Entertainment plays a highly important role in today’s world, as it is intertwined with various aspects of modern live, such as work, education, and upbringing. It can also be argued that younger generations are particularly influenced by the entertainment industry, since they use various media sources more often and are more susceptible to the information they receive from them (Orben, 2020). Teenage pregnancy is currently one of the social and health issues often reflected in entertainment media, and this essay will discuss how entertainment impacts teenagers in relation.
First, it should be stated that the impact of entertainment on teenagers depends on the type of entertainment media as well as teenagers’ mental, cognitive, and behavioral state. Overall, however, the majority of them are easily influenced by it, since this is the age when they are searching for the examples to follow (Moyer-Gusé et al., 2019). Celebrities, singers, actors and actresses can act as role models, since many teenagers are struggling with self-identification. This search, openness, and curiosity can make them indiscriminate when they choose the behaviors and trends to follow, which can lead to serious mistakes. For example, if they see a character on the screen lead an unhealthy and improper lifestyle and if this character’s plot line does not involve any negative consequences, they may start doing the same. Similarly, if they see positive scenarios glorifying early pregnancy, they may think that there are no damaging outcomes to it.
It can be concluded that entertainment does have a strong impact on teenagers, as their cognitive development is still in progress, and they are easily susceptible to the information they receive from the media. Since it is impossible to shield children and teenagers from all potential threats, media creators can be recommended to pay close attention to the content they produce. The impact this content may have on teenagers needs to be taken into account.
References
Moyer-Gusé, E., Woods, K., Rader, K., & Luong, K. T. (2019). Talking about TV: Mother-daughter viewing and discussion of an entertainment narrative about teen pregnancy. Health Communication, 35(10), 1200-1209.
Orben, A. (2020). Teenagers, screens and social media: A narrative review of reviews and key studies.Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(4), 407-414.