YOUTH REPRESENTATION IN MEDIA 1

Youth Representation in Media

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Introduction

Mass media holds an important position in contemporary societies. Youth representation

in media, films, etc. is an important aspect of the current debate in society about the role of its

young people. However, in the later part of the 20th century, the mass-culture companies offered

young people a popular form of ersatz identification and practices (Dussel and Dahya, 2017). In

comparison, the absence of representation or youth misrepresentation in the mass media has had

a significant effect on young people's perception of themselves and in what ways they are

assessed by society. The following essay examines how youth representation within

the broadcasting is skewed by the "identity crisis" of youth and also their "lifestyle within

the digital era." While the media are seeking to shine a positive light on these minorities, there

seems to be a persistent metaphor for exploration, a feeling of alarm, distress, failure, and

isolation in the youth's spectacle. As a whole, by reviewing four chosen feature papers

throughout the press and examining theories related to critical sociology, this essay argues that

where "identity" and the lifestyle of "youth" in such a networked age are involved, young people

are envisaged and viewed as "others" undergoing both continuity and dispute.

This essay would discuss the various aspects wherein young individuals are depicted

throughout the media. It will reflect on how the concept of the innocence of childhood has also

been questioned by media, and more than small innocent children are often viewed as "little

devils" in the eye of the public.   Taking into account "The Bulger Case of 1993" taken from the

study of Smith (2017), it can be seen where the notion of "little devils" and children as dark

creatures started. It would investigate whether young individual's media reports concentrate far

more on negative factors including crime and It would investigate whether young
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individual's media reports concentrate far more on negative factors including crime and culture

of gang despite positive ones. 

' The essay would also discuss how media shows for instance "Teen Mom" and

"Skins" depict today's youth and whether such programmers appear as positive or negative

portrayals of children. The idea regarding "self-fulfilling prophecy" will also be discussed, and

whether the manner in which children are depicted in media may be counterproductive to the

development of their personalities and potentially contribute to alienation.

Media Attractions

As per the study of Boothroyd et al., (2019), both boys and girls are considered for the

advertising of visual media, the percentage of girls seen in this intent appears to be much higher

in comparison to boys. The body of the female is perceived to be among the most attractive

objects around the globe, and the female body exploitation forms for business is increasing with

each day. In several movies and TV shows, the plotline will be about teenagers. Both individuals

according to Valkenburg and Piotrowski (2017), regardless of the age difference or gender

disparity, are engaged in watching programming relating to the adolescent population. In reality,

teens are the golden age in a person's life, and thus the study of Condry (2017) demonstrates that

elderly folks watch TV shows and teenage-life movies to get through their good memories.

According to the study of Rutledge (2020), the people of the media industry understand this

psychology quite well and they also create films and TV shows that exaggerate millennial

lifestyles and their philosophy of life.

Therefore, across much of the visual media, the representation of teenagers or youth

appears to be far from the truth. This essay examines teenage representation in media particularly
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in the visual media, including television shows and movies. Youth representation in visual media

According to Jocson (2018), both television shows including movies being developed keeping

the patterns of contrasting consumption within the mind". It should be remembered that all TV

programs and movies are watched by individuals of all kinds. However, tv programs are often

watched by the family whilst also films are viewed separately in most instances. People like to

watch pornographic videos or movies secretly instead of openly, for example. On the contrary,

TV shows are also seen in groups.

Therefore, the producers of TV programs typically discourage the interference of sex

material as often as appropriate, while filmmakers may not agree with those unwritten

guidelines. In brief, television programs and movies are created in diverse contexts. "Saved by

Bell", for instance, is also a show on American television which was aired around 1989 and

1993. These television shows as per the study of Currin and Schroeder (2019), examined the

exploits of many students and their principal at Bayside High School. Every season of the show

effectively portrayed a high school year for students, including summer breaks, which

culminated during their graduation. The title of the sitcom seems to be the idiom to be spared, a

ringing of the school bell, even as the student is unable to respond to questions raised at the end

of the classroom time.

Choices of Emerging Adulthood’ And Youth’s

Since before the late nineteenth century, the newspapers have been the backbone of

society. It also has presented the nation with a number of conversations over a lengthy amount of

time. Throughout the social policy, the sum of media influence the citizens has always been at

the center of intellectual minds. As per the study of Boulianne and Theocharis (2020), young

people in their different ways have been one of the key groups that have drawn public coverage
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since the beginning of the 1950s. People see the portrayal of teens in the media. This will portray

teenagers in both positive and negative ways. Teenagers are used in books, ads, television, and

movies, and thus are aimed at magazines and newspapers, respectively.

The study of McGillivray et al., (2016), explains that adolescence seems to be a phase of

turbulence. The youth process ('emerging adulthood’) protraction featured by a sense of being

"in-between" and enhanced uncertainty has the implications of a moratorium (pause/youth

crisis). For example, at the time of the increasing adulthood era, the adolescent is free from

constraints that marked childhood but also burdened by adulthood (jobs, relationships etc.).

Goodyear et al., (2018) state that individuals seem to be in a constant effort to create

identification and also to build self-focus (ibid). While they keep hoping regarding the available

routes, they still experience a sense of instability throughout that process. As a result, they are

exposed to a moratorium, where they feel stuck without any sense of direction, puzzled by

alternatives open and susceptible to commercial exploitation (Ibid).

The moratorium is often viewed as per the study of Cuzzocrea and Cairns (2020), as an

experimentation process wherein young people encounter a range of lifestyles, attitudes, and

personalities before they discover a path to feel happy with them. Youth are still actively

controlling their identity in order to meet with societal norms and to experience a sense of

inclusion within the world of strangers throughout this process. Thus the era of moratorium stays

longer and young people find it impossible to find themselves in a globe of confusion. Not only

are these mechanisms essential to recognizing the development of young people and their

choices, but they also seek to recognize that young people encounter these "conflicts" throughout

the media.

Youth’s representation: Identity achievement vs role confusion

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According to Kitchens and Abell (2020), identity has been socially formed by association

and rooted in complex communities. Within youth sociology, identity is frequently classified and

related to the study of particular divisions including sexuality, class, etc. The identity of

adolescents throughout discovery, especially transgender or transformative communities, was

disproportionately portrayed in the media. In reality, the media also pointed to it as a socially

generated "epidemic" as well as a time of confrontation. The article "Your kid claims she's 13"

followed by a cover image of a young girl in warm colors elicits a deep sense of failure and

despair. Ragelienė (2016), tells the story of 13y/o Claire (pseudonym) who is in disagreement

with her given gender identity when she encounters "gender dysphoria."

She is also portrayed as a teenager coping with mental health problems (anxiety and

depression). Her struggle and her failure to establish a “coherent personality” is evident in her

sayings: "maybe I'm supposed to be a man," "I did not have any self-confidence at all," "I

thought there was something wrong with me." The conflict based on the identity- of Claire could

be explained via the eight-stage production of Erik Erikson, which marks "identity vs identity

confusion" as a key conflict over 12-18 years.

Youth, media and social disorder

Dredge and Schreurs (2020) states that digital media performs a major position in young

people's lives since they are seen as increasing throughout the world of Internet and digital

education from early in life. Furthermore, the social generation of young people has often been

defined as "digital natives" enclosed by a multitude of opportunities. Fortunately, the application

of technology among youth has drawn a great deal of criticism and bias mostly from information

media. Youth are constantly linked to older generations and are stereotypical regarding their

increasing social disconnections. Throughout the article by Holmes et al., (2020), young people
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are identified as "maximum social media users" and thus are "lower than in any other age

category." They contend that youth's history of loneliness, social depression, and anxiety"

derives from over-use of technology.

And claims that youth appears to communicate with others by digital technology rather

than the conventional face-to-face system. Hernandez (2019), claim there is a rise in offline

loneliness of young people in modern society. This should be grasped within the sense of

individualization of a society today. The emergence of technology and popular culture as per the

study of Scott, D.A., Valley, and Simecka (2017), has led to an individualistic world in which

conventional ways of life are closed, as is apparent in pre-industrialized communities. The

article's analysis of the use of the Internet by young people, its development of their social

environment, and its effect on the social and biological scale build on the common experience of

young people across their transition. More specifically, it shows how young adults are much

more vulnerable to social isolation relative to older people. While this specific representation

flows negative connotations within the youth, it often serves as a warning sign for several

youths.

Youth and Media Inequalities

In the article, Ahmed and Cho (2019) draw attention to the political complexities of

digital media as well as the possible emergence of youth inequality. In their study, the authors

also claim that in different respects, the fourth industrial revolution, a time of social and

economic change on a parallel with either the industrial revolution which explicitly contributed

to the digital economy as well as technology, severely impact inequalities. There is a developing

downside for low socio-economic communities and young people residing in rural/remote

locations, including certain aboriginal students in specific. The study focuses that so-called
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knowledge-based technological reform will intensify educational disparities and minimize the

importance of employees and occupations that neglect technological interdependence. This

specific representation describes how certain young people are restricted from becoming

participating representatives of the new participatory community due to inadequate accessibility.

Therefore, the ‘digital disparity’ or ‘involvement gap’ represents the under-representation of

youth in specifically the ‘participatory sphere’ of existing non-dominant cultures. This often ties

closely to the principle of cultural capital, which reflects on the ‘status-linked resource set’ as

well as its effect on the interactions between people in institutions. For example, young people

with lower incomes are marginalized by media accessibility and coverage, which causes a

feeling of inequality among young people and contributes to self-consciousness (Robards et al.,

2018).

For youth, the relationships layers of media inequality, as well as socio-cultural and

socio-economic inequalities, have also been extensively focused on. This is recently observed in

the study of Augsberger and colleagues (2018), though the governments have now become

involved and analysts have begun to consider how younger generations function. Any of this is

the residue of the digital resident’s now-discredited concept, a phrase invented and though

modified. This notion, and rather the manner it was presented, implied that youngsters had been

seen as being capable of utilizing media innately and seamlessly, merely because these

young individuals have grown up fascinated and surrounded by digital technology. Analysis has

proven that age does not somehow assess an individual’s level of ability and range of usage.

Instead, it is one’s personal socio-cultural and socio-economic environments and someone’s

familiarity with instead of access to technology that decides when someone is represented
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digitally. This implies that there is expected to have as much difference between young people

based on thorough inequalities of interaction with media as there is between elderly adults.

According to the study of Sorrentino (2018), young people look such as the aristocratic

“digital natives” mostly on the edge of media surfing. Young people are actively active in

entertainment and social media and always have their mobile phones to hands. The media and

social media consumers, though are a community characterized by the reduced and restricted

need for digital media as well as a lacking of data awareness. These young individuals are

expected to come from most of the country’s disadvantaged households. While age has also

played a significant role in several facets of digital exclusion until the present, this is by no way

the only one, and it is a distinguishing characteristic of restricted and non-internet use. Factors of

socio-economic disparity, along with literacy and social status, have quite an immense effect on

the way emerging innovations are experienced. The impact the strengths we learn and our

capacity to think objectively about the structures, networks, information, data, and content they

experience.

Conclusion

A poor reputation has often existed among youth, but people are getting even more

concerned about the society of youth lately. This is because the media representing young

people in a negative light, dramatizing issues of youth and not demonstrating that the

overwhelming majority of young people are quite well-disciplined, and adding to this would be

law-abiding. The public representation of teens plays a significant part in stereotyping

adolescents everywhere they go including what they choose to. If people observe youth, they are

wary of them because they believe young people are not good at all. As youth still believe that

people are observing them and suspicious of what they are doing, this has a negative effect on
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youth that they are being watched and as if they are doing something wrong. When the

millennial generation is pushed away from the conventional culture because people have read

and heard negative representations of youth in the media, this impacts young people as well as

the societies in which they exist in a meaningful way. An idea is the societal representation of

young people is identified by the mainstream portrayal of young people as hoodies or even

gangsters. Media is motivated to conclude that young people often representatives of the

community who are abusive, dangerous, arrogant, bad-mannered as well as typically lazy. This

drives young people away or may start to turn ambition into abusive behaviors in certain

situations. Teenagers deserve to be embraced and embraced into society as energetic young

people. Media judge their attitudes before they have even begun to discover what other young

individuals are looking for in adulthood, only due to the media information they receive.
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