TOOLS FOR PARENTING TEENS
In this excerpt from "Youth Culture 101," you'll learn more about the changing world of media that your teen lives in, and how you can understand and keep up with it better.
MEDIA: THE NEW FACE OF NURTURE
Take a look around. It's everywhere. It fills their eyes and ears through screens, speakers, headphones, and more. It's media, the means or instrumentality for storing, communicating, and widely disseminating information to the public--including teenagers.
And as quickly as media's ever-expanding technologies, outlets, and content continue to grow, our kids gobble it up with a passion. Do teenagers love their media? You'd better believe it! Just try taking it away from them sometime. You're bound to have a fight on your hands.
The rapid rise in new communication and media technologies is changing the face of adolescence and childhood in ways yet to be realized and understood. A growing array of options and outlets keeps teenagers in touch with media and media in touch with them 24/7, no matter where they are or what they're doing. It bombards their senses at home, school, work, sporting events, malls, and in the car. Most carry portable media devices with them wherever they go. Everything is not only changing, but the pace of change is accelerating on a daily basis.
Sure, teenagers are still using the traditional "old" media forms of television, radio, movies, and magazines, but they're using them in new ways. Radio can still be heard on the AM and FM dials, but more young people are accessing the medium through satellite and Internet hookups. Movies can be viewed anywhere and anytime through computers, iPods, and even cell phones. What used to be an entire record collection (which I still have, by the way) can be digitally downloaded into a portable listening device the size of a credit card, lipstick, or pen. And although magazines are still printed on paper and show up in the mailbox, most can also be accessed on the Internet, where visitors are able to interact with even more content that can be read, heard, and watched.
New media technologies have changed where and how kids are listening and watching. Family room floor plans are designed around elaborate media centers and state-of-the-art televisions costing thousands of dollars. But even the shared family room media experience is going the way of the dinosaur, as kids are piling up more media outlets in their bedrooms.
All of this old and new media technology has changed the face of the world and how teenagers live in it. They're now able to interact globally in real time, thanks to instant messaging, cell phones, and other new technologies. They use media to shop, communicate, be entertained, and learn. Media is not only at their fingertips; it's woven in and through the fabric of who they are.
The most recent research conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation has resulted in a new label--"Generation M" (for "media")--for eight- to 18-year-old kids. The study found that "young people today live media-saturated lives, spending an average of nearly six and one-half hours a day (6:21) with media." During that period of 44 1⁄2 hours each week, young people are spending 26 percent of the time using more than one medium. In other words, they might be listening to music, instant-messaging friends, and reading a book for school simultaneously. Almost one-third of young people (30 percent) say they either talk on the phone, instant message, watch TV, listen to music, or surf the Web "most of the time" while they're doing homework. Another third (31 percent) say they do so "some" of the time. Teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 multitask more than any other age group, with teenage girls multitasking more often than teenage boys. As new media forms and outlets develop, it's reasonable to assume that this tendency to multitask will continue to rise. All in all, average children are actually exposed to eight hours and 33 minutes of media content per day, and they're packing that into less than six and one-half hours of time. These numbers are staggering when you consider the same study found they only spend two hours and 17 minutes "hanging out with parents," one hour and 25 minutes in physical activity, and one hour pursuing hobbies or other activities.
Any serious attempt to understand our teenagers requires an ongoing effort to comprehend media and the role it plays in their lives. It's no easy task. Take music, for example. A quick trip to the local record store can be overwhelming. Racks of CDs are loaded with thousands of different albums featuring as many singers and groups. Genres vary from pop to rock to R&B to country to rap--all appealing to the varying tastes and preferences of teenagers. And the growing prevalence of online music options makes it even more complex.
To make matters worse, the definition of what's hot and what's not changes every week. An artist at the top of the charts today might struggle for an audience in just a matter of months. Just the mention of the name can bring groans of disapproval from kids who may have been the artist's greatest fans at the height of his popularity. More and more, the fast-changing face of popular music makes "X is so yesterday" an accurate description of music's growing list of has-beens.
While groups and performers come and go and while kids' tastes change rapidly, certain aspects of the relationship between kids and media remain static. In this chapter, I'll attempt to begin to navigate the confusing labyrinth of media. We'll examine the major media outlets and some of the unique features of each. We'll look at several aspects of the relationship between kids and media, along with some general facts about the different media they use.
Keep in mind that my focus will lean heavily toward the world of popular music. The reason? Popular music has been a primary ingredient of youth culture for a long time. It's also woven in and through all the other media outlets in a variety of ways, shapes, and forms.
(Because the world of popular music and media is changing at breakneck speed, I keep references to specific musicians, shows, films, and so on at a minimum because they can become dated rather quickly. Instead, the focus is on enduring trends and aspects of music and media. For that reason, I encourage you to discover the specific music and media interests of the kids you know and love, and then take steps to gather information that will help you understand their particular music and media so you can help them make wise and godly music and media choices. For a list of these resources, consult the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding's Web site [http://www.cpyu.org/Default.aspx] to find updated lists of popular artists, films, shows, and so on, along with helpful links and other resources you can use to quickly gain awareness.)
**
Walt Mueller is the founder and president of the Center for Parent Youth Understanding, which serves churches, schools, and community organizations around the world by providing information and analysis on contemporary youth culture. He's a 30-year youth ministry veteran that lives with his wife in Pennsylvania.
