82. Is “Wild” Media Detrimental To Teens?
It’s a conversation and argument as long as I can remember. When I was growing up, it was all about violent video games for young boys. Is the content that our kids and teens watch influencing them to do bad stuff? I can remember in my teenage hood, teen pregnancy movies and reality TV shows were also popular. I can viscerally remember my mother saying that they were “glorifying” pregnancy. But do these TV shows actually glorify anything?
While it brings these topics to the mainstream and puts it under the umbrella of a “cool” show, I can’t remember one time where an escalation of bad/dangerous habits or addictions led to a positive outcome for the character. So therefore, how could they be glorified?
I think that it’s everyone’s own perception value whether or not these TV shows are a “bad influence” on teens, but I want to talk about it from an energetic perspective.
There’s so much value in TV and movies. Why? Because we have the opportunity to live out someone else’s life. Now that may sound strange, but think about it. If you’re growing up in a small rural town, you quite frankly don’t know much of what goes on outside of your own zone. You may read about it in books, but consider the pervasiveness of entertainment and social media. You can allow yourself to experience anyone’s life (reasonably so) at the touch of your finger tips. These outlets allow us to gain quick information and knowledge and allow us to consider… what would a life be like elsewhere? And do I want that life? It’s a vessel for new options and opportunities. Although it’s only a “picture” versus an opportunity itself, it allows for us to live someone else’s life by proxy, as well as gain empathy, which is incredibly important.
But let’s dive into living someone else’s life by proxy. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Especially when the by proxy life can be seen as “negative”. This could really go one of two ways. Someone may watch this show and be satisfied with the entertainment. They acknowledge that this life isn’t for them, however they are entertained. As a result, they see the scope and the “story” being told by these negative behaviors. Therefore, they do not want to partake in them. On the other hand, they may see these behaviors as being admirable, acceptable, and something that they want to try.
The question is… if we see teenagers acting out bad behavior in movies, would that be encouragement, or a warning? Would it allow us to put our curiosity and mind at ease? I would reckon that it cancels itself out. If you have the feeling that these bad behaviors are acceptable, only seeing them on TV is going to explain this feeling further. It likely will not sway your perception value, as it’s only one example of entertainment. Our perception value is much more ingrained in us.
Then we have to ask the question… Do we engage in bad behaviors because we observe them? Or because something inside of us is driving us toward this behavior? Not an interest, but a yearning or a longing to “feel”? For example, we all know that doing drugs is dangerous, yet we do them anyway. Why? Is it because we see characters doing them on TV? Or do we feel that we will receive a euphoria from doing them, and we take that chance?
I find that when we have the world at our finger tips, and the entire collective to “share” their experiences, we satisfy our natural curiosities. I think this is often times why some teenagers end up going bonkers when they are given free rein. perhaps when they leave for college. They have starved their curiosities for so long, that they go into overdrive.
So is it particularly helpful to “starve” teenagers of experiences? In a future post I’ll go into the spiritual “ideal” for exposing teenagers to life options, opportunities and events.
As far as Euphoria or other forms similar in entertainment, I can only imagine that seeing these stories actually informs young people as to what can happen in certain situations, and what to do when presented with them. I don’t feel that it glorifies or encourages behavior. In fat, I often feel it does the opposite. But in terms of stress/anxiety and an adrenaline rush… well… that’s for sure true.
