What role do the media and pop culture play in adolescents drug/alcohol use?
Many young people spend time watching television programs and movies. Pop music is popular among many adolescents and very influential. In many TV programs, the use of drugs displays associated with successful characters, independent young people, and high social-economic classes. During adolescence, young people become easily influenced to follow what they see on the media, assuming that copying the use of drugs will make them as successful as the characters they see on TV. The media also plays the role of creating awareness to adolescents about numerous drugs and alcohol brands (Gilbert et. 2010). The developmental theory of psychology outlines that during mental development, one can adopt to what they see and believe it is the best way (Kathrine, 2014). Acquiring positive information about drugs from the media makes many adolescents take use of drugs positively.
The media is often blamed for their role in this behavior; do you think this is a fair criticism?
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The media indeed fails to observe its influence on adolescents. Despite indicating that some programs require parental guidelines, they forget that the youths do not seek much assistance from their parents while watching media programs. Therefore, they should eliminate programs that portray the use of drugs as an indication of maturity or an association with high economic, social class. It is a fair criticism since it offers true information on how the media influences adolescents to adopt the use of drugs. Cognitive dissonance theory makes the behavior of many people be consistent with their self-concept (Neighbors et al. 2011). The pop culture and media programs create a concept to the adolescents that when one becomes successful in life, he uses drugs, live in a big house, and spend time at the beach and pubs. The concept makes young people start drugs at an early age to show independence and success.
References
Gilbert, Fuld, et al. 2010) Children, Adolescent, Substance Abuse and the Media Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/inside-the-teenage-brain/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-modern-teen/201011/jocks-brains-populars-crowds-effects-you
Kathrine Stassen, (2014) Invitation to Lifespan worth Publisher
Neighbors C., Atkins D. & Lewis M. (2011) Event-specific Drinking among College Students Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 25(4) 702-707
