Mass media contributes to many significant developments in modern society, resulting in great diversity compared to a time without such a large scale of media. This present-day communication that is broadcasted or published in a manner such as television, radio, and internet, has uniquely shaped adolescence in recent years. Adolescence now, in comparison to over forty years ago, has been directly influenced by this media inflation resulting in changes throughout relationships, sexuality, and education. Relationships are complicated. Whether it be a relationship between a parent and their child, a group of friends, or an intimate relationship, there will almost always be obstacles to work through. It is the climb of mass media that seems to both ease these problems, and manifest them. Communication between these relationship groups, and even complete strangers, has transformed since the introduction of mass media around 1960, but differs even more so now. There is a substantial decrease in the number of face to face interactions people have with one another, mostly due to the fact that reaching out in one of the many digital ways now available to us is much easier. For instance, A text from a cellphone or a private message over Facebook allows for communication without the need to be physically present. Before cell phones and computers, it was only feasible to pick up the landline if you had one, mail a letter, or show up at their doorstep. These modern technological advancements have resulted in many controversial developments. With access to the digital world, teenagers are now meeting friends or starting intimate relationships through media, before ever meeting in person. This can be positive, as it allows more opportunity to meet new and different people all over the world, however, it is not always safe. In the adolescent years, people may not be fully aware of the dangers around them. A lot of the time teenagers feel as though they can conquer the world and that there is good around every corner. This mindset combined with the increased availability and simplicity involved in connecting with strangers, can be life threatening. For instance, a child abductor can easily pose as a friendly face on social media, never having to fully reveal themselves, in an attempt to lure the victim in. This sheds a light on how mass media has altered relationships within an immediate family. Parents who once would worry about their child’s where about’s or when they were coming home can now efficiently contact them or use many of the apps available to search their current location. However, this lack of privacy causes tension between a lot of adolescents and their parents. There is now confusion between safety and trust. On the other hand, this concern of safety was no where near perfect when lacking media, either. Back in the early 1900’s, there was no way to contact someone who wasn’t at home. If a child was in danger, it would be a lot more difficult for them to reach out for help, or for the parent to keep track of them. Neither situation is great, however, the media seems to be make it more likely to be put in the situation itself. Tension between parents and their children in their adolescent years always seemed to be a problem. Secondary socialization took the lime light of a teenager’s focus, and relationships between friends would become stronger. This pull away from parents sometimes resulted in rebellion and arguments based on differences of opinion. The relationship connection between friends seems to be a lot stronger with social media. Teenagers form digital societies which allows them to keep in touch as often as they want throughout the day, even while at home at the dinner table. In my opinion, there is no real break of attention from their friends. These online societies once again bring rise to a major issue. Cyberbullying has unfortunately developed along side technology – social media in particular. I believe that many adolescent children participating in the digital world have either been a victim of cyberbullying or have been the bully themselves. Bullying has absolutely been an issue since before mass media, yet cyberbullying seems to allow no escape for the victims. Before mass media, if a child was being bullied at school, once they were home they were pretty well deemed safe from their bullies. Presently, technology follows us everywhere we go. Unfortunately stated by Beran et al. “It is expected that, consistent with previous research regarding offline bullying, children who are cyberbullied will experience elevated levels of difficulties in many or all of these areas.” (P.208). The areas of difficulty that Began et al. is referring to are depression, anxiety, self harm, and more. Clearly then, nothing gets easier for adolescents in regards to bullying in the digital era. When now looking through all of the relationships adolescents create in their young years, they certainly seem to be made even more difficult to manage with the wonderful presence of mass media. From many of the intimate relationships teenagers form, the pressure to conform to sex at that age is very strong. Many sexual developments and hormonal changes occur at puberty and throughout the adolescent years. While sexual interests are heightened, children are looking for something to help them understand the changes they are going through, while grasping a sense for what the social norms are in regards to sexuality. This major transition creates vulnerability in teenagers to the society surrounding them. According to Connoly et al. (2010) “Adolescents are among the most avid consumers of the popular media.” (P. 472). Therefore, since media is currently a huge part of the modern society they live in, it is understandable that this would be vastly influential on sexual behaviour. When we simply look at the number of televisions and computers available to the adolescent age, as well as how much time they spend on these devices, we can understand the impact of this influence even further. For instance, almost every television show or film that has a female lead character, the underlying focus is on her body and the value that comes with it. One new tv series, “Insatiable”, was available for all Canadian viewers to watch on Netflix, and its plot sparked some major controversy. Parents were concerned that the message delivered in the show was very negative, and expressed to their teenagers that in order to get power and accomplish anything of value in your life, you must be “beautiful”. Beauty for women in the media has been defined as slim with just the right amount of curves, large breasts, and a round bottom. All of which must be perfectly displayed in a seductive manner. “Insatiable” was just the cherry on top of everything else in the media showing girls that their worth is dependent on their looks and sexuality. People naturally want to give off a good impression to others, as suggested by dramaturgical analysis. Therefore, if adolescents believe that showing off their beauty through promiscuity is a social norm and expected of them, they will tend to follow so that they are regarded well within the peers of their society. This all accumulates to a higher social status. For men, it is very similar. The media influences them during the same vulnerable stages of their life, creating the stigma that men must be brave, strong, muscular, and “get all the hot woman” to have a high social status. According to Berry, Spurr, and Walker, “There is a growing body of empirical evidence to suggest that there are multiple negative effects that various media have on adolescents’ identity and body image. (2013:19). Nonetheless, even when media was not such a big part of society, sexual interest was still under influence. Cultural norms and values, the sexual behaviours seen in relationships within one's social circle, and the education given was the majority of what shaped adolescent sexuality without mass media. There was not much of an outside source of influence. This did however result in a time when young men and woman were more modest in regards to their sexuality as the majority of the people in their primary and secondary social groups had been behaving in a similar nature. It was also ideal to remain celibate until marriage due to the fact that religion was more prominent. This is in stark contrast to the mass media era where there appears to be immense pressure to have sex at a younger age. This shift to a modern, digital world, seems to be one of the reasons girls and boys are hitting puberty sooner.
The search for a sense of self continues throughout adolescence, and simultaneously secondary socialization is occurring more dominantly. Children are spending less time around their families, and more with their peers at school. This was the same before mass media existed, although the education given and the way students are working with their peers and teachers is now much different. Specifically, the quality of information has drastically increased. Students can now find almost anything they desire, online. For instance, when completing a school assignment before the introduction of mass media, you had to either rely on those around you, search through libraries, or reach out to an expert. Adolescents can now accomplish all of that and more. With Google, Cliff Notes, and Youtube as just a few examples, allows students accessibility to instant information. For example, If the assignment was given in the early 1900’s to report on what a day in the life of a surgeon was like, it would require connections to a surgeon in the family, spending time researching through books, or shadowing the profession in real life. Since information is so accessible now through social media in particular, someone could easily look up a video on the subject and acquire the majority of information in a quick ten minutes. As a result, Students do not have to work nearly as hard as their peers in the pre-mass media age. Currently, a lot of classes are being offered online. This connection to a classroom can be wonderful for someone who may not be able to participate otherwise. When a class is missed, there are also many online applications available to parents and students in order to catch up. This is great as it acts as an aid in preventing some students from falling too far behind. If these methods were excluded, students would have find a way on their own to figure out what they missed, and possibly fall too far behind to catch up. Presently, in the majority of classrooms, teenagers may use tablets or laptops to take notes or complete work in class. This can certainly be useful to the education system, yet only when utilized correctly. When used uncorrectly, children are able to easily disguise their social media interactions on the laptop by pretending to do class work. This wouldn’t have been nearly as possible without the introduction of computers in education systems. Cellphones are also something almost every teenager owns and connects with throughout their school day. In the classrooms, students without technology did not have the means to become so easily distracted. If they were distracted, it was usually not executed as discreetly. Teenagers could try to pass notes when the teacher wasn’t looking, or stare out the window, but you almost always got called out on it. Adolescents may have the advantage in learning with technology, however, these devices may ultimately derail a student’s success.