at the newspaper in unconscious imitation of his daddy. All these experiences have taught him something – something about literacy, perhaps, something about violence, something about America. He is in a real sense a child of the mass media” (p.6).

Clearly, the media plays a large role in our daily lives. This is especially true for teenagers, because they are the prime target for marketing and advertising companies. In general, the belief is that corporations want to entice children early, so that they may hook them as consumers.

So how much does all this advertising and media really affect us? And how much of the media is based on what teenagers are actually doing? Or is teenage behavior based on what they see in the media? Is it all just one big vicious cycle? You decide.

Criticism of the Media VS. The Media's Side

Conclusion (Question and Answers)

References

Contributed by: Erica Helland & Lauren Radano
Reviewed by: Dr. Belle Liang