The Media as an Agent in Socialization
Essay Topic: Which of the four agents of socialization do you believe is most important in the development of the child? Explain you answer through examples from your experiences, your observation of others and /or your reading. The Media as an Agent in Socialization According to the reading, “Socialization and Culture” from the book “Interdisciplinary English” by Loretta F. Kasper, socialization is the process in which a child learns how to behave in life and participate in a group in society. Socialization has four basic agents: family, school, peers and the mass media. Each one of these agents plays a role in our lives. However, in my opinion, the most important agent of socialization for the development of the child is the mass media. The Mass Media are the different processes that facilitate communication between the sender of a message and the receiver of that message. It plays an important role in the
socialization of children. In fact, there are many types of media; these include newspapers, magazines, radio, films, CDs, Internet, and television. These kinds of media, especially television, affect children’s and adult’s behavior in different ways. According to the article, “Socialization: From Infancy to Old Age”, “The average family in the United States has at least one television turned on for at least seven hours a day.” Television is the biggest mass media in this country and has positive and negative aspects. There are some programs which are very helpful with lots of information for the children. For example; on channel ...
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socialization of children. In fact, there are many types of media; these include newspapers, magazines, radio, films, CDs, Internet, and television. These kinds of media, especially television, affect children’s and adult’s behavior in different ways. According to the article, “Socialization: From Infancy to Old Age”, “The average family in the United States has at least one television turned on for at least seven hours a day.” Television is the biggest mass media in this country and has positive and negative aspects. There are some programs which are very helpful with lots of information for the children. For example; on channel thirty-three, there is a good program called “Dora the explorer”. Children can learn to speak Spanish and also do things such as singing, standing up and pronouncing words in English. On the same channel, there is also a program called “Blue’s Clues”. In this program, children learn how to think, sing and discover clues. When children watch these programs, they are not the same people anymore because they can become more knowledgeable. These programs are very good because they change children’s minds and make the children different from what they were before. However, there are also television programs that affect children negatively. For instance; on channel eleven, there is a very bad program that is bad for the children; it is called “Jerry Springer”. This program should not be shown on TV because it has a lot of fights and vulgar language. “W.W.F” is another negative program, which has too much violence, and unfortunately children love it. Children should not see these kinds of programs because children tend to imitate the fighters. In addition, there are some movies that have a lot of violence and bad words and children love these kinds of movies. Children like and learn how to use knives, guns and explosives because they see it on TV. Sometimes children take the role of their superheroes in real life because they see their favorite actors using these weapons. For example; when children watch the actor stealing a car on TV, they learn from it and they also want to steal because they want to be like their superheroes. In my response, I would like to say that television has an enormous effect on children. However these effects can be bad or good. For example; I have two children who are eleven years old and they like to watch television a lot. Their favorite show is “W.W.F” but I forbid my children to watch it because it has too much violence. Sometimes, my children like to play the role of a wrestler, but I don’t allow them because I am afraid that they might be hurt. My children don’t like to watch educational programs such as “Barney”, “Blue’s Clues”, “Dora the explorer”, or “Bob, The Builder” because they say that these programs are for babies. They prefer action programs such as W.W.F, violent movies such as “Last Action Hero”, James Bond “007”, and “Kiss of the Dragon” and youth funny shows such as “Kenan & Kel”, “Amanda Show”, and “U-Pick Nick”. They also love to play Playstation 2 games, but they like violent games such as “Vice City”, “the Gateway”, and “Wrestling, Shut your mouth” a lot. My sons worry me very much because in the future I don’t want my sons becoming fighters or killers. But I am trying to prevent it by not allowing them to watch these unacceptable programs. I also constantly sit with my sons, and we talk about everything. We talk a little bit about girls, a little bit about drugs and smoking, a little bit about criminals and so on. As I mentioned before, television has positive and negative impacts on society. People get both because the television industry and the government don’t control negative programs very well. Sometimes television presents some good programs, but they also show garbage like “Jerry Springer” and “ W.W.F”. I hope in the future, the government and the TV industry abolish these kinds of programs.
