(yay! first post ever on ED!)
To start off, it seems like a lot of the replies to this thread begin with something like 'I'm not like that, I READ!'. I didn't think this thread was about who reads and who doesn't. A lot of people who replied, apparently, would rather read than watch television. However, that doesn't necessarily help. Books are a form of media just as pop-based as T.V. or videogames. I've seen the people who dress like the mall is their personal closet and act as though they were born to create drama on 'The Real World' read as much as anyone else. This, however, doesn't make them any less media-influenced as anyone else. Very few books actually have any kind of true value in the ways of theme or message. Few moral lessons can be found on a majority of a teenage reader's bookshelf. Just as there are educational and insightful television programs out there there are insightful books as well, but not all apply. Hiding in books is no better than hiding in front of a television set. Media whores come in ALL guises and conforming to intellectual stereotypes does not make you an intellectual, nor does it make you immune.
To continue. It's true that not ALL teenagers and children are completely influenced by the media. In fact, there are very few who are ENTIRELY enslaved to such a thing. However, it is a growing cult. It's also true that everyone is influenced by their original values and opinions before the media, but it is becoming more and more common for children to be obtaining these values and opinions from the media to begin with. This is why it is more likely to see a teenager conforming to the ideals and stereotypes of the media than to see an adult do the same. Mind you, no one is immune to the influences around them and that doesn't exclude those of a later age.
Finally, no person doesn't care about material things. The media prays off of this weakness as it pedals it's products. It is assumed that because of advertisements, one is going to buy something they want simply because the people depicted with this product are sexy, glamorous, and generally more attractive than those without. However, this also leads to a reverse effect and another cause to media conformity. Now, because the people most affected by adds in the media are younger and less likely to obtain the products pedalled and desired, teenagers are trying to immitate those people shown in the hopes that they can obtain the objects they want. So, in the end, it can be said that people imitate to obtain these items shown them by the media. Those who imitate most are emptiest because they imitate for those things they want but do not have. An example of imitation can be found also in the copying of the personality and actions similar to those of a wise character in a book in the effort to seek wisdom.
In the end, everyone wants to be enlightened and fulfilled. However, those of the current generations look only to the media for fulfillment because they know nothing else. Whether that media be books, magazines, video games or television, it matters not. The only solution to any kind of media influence is to become a hermit or otherwise dead to the world because everyone is affected, some more than others. Wisdom can be found in the observation and understanding of the world around, not the automatic explanations of reality from the media.
Please don't reply to this particular post with any of that 'I'm not like that!' nonsense. There are exceptions to EVERY rule and I know this. However, only someone else can tell you you are an exception. It is not self-declared with any truth because you are always biased to yourself.
