Music's Influence

“Music is well-known to connect deeply with adolescents and to influence identity development, perhaps more than any other entertainment medium,” says Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times Health. According to Tara, nine out of ten teen adolescents have music players which play key factors of influence in violence and abuse. She also claims that one in three popular songs contain explicit material of sexual content and use of drugs and alcohol. Her research has shown that rap music is the leading genre containing 77 percent of such material. The average teen listens to 16 hours of music each week compared with an average 4 hours a week of television. In addition, teenagers are exposed more to what they hear on music players and radio than what they see on television.

I believe that Tara's statistics are correct and that music plays a key role in adolescent teens. As a teenager I find it very common for the explicit music that we listen to today to influence our actions in society. For instance, if a song's message is to kill then the song's listener's obtain a perception that they can kill as like the artist they are listening to.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/under-the-influence-ofmusic/

Children and the media

The world today is moving at a much faster pace than ever. The media industry is rapidly growing everyday and the more it grows the more conflict it spurs with its programs. Media violence associated with children is the most debated topic among media violence and still is. Research has shown that television isn't the only suspect of media violence. David Pogue of the New York Times Technology argues that the internet is potentially dangerous for children."Kids online experiment with different personas, and can be a lot nastier in the anonymous atmosphere of the Internet than they would ever be in person (just like grown-ups)," Pogue says. He adds, "And their mockery can be far more painful when it’s public, permanent and written than if they were just muttered in passing in the hallway." He concludes that the internet plays a huge part in child adolescence now.

I believe that the internet is a wonderful advencement in our time period and is harmless to those who uses it properly. Unlike television and radio, the internet can be controlled from what is displayed on your screen. In addition, the computer only does what you tell it to and if you search for violence and other offensive things on the web then that is what you will be exposed to.