Modern American Youth
By Ivan Cash - March, 2007
As a college student who deeply values examining, and learning more about life, I am disturbed by the large number of today’s suburbia dwelling American youth who, as I see it, are going through a crisis. Their lives lack substance, and consequently, they are deficient of an authentic identity. Whereas American youth growing up in past decades enjoyed innovative cultural phenomena such as jazz, rock-and-roll, and Warholism, today’s popular culture has been overfed, to the point of exhaustion, thanks to the world-leading American mass media and a surge in technological advances. Rather then attempting to examine and define their life, many of today’s youth rely on this monstrous media to give their existence meaning.
With the help of globalization, huge media conglomerates such as Clear Channel, Robert Murdoch’s News Corp, ViaCom, and AOL/Time Warner, virtually control what Americans are and aren’t exposed to, effectively monopolizing and homogenizing their received news and information. Now that there’s an increasing popularity and development in the cell phone, digital music player, and portable videogame system industries, to name a few, there are now more ways than ever before for these media multinationals to reach the public. With the average amount of time Americans spend using the media per day being about nine hours,*1 the quality of the media—be it high or low—has drastic consequences. Whether it is biased or unbiased, thought-provoking or bland, honest or deceptive, plays a tremendous role in its impact on the youth.
Clear Channel, which owns over 1,100 radio stations and is infamous for overplaying (and often only playing) hit songs,*2 is a prime example. Continually playing the same type of songs takes the individuality and diversity out of music, leaving youth who focus on mainstream media with no alternative. Regardless of the medium, sending the same, identical message to numerous recipients, forces many intrinsic constraints on the kind of messages and information that can be conveyed.*3 Additionally, because their revenue usually comes from advertising, these media giants such as The Walt Disney Company and Comcast, are put in a position where they need to satisfy the clients. This sometimes results in the censoring or promoting of certain aspects of the media they produce. At the very least, it is impossible for a media company to have an objective or non-biased view if they are simultaneously endorsing certain products or companies.
The copious amount of time American youth spend with the media, along with the rising homogenous nature of it, results in a lack of separate thinking. This, in addition to the ever-increasing number of media outlets, limits many of the youths’ abilities to form unique views or identities. One-sided thinking, which is inevitably the result of maximum exposure to the same kind of mass media, is poison to any natural system, as it leads to inefficiency and failure.*4 When everyone has the same mentality, innovations and new ideas come to a halt, effectively obstructing progress of any kind. Despite the prevalence of homogeneity, the desire to be genuine and productive is not lost—even if it is only present on a tacit level. Much of today’s youth culture is marked by a desperate effort to give the impression of authenticity.
The relatively recent trend of purchasing new clothing that has been intentionally ripped, torn, or frayed is exemplary. The obsession with appearing genuine, which is paradoxical in itself, has lead to an increase in this “vintage” look of modern fashion. From hundred dollar worn-out jeans covered with spilled paint, to shirts with uneven or grungy screen prints, the “look” of having actually accomplished or done something real, is “in.
What exactly makes this generation different from past American youths? In earlier decades, the media was relatively new, or at least, not nearly as established as it is today. While there were just 700 FM radio stations nationwide in 1960, there are more than 5500 FM stations today. This meant that the media had to work for the attention and appeal of the sought-after youth demographic. The companies that were best able to capture the essence of the youth culture gained popularity because they were providing people with what they desired. This pattern now seems to be changing however, as many modern youth simply adhere to the media’s influence with no critical judgment whatsoever. Rather than deciding what they prefer, as did their predecessors, they have become robotic in thinking, allowing the media to control their reality.
Their indifference is evident in the shallow, yet ever growingly popular, level of creativity in music, movies, and television shows. Past musicians insightfully depicted topics of substance, examining areas ranging from politics to human feelings and emotions. Joni Mitchell urged people to value their environment in Big Yellow Taxi, while John Lennon dreamed of a day when everyone lives life in peace, in Imagine. Many of the popular musicians for today’s youth produce songs that feature superficial subjects ranging from money, and weapons, to drugs, sex, and tasteless self-promotion. In Mims’ hit song, This is why I’m Hot, which ranked number one on virtually every U.S. Billboard chart this past year;*5 the rapper talks about how “big spinners,” “pimping,” and his “charm hanging from [his] neck” contribute to his self-proclaimed hotness. This encourages listeners to believe that external, meritless characteristics will make them more desirable rather than who they personally are.
While films used to be appreciated for their artistic value, the more popular movies for today’s youth are action films that include superfluous and unrealistic levels of sex and violence. While people have always been fascinated with sex and violence for centuries (think of ancient literature), never before have the topics been at such a numbingly high level of accessibility. Also, a disturbingly large number of modern popular TV shows, rather than being clever and/or informative, now focus on a twisted and superficial realism known as “Reality TV”. While there admittedly are a number of meaningful creative endeavors still being produced, the incredible prevalence of insubstantial work that is being released, more so than ever before, is frightening.
Perhaps the most troublesome component of this epidemic is the disturbingly high level of apathy and negligence, which plagues a high percentage of this new generation. Many of today’s youth seem simply not to care about any deeper meaning of existence, being more concerned with beating the level of a videogame, or rooting on an American Idol contestant, than on reflecting questions of life. Perhaps this is so disturbing because of its stark contrast to the past, when American youth were more concerned about life than at present. In response to a 1970 census that asked college freshman what their primary personal objective was, 79% answered that their goal was to develop a more meaningful philosophy of life. In 2005, in response to the same question, 75 percent of college freshman said their primary objective was to be financially very well off.*6
There unfortunately seems to be a substantial lack of deeper thought for this demographic. If today’s youth wants originality, many are more prone to buy it, packaged in a store, rather than creating or thinking something up on their own. Recent trends of buying “customized” items, such as cell phones, ring tones, shoes, and after-market car parts, are more popular than ever before. These capitalist-spawned products, however, are merely false illusions of originality meant to save people the extra time or brainpower of actually being creative. Such behavior is most certainly disturbing, but what can one do?
While media, if used constructively, can be an amazing resource and/or means of entertainment, if abused and overused, as it so often is; it can lead to a regression in one’s ability to form unique thoughts. There is by no means a clear-cut solution to this issue, but moderating ones exposure to the media—especially for children and youth—is certainly helpful. This enables them to become involved in other, more tangible and substantial activities. It is then these subsequent activities, more so than the media that will shape and define who they are as a person.
Actively seeking out and exposing oneself to alternative media is another very effective approach to curing the single-minded and uninspired mentality caused by overexposure to homogenous material. Receiving both mainstream and, more importantly: alternative media, provides an extensive and wide-ranged collection of information and views. Luckily, many new genres of media such as user-driven blogs, vlogs, and social content sites, are becoming evermore popular. Alternative rapper Talib Kweli’s free online release of the song, Niggas Lie A lot, which, is to the same beat as the aforementioned Mims’ song, is exemplary in portraying the value of the independent media. The song, which is posted on Digg, a social content site, and the popular video sharing website: Youtube, articulately addresses the lack of substance in modern popular rap music. These types of alternative media allow for more diverse and independent voices to compete for audiences, on a budget infinitely smaller than that of their rivals.
This allows one to acquire a broader and more knowledgeable outlook on life, while helping them to establish individual views as well. A view resulting from an examination within as oppose to the superficial, pre-packaged, and mass-marketed individually that is imposed from the outside. Maintaining an open mind and eliminating uneducated biases, regardless of the topic, sets the best environment for original thinking and most effectively encourages a unique perspective on life.
Sources
*1http://www.bsu.edu/news/article/0,1370,7273-850-36658,00.html
*2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Channel_Communications
*3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media
*4Design Anarchy- Kalle Lasn
*5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Why_I'm_Hot#Charts
*6 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/us/15census.html?ex=1323838800&en=0854d746f02031e3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss