Ever since God made man an external voice has been whispering in his ear attempting to persuade him to do wrong. Trying to change man’s mood and reprogram him with a new message so that he will have a new mindset; one that is set on evil.
That external voice is still around with the same message and intention – death. But it is no longer slithering in a tree in the garden. The voice is coming from inside your television, out of your radio and on the billboard as you drive down the street.
“The devil made me do it!” are the famous words comedian Flip Wilson used to say whenever he would get into trouble. They are also the famous words of Eve after she listened to Satan’s message. Today, any serious pursuit of how boys develop and why they behave as they do must take into account how today’s powerful media messages and culture affect their growth and mindset.
Today our kids are living in a more complex media environment than we ever could have imagined at their age. The rules and the risks have changed radically and many of us have been slow to grasp the difference. In the ’60s and ’70s we kids grew up in a simpler and safer media environment. Back then there were only three major networks and PBS, a couple of key radio stations in each market, a few movie theaters and computers were so big they filled entire rooms.
Our boys today inhabit an environment that bombards them from their first morning yawn with messages. Messages of buy this, wear that, say this and do that. They (we) live in the most media saturated society in the history of the world. Americans spend between 10 and 12 hours a day consuming media through ever more sophisticated technological delivery systems. The average household has three televisions and radios, two VCRs and CD players, one computer, one video game player and a bewildering variety of newspapers, comic books, magazines, books and other print media.
We’ve gotten hooked on media so deeply that now automakers are making 24/7 non-stop, commercial free satellite radio and DVD players standard in cars.
As we enter the 21st century, this situation might seem to call for celebration. More media theoretically means more voices, more diversity, more channels for information, entertainment and education. A closer look, however, reveals a more disturbing reality. Most of the stories told in our media culture — by some estimates, as much as 90 percent of our media content — are owned by a handful of giant transnational corporations, including Time Warner, News Corp., Disney, Viacom, Vivendi and Sony.
Veteran media critic George Gerbner explains that whoever is telling the stories within a culture has enormous power to shape how people think, act and buy. For the first time in human history, Gerbner notes, most of the stories about people, life and values are told not by parents, schools, churches and others in the community who have something to tell but by a group of distant conglomerates that have little to tell and everything to sell.
Power Paren-T-een tip of the week: The power over death and life is in the tongue, so who’s talking to your child?
Carlos Johnson is the founder of the I.M.A.G.E. Personal Success Training Institute and the family director at Evangel Ministries. He conducts Power Paren-T-een seminars for parents and “Helping YOU-th Succeed” workshops for youth. He may be contacted at www.imageofsuccess.com or by calling 1-(888) IMAGE-24.
