FOCUS: MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON KIDS
Parents battle youth culture rife with violent and sexual images
Naked photos in Pioneer School District underline the dangers
By Stephen T. Watson NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 05/09/08 9:13 AM
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- Jonathan and Cynthia Winnie do homework with their daughters Julia, 13, and Crystal, 5. The Winnies say it is a struggle to keep tabs on their children's media intake.
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If parents are engaged in a battle for the hearts and minds of their kids, Miley Cyrus and “Grand Theft Auto IV” made it much harder to win the war.
The past 10 days brought the release of sexy photos of the 15-year-old “Hannah Montana” superstar, as well as the launch of the latest incarnation of the violent, popular video game.
The Cyrus photos and “GTA IV” are just the latest controversies involving sexualized images and violence in the media.
You need look no further than the Pioneer School District — where young girls sent naked photos of themselves to boys by cell phone — to understand the effect of oversexualization of young people, some experts say. And that behavior is by no means isolated to Pioneer.
“This is a battle for the hearts, minds, souls and innocence of our children,” said Jonathan Winnie, a claims adjuster for an insurance company who lives in Clarence and has three children. “As a parent, I view this as a battle I fight every day, sometimes hourly.”
It’s the newest front in the struggle between popular culture and parents, and many parents are feeling overwhelmed and on the defensive.
Kids and teens these days have a seemingly limitless number of outlets for entertainment.
Parents and some experts argue that this exposure to sexualized or violent images on television, movies, the Internet and video games can drive changes in kids’ attitudes and behavior.
“There’s no doubt that having the media portray sexual images of girls and women can lead to an unhealthy sexual self-image in teens and girls. It basically objectifies women,” said Timothy M. Osberg, a Niagara University psychology professor with a clinical practice.
Critics are looking to broadcasters, video-game makers and the government to take more responsibility for this content.
However, others say this concern is overblown and young people are media-savvy enough to see these images without letting it harm them.
Research gives ammunition to both sides, but it’s a debate heating up at home and online.
“I think it is harmful for them. I think it changes who they are. What they’re fed is what comes out,” said Karen Aiello of North Tonawanda, who has two grown children.
TV dominates our media intake, and parents and nonparents alike worry about the raunchiness and violence on TV, whether it’s a racy reality show or a sitcom such as “Two and a Half Men.”
Many parents and grandparents said it’s hard to find a show that they can safely watch with their children, even when they consult the TV ratings guides.
Parents don’t just have to worry about TV and movies, either.
The Internet provides access to millions of pictures, videos and audio clips of every possible variety. If kids missed something on TV, they can watch the video on YouTube or another site.
And video games offer hours of entertainment for kids and teens, with subjects ranging from sports to fantasy worlds to gangland America.
“Even the most diligent parent in today’s society cannot protect their children from harmful and offensive messages. It’s everywhere,” said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council.
Sometimes, the vast media marketplace brings parents and children more information than they really want to know about the stars of the teen and tween set.
Take Jamie Lynn Spears, previously known as the star of Nickelodeon’s family-friendly “Zoey 101” and as the Spears sister least likely to raise eyebrows with her off-camera behavior.
Last December, the news came that the 16-year-old Spears was pregnant.
Just a few months before that, naked photos of Vanessa Hudgens, a lead character on the popular Disney franchise “High School Musical,” bubbled up on the Internet.
And then came the suggestive Miley Cyrus photos, which are generating a lot of reaction in the blogosphere. Local residents have their own thoughts.
Elaine Driscoll works as director of religious education at a suburban Catholic parish.
Her own children are grown, but many of the parents at the school looked to “Hannah Montana” as a “quote-unquote ‘clean’ ” TV program, she said.
“I think those parents feel betrayed. I think they feel frustrated,” said the Depew resident.
As popular as “Hannah Montana” is with young girls, the “Grand Theft Auto” videogame franchise is just as popular with their older brothers.
The series is known for the detail of its graphics, the free rein it gives players within the game — and its vivid violence. The game is rated Mature, for players 17 and older.
Players can steal a car, shoot a cop and hire a prostitute and kill her after the encounter to get their money back.
The new game is getting raves from fans of the series.
Jed Tomczak, a 20-year-old Erie Community College student, bought it the first day it went on sale and thinks it’s one of the best video games he has played.
He appreciates the small touches in the game, like how your car reacts when you drive over a pothole in the game, but recognizes it can be violent.
“I can obviously play it and know I’m not supposed to do it [in the real world], but there is some crazy stuff,” he said.
With all of these images in the media, do they have an effect on children and teens?
Some parents and experts say children can pick up on sexual or aggressive themes in the media — particularly in advertising — and this can influence their attitudes and behaviors.
Girls who receive the message through the media that sex is a normal part of teen interaction will think it’s OK for them, too, said Elayne Rapping, a pop-culture expert at the University at Buffalo.
“These girls, and it’s a natural part of growing up, they look to celebrities — they don’t look to their parents — in terms of what’s appropriate,” Rapping said.
A Rand Corp. study of teens found that heavy viewers of sexual content were twice as likely to initiate sex over the next year as those who saw the least sexual content.
Jake Winnie, who is 16, plays video games, but not obsessively, and he isn’t a big fan of the “Grand Theft Auto” series.
He said he thinks “GTA” can be worse than other violent video games because the violence is set in a real city, as opposed to a fantasy world where players try to kill alien creatures.
“I have a couple friends who are weird about [Grand Theft Auto]. They get too into it, and that’s all they talk about,” said the Clarence High sophomore.
No research links videogame violence to real-life violence, said Cheryl K. Olson, codirector of the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“An otherwise good kid is not going to become a thug — they’re not going to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do — if they’re playing a violent video game for a moderate amount of time,” said Olson, also co-author of the book “Grand Theft Childhood.”
However, other experts said exposure to this violence over time can be desensitizing.
“I think fantasy and reality get blurred when they play these games over and over,” said Kenneth Condrell, a Williamsville child psychologist.
Critics of what’s offered in the media say broadcasters, retailers, video-game makers and even the government all have more of a role to play to limit kids’ exposure to bad content.
Assigning a greater role to the Federal Communications Commission in overseeing the content on broadcast television could lead to censorship, said Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, which was founded by three of the TV networks.
However, some advocacy groups say the FCC — which has jurisdiction over the broadcast networks — could do more to crack down on raunchiness and violence on the airwaves.
But in the end, advocates say, parents can’t rely on anyone else to completely protect their children from the most graphic violence and sexuality.
Cynthia and Jonathan Winnie recognize that they’re probably stricter with their three children — Jake, 16; Julia, 13; and Crystal, 5 — than a lot of other parents.
The Winnies have one TV that the kids can watch, in a central downstairs room, and if all three are there, they have to watch something that’s suitable for everyone.
They also only have one computer, and it’s also in a central location downstairs.
The Winnies say it’s important that they keep tabs on their kids’ media intake, but it is a struggle.
“I’ve got so many things to do on a daily basis, and now I’ve got to be a media policeman, too?” Jonathan Winnie said.
