Susan M. of St. Louis, Missouri has a seventeen-year-old son and a fourteen-year-old daughter who spend their after-school hours listening to music, talking on the phone, and using Facebook … all at once. “The media alienates them from me and keeps them occupied 24/7 with their own agenda,” Susan sighs.
According to a 2005 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, young people spend just under six and a half hours a day “media multi-tasking.” That’s about forty-four-and-a-half hours a week, more time than they spend in school.
The media messages that occupy a teen’s attention increasingly feature sexuality, violence, and substance abuse, as well as manipulated “reality show” story lines and unrealistic fitness and beauty stereotypes. “The media tells them that drugs are cool, sex happens all the time and at an early age, and that violence is acceptable behavior,” said Susan. “Hopefully, our family’s open communication and our basic values will prevail in their real lives as opposed to the fantasy media life they experience.”
Susan’s concerns are clearly those of millions of parents, whose teens seem deluged with messages from the continual noise and pressure of media. How do you make sure you’re still being heard through the static? Breaking the electronic hold and reconnecting with your teen requires commitment and a new set of tools. Call it media literacy.
What is Media Literacy and How Do I Get Smart?
Help your teen objectify the lifestyles and values that are represented in the media, and identify how these messages are used to entertain, persuade, or sell a commercial product or an idea, from beer to ways that women are perceived. Once your teen begins to crack the code and question how the media works, he or she may be more empowered to make critical evaluations and independent choices.
First, you need to know what they’re watching. “It is important for parents to partake in the media that their kids partake in,” said Sherri Hope Culver, Director of the Media Education Lab at Temple University. “They need to educate themselves so they can make good, effective decisions.” Ask your teen what he’s seen or listened to lately so you can stay current. Watching popular YouTube videos, playing Halo 3 on Xbox or browsing the profiles on MySpace may open a window into your teen’s media experience and help you shape his or her response to it.
