Youth and Media

Plugging in:  Youth and Media

Sarah Hensley is the 4-H and Youth Development Coordinator for the Sumter County Extension Office.

Recently I took a group of Sumter County 4-H’ers to a leadership retreat.  While driving I realized that in the past transporting 4-H’ers was a great way to stay in the “know”.  I could catch up on the local gossip, understand the decisions they were facing, know who liked who…and the list goes on.  However, I am realizing how much I am missing these conversations and the opportunity to impart my wisdom because today’s kids are not talking.  Today almost 3 out of every 4 youth own a cell phone, and more than likely that fourth teen has access to a phone (Lenhart, 2009).  Since this study was in 2009, just imagine that number has already increased and if you child does not yet have a phone they soon will or they will purchase a pre-paid phone at WalMart.  Kids are inundated by Media in the forms of phones with internet access, facebook profiles, twitter accounts, and youtube; all of which can be accessed in a minute or less.  Now I must confess, I do own a blackberry, strictly for work is how I sold the idea to my husband.  On this same trip one of the young ladies asked if she could go on Facebook with my phone, she had traded with a friend for the weekend, and as the very cool adult that I am I said “sure you can!”   In doing this I realized everyone is texting their friends, posting on facebook, tweeting, but nobody is really talking anymore.

What does all this mean?  Is it so bad, you may be thinking my kids know how to be responsible, I want them to be liked, and they need to get in touch with me.  Researchers in the field of youth development are concerned that all of the media is creating a “digital divide.”  The correlations between media and violence, and alcohol and drug use have been noted.  Recently correlations have emerged between high levels of media usage and obesity, sexual activity, and other risky behaviors are coming to the forefront and presented in the field of youth development.    

Beyond the health aspects of too much media are the social dangers.  Subrahmanyam and Greenfield (2008) argue that, where relationships with others are concerned, adolescents use the Internet primarily to strengthen existing “offline” relationships with friends and romantic interests.  Furthermore, texting or messaging is the new way to initiate a relationship, or flirt.  Finally, sexting,  what is that?  “Sexting is the sending or receiving of sexually-explicit or sexually-suggestive images or video via a cell phone. (Hinduja, Pattchin, 2010).  According to recent research kids as young as age 11 are sending or receiving messages with sexual content.  Research from five varied sources between 2008 and 2010 shows that on an average at least 10% of teens ages 11-18 are sending “sext” messages and almost 20% of youth are receiving these messages.  The numbers do not show a significant difference between boys and girls who send, however, boys are more likely to receive images from girls who like them, which they then share with their friends.  To understand why this is so powerful you must realize that young people under the age of 24 do not have the emotional capacity to deal with the impact of sending these messages.  High profile cases show that youth are harming themselves and even committing suicide as a result of cyberbullying, and having their sext messages shared with others. 

So, even though your child may be responsible and is making good decisions remember the potential effects of media on youth.  What can you do?  Research from the Search Institute says that youth involved in out of school activities are less likely to participate in risky behaviors.  So get your kids involved in an organization that teaches skills for life and enable them to become a productive citizen of tomorrow’s society.   Sumter County Extension is a partnership between the University of Florida/ IFAS and Sumter County Board of County Commissioners and is an equal opportunity institution.  The 4-H Youth Development program provides educational programming to youth ages 5-18.  For more information contact Sarah Hensley, Extension Agent II at sarahzt@ufl.edu