“Media and pop culture, in general, should play a positive role in shaping the society” (Hilliard, 2019). This can be done by encouraging adolescents to stick to the values of the society that are likely to impact their lives positively other than using drugs and drinking alcohol. However, it is astonishing how the media has influenced the lives of most adolescents by making them become victims of drinking alcohol and using drugs. Media should be blamed on their role in encouraging drug use and alcohol consumption among adolescents because it plays a negative role instead of a positive one. Just like the media, drugs in pop culture have a great impact on adolescent’s perception of drugs. As always the norm, drugs, alcohol references, and outright usage happen in movies, popular music, and even in the mainstream media. Media advertisements and drugs in pop culture have a profound influence on youth’s behavior that people would want to admit.
Adolescents are always depressed by their social and school lives. When they are introduced to alcohol and drugs through what they either watch or read online, it opens the doorway for such teenagers to try alleviating stress through unhealthy ways. Adolescents cite stress, peer pressure and exposure to media advertisements on alcohol and drug use in movies as the source of their drug use and alcohol consumption (Prinstein, 2010). All these behavioral changes are based on the famous health behavioral theories such as the Media Practice Model, Social Learning Theory, and the recent one, Facebook Influence Model. All these theories help identify high-risk drinkers through online display patterns.
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The theories affirm that alcohol content on social media acts as a source of exposure to alcohol ads. These ads are likely to make adolescents engage in such behaviors of drug use and alcohol consumption. For instance, adolescents who show a single health-risk behavior on social media is likely to display other behaviors such as alcohol or drug use. The unregulated marketing on social and mainstream media that portray user-generated alcohol-related content remains a growing concern to the growth of adolescent’s exposure to alcohol and drug use (Berger, 2016).. A study from the United States and the United Kingdom show that most alcohol brands do their marketing on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube ( Ali & Dwyer, 2010) . In most cases, alcohol firms always ask users to like their brands, and such exposure makes youths engage in such unhealthy behaviors. In most ads, tobacco, binge, and electronic cigarettes are always fully accessible to teenagers, which should not be the case.
From a different perspective, drugs in pop culture are shown through various avenues such as sports, films, and television shows such as “Gossip Girl,” “Weed,” and “Breaking Bad.” All these shows depict their characters as young adults either drinking or getting into trouble for drug possession (Valkenburg & Piotrowski, 2017). In most instances, such characters get away with their actions and this construes the message that the youths can as well get away with their ill behaviors. As supported by psychological science, viewing films that depict cigarette smoking augments the likelihood of youths smoking. Just like films, advertisements and entertainment media messages also increase the likelihood of adolescents to imitate behaviors of drinking.
Based on the deliberations, it is clear that the criticism of the media and pop culture is justified. Media remains a unique platform that can employ unique ways to support anti-drug abuse ideals through health education messages into their entertainment content. This will go a long way in informing adolescents on the risks of using drugs and consuming alcohol instead of negatively informing the youths. The media is to blame because they are the catalysts through advertisements, which leads to numerous mental problems that eventually contribute to drug or substance abuse.
References
Ali, M.M., & Dwyer, D.S. (2010). “Social network effects on alcohol consumption among adolescents.” Addictive Behaviors. 2010; 35 (4) :337–342.
Berger, K.S. (2016). Invitation to the Life Span . New York: Worth Publishers.
Hilliard, J. (2019). “ The Influence of Social Media on Teen and Drug Us e.” Addiction Center. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.addictioncenter.com/community/social-media-teen-drug-use/
Prinstein, M. (2010). Jocks, Brains, Populars: Crowds’ Effects on You . Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-modern-teen/201011/jocks-brains-populars-crowds-effects-you
Valkenburg, P., & Piotrowski, J. T. (2017). Plugged in: How media attract and affect youth . New Haven; London: Yale University Press.
