Young People In Today's Society

Today’s society is much different than it was fifty, twenty, or even five years ago. Some of these differences have been for the betterment of our country and fellow countrymen, but most of the changes have had a negative effect on all of us. Most of these types of changes include video games, lack of censorship on television shows, and negative influences from celebrities. These changes have directly affected today’s youth—who hold the future of success for our country so therefore affects all of us—in a way that persuades them to be unproductive and behave in the wrong ways. For example a lack of censorship on television shows teaches young people to use offensive language, negative influences from celebrities may encourage teenagers to do drugs or alcohol, finally playing too many video games can cause a young person to because very lazy.
Some technological changes in America’s society today that a majority of young people have become addicted to are video games and watching television. Many members of today’s youth spend multiple hours a day playing on the Wii, PS2, or one of several other types of entertainment systems, while they could be doing something much more productive, such as reading a book, studying for school, or simply helping out around the household. I am not trying to say that everyone should never play video games, but it should definitely be kept down to a minimum and to where it does not affect any other priorities the young person may have. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the majority of young people today.
Before video games became popular, young people would go outside and play basketball or football. But now they stay inside and play Madden or NBA video games. This has the unfortunate result of our youth missing out on the proper exercise they need because they spend more time sitting in front of the T.V. instead of running around outside with their friends outside. This can lead to many problems such as obesity and laziness. We should encourage our youth to play sports, play outside with friends, and not spend so much time playing pointless video games that have no educational or physical benefits.
Televised broadcasts today are also having negative effects on our youth. There is not near as much censorship on television today as there was ten years ago. Now, people can say just about anything they want to, including “bitch”! This is a word I thought that would never be allowed to be said on television or on the radio. But now there are several inappropriate words like this one that are used frequently and casually on televised networks that young people listen to everyday.
Along with the excessive use of vulgar language on television, there is a lot of inappropriate sexual content as well. Television shows today will show people with the minimum or even no clothing on and some televise “love scenes” that could be considered to be nearly pornography. The lack of censorship on televisions and radios are not healthy for young people to be watching or hearing. It causes them to say or do inappropriate things without thinking they are doing anything wrong because they see it on a daily basis. Is this what we really want to be teaching our youth? Exposing our youth to this type of vulgar behavior only teaches them to act this way and it should be stopped. We should not be allowing this type of language and exposure to be broadcasted on shows that our youth can watch regularly because it sets them up to think and act in an unsuitable way.
Young people today also look up to various different professional athletes, celebrities and other people who they may see on television all the time. Some of these people—even while knowing that they are role models for today’s young people—set bad examples for teenagers to follow. Many celebrities today often go to clubs, party, drink, do drugs, or do many other negative activities that young people sit back and watch them do. After young people watch celebrities do these things, some of them may believe it is the “cool” thing to do that everyone else is doing. So they automatically assume these are the kind of things they have to do in order to fit in. Celebrities indirectly have an effect on young peoples’ lives and should think about the examples they set for them.
But then again they are some celebrities who encourage people not to do things like alcohol and drugs as well. This does help some with teaching our young people what the right thing to do is, but there is an overwhelming amount of celebrities who do not encourage them to do the right things by being poor role models. Celebrities should always deep in mind that they have a great influence on young people and should persuade them to be as successful as they are without doing all of the drugs and partying.
Although it would be nice if every celebrity encouraged young people to do good in school and not go out and party, if censorship could go back to the way it was by denying the use of vulgar language on television, and if kids would not watch so much television and play so many video games; but it is very unlikely that all of these things will happen. This is why it is left up to parents, guardians, other role models, and family members to encourage young people to do the right thing. It is very important for our youth to not be lazy, rude or have all the wrong morals and behaviors because they are the future of this county. If young people do not strive to be successful, then America as a whole is doomed for failure. We should persuade and push today’s youth to be healthy, successful, intelligent, and have a positive outlook on life. If we can all encourage our youth to do these things then the possibilities for the United States to become successful will be endless.