Cory Moy JOT Essay

A Teenage Nightmare
All my life Ive been good, but now Im thinking What the Hell. All I want is to mess around. Let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight dreams be your Teenage Dream tonight. Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry, both aspiring recording artists with a love for music. Their new hit singles What the Hell by Avirl Lavigne and Teenage Dream by Katy Perry have become the center of female pop music; each hitting the Top 10 on the iTunes chart and landing a spot on every single pop radio channel; to name a few, Kiss FM 103.5 and B96 96.3. Both the songs lyrics talk about the artists doing

their thing, having the time of their life; having sex, going to clubs, being reckless. Where Britney and Christina displayed over-the-top sexuality toward American teens and tweens, Katy and Avril are there to raise the bar. Not only do these catchy tunes and addictive lyrics reach teens through the radio, but through popular television music channels such as MTV, who have been under heavy fire by the PTC(The Parents Television Council) for releasing a new study, MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs and Alcohol, which found that MTV programming contains staggering levels of sex and foul language far higher than anything found on adult-targeting television (Lifesitenews, 2005). So, whats the problem? Maybe the real issue at hand that we should be asking ourselves is what is currently happening to the younger generation, a generation that is greatly exposed to adult material where drugs, sex, and alcohol is slowly becoming the norm. Is that so called, Teenage Dream soon becoming a reality? Its not so much the fact that kids watch an excessive amount of TV, but WHAT

they are watching. Tweens get older and start to feel the pressure of fitting in and quickly absorb the ideals of pop culture; what new FPS video games are out, new trends in clothing, etc. MTV is just one example of the way kids keep up with the rushing content pop culture has to offer. And thats the problem, the content MTV has to offer to tweens, whose minds are in the hugest phase of developing, is too immoral, impure, and inappropriate for them to watch. So, how bad does it get? Lets find out. MTV is watched by 73% of boys and 78% of girls ages 12 to 19, and it is profoundly influential in the lives of its young fans by glamorizing drug and alcohol use, sexual promiscuity and violent behavior (Lifesitenews, 2005). 73% of boys and 78% of girls, thats roughly of every child ages 12-19. To put that in perspective, thats twenty three kids in an average thirty student classroom. Now, if youre a teen who just happens to be reading this, you might not care that much about the severity of this issue; but lets look at this from a parents perspective. Youre at home eating at the dinner when your sixteen year -old daughter tells you something wrong. You ask, Why? She replies that she got a little to drunk from a party she went to while you were out and got down and dirty with your daughters boyfriend and is now pregnant with his baby. Not too good now isnt it. In addition, these behaviors will affect teens safety and education. Over the course of a one year study conducted by researches at the Emory Universitys of Rollins School of Public Health, teens are Three times more likely to hit a teacher, over 2.5 times more likely to get arrested, twice as likely to have multiple sexual partners, and 1.5 times more likely to get an STD, use drugs, or drink alcohol (Kirchheimer, 2003). However, others might ask, Whats wrong with listening to music? Isnt music a way of expressing your feelings and a form of relaxation. A time when you can tune out

the rest of the world and groove out to the songs on your iPod? That may be true, but there may be a deeper reason as to why tweens fall for the sexual pressures of todays pop culture. As kids grow older, they begin to show a rebellious nature. Rebellion is a

method teenagers use to help them pronounce their individuality. Teenage rebellion, which is constant, interferes with normal daily functioning and is destructive to themselves and other calls for much more attention (teenhelp, 2011) Teens dislike having to listen to a higher authority, such as their parents, and hate having to follow orders they are being given. One thing teens in particular dislike having to do is go to church. They consider it a waste of time; spending their Sunday morning going to church when you could be doing something much more productive. Teens also find it to be exceptionally boring, whether it be sitting in the pew for an entire hour having to listen to the pastor preach and reluctantly sing those Jesus songs, or go through the monotonous and zombie-like movements of a Catholic mass. So, what does this rebellious being inside the teen tell them to do? Behave the exact opposite of what the religion calls for. Bible tells me not to have sex before Im married? *goes and gets a sexual partner* Bible tells me not to kill? *joins a gang* What seems to be happening is that the religion cause is actually having a negative counter effect instead of a positive effect on a teens life. Going through our daily lives we continue to ride the deadly waves of pop culture, waiting for it to crash uncontrollably into our lives drifting us in the wrong direction. But before that happens, we should say, What the Hell? and adjust our sails toward the peaceful waters.