Everything is bad for you... so don't do ANYTHING at all... trust me

[lookwhaticando]

Shows 'encourage teen drinking' - BBC News

Teenagers may be encouraged to drink more because television soap operas are "awash with alcohol", according to a survey published in The Food Magazine.

It reveals alcohol, shown in background scenes or being consumed by characters, accounts for considerable screen time.

Alcohol featured in 18% of scenes shown during Hollyoaks, in more than 17% in Coronation Street and 16% in Emmerdale.

Study author Cally Matthews said there was a real danger teenagers could be desensitised to the dangers of alcohol.

"Soap shows are awash with scenes showing alcohol being consumed as part of a seemingly healthy lifestyle and appearing as a normal part of everyday life," she said.

If you watch the soaps, you're also quite likely to think that being involved in a car crash is quite normal and part of a healthy active lifestyle... or perhaps being within 100 yards of a fierce explosion (as is the norm on Casualty).

The groups that do these studies are hell-bent on stopping people from doing anything remotely entertaining. Now we shouldn't watch soaps because it might encourage young people to get pissed. Truth is, they're going to get pissed anyway ... so you can stop trying to take the fun out of soap operas.

Some people... <_<

[Zingari]

Shows 'encourage teen drinking' - BBC News

If you watch the soaps, you're also quite likely to think that being involved in a car crash is quite normal and part of a healthy active lifestyle... or perhaps being within 100 yards of a fierce explosion (as is the norm on Casualty).

The groups that do these studies are hell-bent on stopping people from doing anything remotely entertaining. Now we shouldn't watch soaps because it might encourage young people to get pissed. Truth is, they're going to get pissed anyway ... so you can stop trying to take the fun out of soap operas.

Some people... <_<

i don't know if you can dismiss the findings completely( i have only skimmed through it as i have heard this sorrt of thing before) ; i am sure that pop culture and soaps etc do have some impact on the lifestyle of young developing minds ;maybe it is all too easy to lay the blame on soaps though and look at other factors . But one thing is for sure there is a growing problem and something is causing it

[lookwhaticando]

i don't know if you can dismiss the findings completely( i have only skimmed through it as i have heard this sorrt of thing before) ; i am sure that pop culture and soaps etc do have some impact on the lifestyle of young developing minds ;maybe it is all too easy to lay the blame on soaps though and look at other factors . But one thing is for sure there is a growing problem and something is causing it

It's all to easy to blame the entertainment industry as a whole, it would seem.

Kids fight more? Oh, it must be those darned computer games and violent movies.

Kids get pissed more? It must be all the louts we see on television - who, coincidentally, are supposed to reflect reality to some degree!

I bet they'll try and claim that some of the coppers who've joined the force and turned out to be bad eggs watched too much Life on Mars before joining the force.

Thing is... most of these behavioural issues arise due to the background the child was raised in. If the parents openly drink a lot all the time, chances are the kid will take it up - perhaps even with the parents approval/assistance. This is where it begins. The kid drinks because the parents do, the kid gets his friends in on the act, who get their kids in on the act. It's just bog standard peer pressure from there.

The reason it's picking up is because of the generation kids are being brought into the world by - a generation which itself drank quite a lot (and did a lot more sometimes too). It's sort of like an echo-binging session by an entire generation...

That's what annoys me about these studies, there's probably something in it... but such studies have a pop at the entertainment industry all the time. It's a slow moving target and very easy to hit with a well aimed study. There's always someone blaming entertainment for something, it's beginning to grate.

Could you imagine movies with absolutely no violence at all? No booze or fags either? A sober hollyoaks/EastEnders?

Now... where's my beer?

[Zingari]

It's all to easy to blame the entertainment industry as a whole, it would seem.

Kids fight more? Oh, it must be those darned computer games and violent movies.

Kids get pissed more? It must be all the louts we see on television - who, coincidentally, are supposed to reflect reality to some degree!

I bet they'll try and claim that some of the coppers who've joined the force and turned out to be bad eggs watched too much Life on Mars before joining the force.

Thing is... most of these behavioural issues arise due to the background the child was raised in. If the parents openly drink a lot all the time, chances are the kid will take it up - perhaps even with the parents approval/assistance. This is where it begins. The kid drinks because the parents do, the kid gets his friends in on the act, who get their kids in on the act. It's just bog standard peer pressure from there.

The reason it's picking up is because of the generation kids are being brought into the world by - a generation which itself drank quite a lot (and did a lot more sometimes too). It's sort of like an echo-binging session by an entire generation...

That's what annoys me about these studies, there's probably something in it... but such studies have a pop at the entertainment industry all the time. It's a slow moving target and very easy to hit with a well aimed study.

Could you imagine movies with absolutely no violence at all? No booze or fags either? A sober hollyoaks/EastEnders?

Now... where's my beer?

you are right of course in all what you say ; the point though is that as you say the decline started perhaps a couple of generations back , now maybe the follies of those generations are coming back to bite us. Many commentators at the time warned against the effects of traditional family breakdown and lack of authority and guidance within the home environment.

but the media and pop culture could possibly be used as a tool for righting some of the wrongs , in the same way it was used during the war etc to get messages across( please don't think i am advocating a propaganda campaign )

[lookwhaticando]

but the media and pop culture could possibly be used as a tool for righting some of the wrongs , in the same way it was used during the war etc to get messages across( please don't think i am advocating a propaganda campaign )

HeHe. Perish the thought.

You do have a point - the media could play it's part (and it does to some degree - there's plenty of information out there with regards to health issues, especially the internet which is where the younger generations hang out... dawg). lol

But to change pop culture... I dunno. Songs about sobriety tend to come from the Country music scene if anywhere... or perhaps the religious music arena... so I doubt that'd catch on.

I don't think pop culture could really do all that much... if you start sanitizing pop culture, it might just repel people, then it's of no use any way. Thing is... if you remove all the booze from Hollyoaks, the kids will be like "hey, this isn't real... how come nobody drinks here? What are they? Nuns?"

I dunno... I don't think a propaganda campaign is the way forward.

I think the biggest issue is the fragmentation of the entertainment industry. There's not too many ways of reaching the majority of people in the same way that a news broadcast on BBC Radio would 100 years ago, or BBC TV just 50 years ago. It'd take one huge effort to cover the most people possible...

The most logical place for the kids to be educated isn't movies, or television, or even the internet... it's School.

The education system is the only place you can truly reach a vast majority the right people. Whether it's efficient or effective is anyone's guess, though.

[Zingari]

HeHe. Perish the thought.

You do have a point - the media could play it's part (and it does to some degree - there's plenty of information out there with regards to health issues, especially the internet which is where the younger generations hang out... dawg). lol

But to change pop culture... I dunno. Songs about sobriety tend to come from the Country music scene if anywhere... or perhaps the religious music arena... so I doubt that'd catch on.

I don't think pop culture could really do all that much... if you start sanitizing pop culture, it might just repel people, then it's of no use any way. Thing is... if you remove all the booze from Hollyoaks, the kids will be like "hey, this isn't real... how come nobody drinks here? What are they? Nuns?"

I dunno... I don't think a propaganda campaign is the way forward.

I think the biggest issue is the fragmentation of the entertainment industry. There's not too many ways of reaching the majority of people in the same way that a news broadcast on BBC Radio would 100 years ago, or BBC TV just 50 years ago. It'd take one huge effort to cover the most people possible...

The most logical place for the kids to be educated isn't movies, or television, or even the internet... it's School.

The education system is the only place you can truly reach a vast majority the right people. Whether it's efficient or effective is anyone's guess, though.

again i agree with everything you say but i will just leave you with something to think about;

some time back tv and media were more or less forced to remove storylines etc that could have been construed as racist or sexist because of the knock on effect of making these things acceptable or encouraging it .

i am sure most people would now agree with this stance and take it on board that the media was having an effect on these issues so why do some people completely dismiss the effect of the media when it comes to drink/drugs/ etc

if it does have effects on attitudes, behaviour etc , we have to be careful about our selectivity as to which it affects

great topic anyway

[cisono]

I do think that soaps, TV, the media generally and society as such influence all these behaviours you mention.

I think of it as a complex system: it is hard to trace its emerging behaviour back to individual components (input to the system). Hence, also difficult to completely dismiss the influence of a "single type of component" (soaps) onto the resulting behaviour.

Hope this makes sense...

[Webbo]

I do think that soaps, TV, the media generally and society as such influence all these behaviours you mention.

I think of it as a complex system: it is hard to trace its emerging behaviour back to individual components (input to the system). Hence, also difficult to completely dismiss the influence of a "single type of component" (soaps) onto the resulting behaviour.

Hope this makes sense...

not a word.

[lookwhaticando]

again i agree with everything you say but i will just leave you with something to think about;

some time back tv and media were more or less forced to remove storylines etc that could have been construed as racist or sexist because of the knock on effect of making these things acceptable or encouraging it .

i am sure most people would now agree with this stance and take it on board that the media was having an effect on these issues so why do some people completely dismiss the effect of the media when it comes to drink/drugs/ etc

if it does have effects on attitudes, behaviour etc , we have to be careful about our selectivity as to which it affects

great topic anyway

There's no doubting that the media plays a part in the whole behavioural aspect of life as far as impressionable youngsters go. I wouldn't dare dismiss the effect of the media in the case of things like drink and drugs - the movies have surely done their fair bit to promote drug use over the years.

It's just that, while the media is a relatively powerful 'advocate' (for lack of a better term) of such behavioural issues, I'm not entirely convinced of it's power in the reverse - i.e. discouraging such behaviour. Perhaps if we completely sanitized the media in it's entirety, then nobody would pick up such habits to begin with... but do we really want that?

I do think that soaps, TV, the media generally and society as such influence all these behaviours you mention.

I think of it as a complex system: it is hard to trace its emerging behaviour back to individual components (input to the system). Hence, also difficult to completely dismiss the influence of a "single type of component" (soaps) onto the resulting behaviour.

Hope this makes sense...

That's all that I needed to say to be fair... it's too complex to boil down to a few simple points.

Nicely summarised. :thumbsup:

not a word.

lol