Negative Effects of Mass Media on Teenagers - Research Paper Example

Reason of creating this distinct research preference can be traced in the timing of each media introduced to the masses for consumption. Television has been discussed as the most common media affecting society and teenagers in particular because it is widely available to all classes in a society (Richards 3). Richards has examined the data set of the nationally representative ELS: 2002 research (third wave completed in 2006) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to find the overall impact of mass media (32).

According to Richards, media has affected the altruistic pattern of volunteerism and regularity pattern of college attendance. It has been established on the basis of ELS: 2002 dataset that video games and television decreased the level of volunteerism but more frequent usage of internet has promoted the feeling of volunteerism among teenagers. As states Richarson: “…some of these coefficients and exponentiated odds may appear to be substantively small, but are statistically significant. This is driven in part by the immense size of the data set used in the analysis (ELS:2002)” (81).

Internet has caused some negative repercussions also on teenagers’ behavior pattern other than positive impacts. Negative effects of internet are related to “somewhat counterintuitive” as perceived from volunteerism’s perspective (Richards 82). . cted negatively on a teenager’s attendance in college, as hours in a week devoted to video reduced college attendance by 4.6 percent for each single hour increase in playing games through video but in the case of internet surfing, things did not create a negative impact.

As per data analysis, a teenager’s chances of attending classes increased with the relative frequency of internet surfing. The level of percentages in changed adolescent behavior when totaled creates a significant impression, particularly when we analyze the data on internet surfing by teenagers (Richards 82). One reason for the negative impact of television and video on teenagers’ behavior (Richards 82) could be that these means of mass communication are majorly used for entertainment purpose only, not for any educational pursuit.

Negative effects of internet are negligible because this medium of mass communication offers two-way transaction for various educational pursuits. On the other hand, television and video games serve the time passing purpose of teenagers only. It can be stated that in overall, television and video consumption in 2002 affected to a certain extent the altruism behavior of volunteerism in teenagers in 2006. Both mediums also affected the teenagers’ possibilities of going to college in 2006. However, it can not be derived from the analyses which medium impacted teenagers negatively and which medium of mass communication impacted them positively (Richards 82).

Richards (83) has analyzed this trend in teenagers from cultural perspective, as certain cultural norms related to excessive watching of television and playing of video games come in the way of selflessness. Remaining involved all the time in watching television or playing video games uninterruptedly becomes a block