Pressures on the Youth

During the time between childhood and maturity, children often pass through a time period of adolescence. The exact time period varies from individual to individual but is noted to occur during the junior years of school. In this time period, children experience three major changes. First is the physical development of organs caused by a development in hormones. Second is the mental development of the philosophy about their role as opposed to the opposite sex. For example, boys should become strong while girls should obtain an inferiority complex. Third is the psychological development of the desire to distance themselves from parents and other grown individuals, who are more experienced than their peers. [Pipher] These changes are inarguably caused by the extensive media influence on young children. However, media influence is not the only cause. Peer pressure, society’s expectations and parents also institute this extensive change.

Media pressure on young children can be seen just too easily. G. I. Joe figurines and movies like Spiderman have characters that are exceptionally bulky muscles. When young boys see these cartoon movies on television, they aspire to become like the heroes, who always manage to beat the “bad guys”, no matter what happens, due to of their muscular power. Furthermore, movies advertise the cigarette companies by showing almost every hero on television with a cigarette in his mouth. Some characters further invent tricks with cigarettes, like lighting them in various impressive ways or making a perfect round circle with the smoke. These catchy things, however stupid and extravagant, are thought of by young children as “cool”. Soon, some aspire to conduct those tricks on their own to impress girls, a group of individuals who have their own set of media values. Like boys have their Superman, girls have Barbie. This young teenage doll is known to have a waist as thin as a pencil along with high heels and 4 tons of makeup glued on her face. Although this might look as idiotic and fictional to adults, it is considered the quality of a role model in the fragmented world of little girls. As girls grow older, they retain a notion from their childhood causing them to become like Barbies. Soon, they realize that they cannot be like a Barbie and turn to cosmetics to “seem” like one. The use of cosmetic powder for attaining white skin like the Barbie’s suddenly turn into the use of lipstick, shampoo and high heels. Overall, the media is always trying to sell things, and moral value of their goods is not at all considered. In today’s world, there is absolutely no market for skinny G. I. Joes or fat, ugly Barbies. The result is devastating for individuals, who “die at the age of 15”.

Another form of pressure