grandchildren. I work full time for a marketing organization here in Raleigh. I earned an associate degree over 10 years ago and am finally in the process of finishing my undergrad degree in the BLS program. I am really looking forward to this class and getting to know all of you.In our society, the media overwhelms everyone with images and trends. One concern regarding the current direction of popular culture is how it affects everyone. The media defines popular culture, what the trends are, what people should wear, what they should listen to, how they should act, and what they should look like. Pop culture defines what we should look like through movies, television, magazines and music. We all get sucked into the latest trends in one way or another. However, it seems to me that pre-teens and teens are the ones who are most vulnerable to popular culture. They want to dress and look like celebrities Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, among others. Not only do they dress and imitate the looks of these celebrities, pop culture also dictates what music they listen to, what books they read, what television shows and movies to watch. What concerns me is that these kids are so young and impressionable that they aren’t developing their own personalities because they are too busy trying to look and act like someone else.
Another concern is the violence we all see on the news, television or in a movie. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that if someone who watches a vioent movie or sees a violent incident played out on the news will turn around and commit that same violent act themselves. However, there are people out there with serious psychological problems that take it all in and do turn around and commit violent acts themselves. The Columbine tragedy is just one example where we saw other kids commit the same violence in their schools. My opinion is that media needs to stop using rampage shootings and school shootings in the same way it would use hurricanes and earthquakes to get people to watch their programs. I think that watching the behavior on the news does impact future behavior in some people.
