Mass media has a very important role in modern democratic society, as it is one of the effective means of communication. Today’s modern culture relies more on media – whether it is news, brand promotion or celebrity gossips – everyone follows the media information in one way or the other. Popular culture on the other hand does not want to be effected by media, as it is least bothered about anything and does not want to think critically about the issues or the kind of products it promotes (P. 417)._x000D_
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The most vulnerable sections in the society however, are childrens and teens that always glue themselves to the television media. They are more easily caught up in dreams, as they are not mature and experienced enough to think analytically before taking any valid decision. In addition, peer pressure is again one of the main factors that influences children as well as parents to follow the media trends. It has been found that “fifty-eight percent of 9-14 year odds say that they feel pressure to buy stuff in order to fit in “(P. 423). One has to fit in the society and following the trends sometimes become a must no matter whether one is ready to accept it or not._x000D_
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Juliet Schor in an article, “Decommercialization if Children” has analyzed the impact of materialistic dreams on children (P. 417). She analyzed the growing materialism has direct impact on childrens and their parents. Consumerism in children is very much developed in today’s society – if they find some products to their interest on media advertisements, they encourage parents to buy them to fulfill their inner satisfaction. Most often, parents also do the same. Carlin Flora, an editor for Psychology today in an article, “Seeing by Straight” has examined the work of social scientists about the influence of media images of celebrities on common people. How new age people perceive themselves as models, and stars by watching films, and commercials and change their clothing and lifestyle after more media images. This trend is increasing every passing day and children and adolescents are become more susceptible to this trend. In other words, they are more influenced by the media oriented consumerism behavior._x000D_
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Impact of Mass Media on Violence in Youths and Solutions. One of the most crucial aspects in today’s democratic society is media violence. Can anyone predict as to what extent watching TV commercials, films and playing video games have a direct effect on young minds in their real life situation? Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr has presented the evidence that the sources such as chat groups on the Internet, virtual games where one can conceal his or her identity directly affect their sense of reality and the natural world (P. 418). They feel independent, more secured because their identities have been concealed. They play different kinds of games including violent games where the player kills the groups to win the game. They spend more hours in front of their computer and often cut themselves from the natural world, its beauty and the power._x000D_
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The new age video game, Nintendo has become more popular among children and youngsters. They spend more time in simulation than in the natural world. On the other hand, First person shooter video games teach players how to murder the opponents in the virtual world. According to lieutenant colonel David Grossman, a former professor of Psychology at West Point, “the first person shooter video games are murder simulators which over time teach a person how to look another person in the eye and snuff their life out. (P. 438)” Now the question arises here is that will these video games teach young minds behave and view the world in a different way? Well, the recent school violence is the United States forces everyone to take concrete steps to check the trends, which are making the society more vulnerable than ever before. The best solution would be to make children aware of the natural world, create more natural games so that they could divert their minds – media can definitely play a very important role in promoting such environment.