My research is based on one major premise:
young Americans as family and formal education.
Before mass media, the family was the primary information source for developing minds*, supplemented by the education system. After 1950, television gained the title of “the electronic babysitter†as it exploded through American households, reaching over 90% saturation rate in less than ten years. Currently, American children spend more time in front of the television than they do in school, and by the age of 13, an individual has watched over x hours of television.
The media explosion over the past 25 years has continued the trend initiated by television. With the advent of cable television, the Internet, and mobile media devices, American youth are now entrenched in a mass media environment whose primary goal is profit. This leads to a streamlining of ideas and subject matter regarding all aspects of life including, but not limited to, concepts of the body, the self, race, politics, drugs, music, art, sports, and more. The question now is how does profit-driven, media-dominated culture affect the cognitive and psychological development of youth who are immersed in it?
Facts and Figures About Our TV Habit.
Although biased, these numbers provide an excellent starting point for relating behavior to television. However, I am particularly interested in how television consumption affects thought, reason, and one’s approach to reality.
*Please note that I include religion in family, as I assume it is unusual for children to choose and attend a church purely of their own volition.