MEDIA HAS POWERFUL INFLUENCE ON YOUTH

Teenagers in 2004 face more challenges to their values from songs,
music videos, video games, TV shows and the Internet than those of the
previous generation, a police officer and DARE facilitator told a
group of parents in a recent session.

And, said Dan Frazell, an officer with the Bangor, Maine police
department, awareness of the dangers is important for the safety of
youth.

"All you can do is educate your children; you cannot make choices for
them," said Frazell, stressing he is "not advocating censorship but .
. . responsibility."

The session, called "How the Media Is 'Killing' Our Children" and
limited to those 18 years and over, was sponsored by the Yorkton
Parent Drug Awareness Action Committee, Sunrise Health Region and CTV.

Parents must realize youth are being targeted, Frazell
said.

"Your children have a big bulls-eye on their face and it's painted
there by the entertainment industry."

That industry uses the three types of learning - auditory (by hearing
about how to do a task), visual (by seeing it done) and kinesthetic
(by actually doing it) - to get through to children, noted Frazell,
adding this makes it more difficult for youth to differentiate between
what's valuable and not valuable in what they see and hear.

"You should know what your child's learning modality is," he
stressed.

Songs such as "Walk This Way" (Aerosmith), "Give The Dog A Bone"
(AC/DC), and "Shoop" (Salt-N-Pepa) have overt sexual or violent
themes, said Frazell.

"Like it or not, agree with it or not, sex sells in the media like
nothing else on earth."

And, he added, sex is often combined with alcohol, which, Frazell
noted, is "the most abused drug on the planet (which) kills more
people than all other drugs combined . . . yet we glorify it."

Not only booze, but other drugs are promoted via magazines such as
High Times, which not only extols the virtues of marijuana but also
advertises a device to help cheat on drug tests.

All this, said Frazell, is a radical change from 1975, when records or
8-tracks cornered the music market and there were no VCRs, computers,
cable TV, cell phones or graphic video games.

At that time, movies in which the f-word was heard at least once
received an R rating, while today such films are rated PG-13 so more
people will see them and studio profits are increased.

But not only films have changed, said Frazell.

"Music affects kids more now than it did 25 years ago," he
stressed.

"Today's music thrives on anger and hatred (and) the hate element is
growing and growing and growing."

Frazell became interested in the effect of music 12 years ago at a
DARE fundraising dance, when "Shoop" was played. When it came to the
line "you're a sexy motha", the students shouted out the word that
normally follows it.

Frazell bought the CD and listened to it without being able to make
out the lyrics. He was surprised when, after mentioning this to some
of his DARE students, one of them wrote out the words for him "in ten
minutes," he said.

Frazell noted rap music is especially influential, with Snoop Dogg,
Eminem, Dr. Dre, NWA, and Run-DMC expressing the frustration of life
in areas such as the Bronx, where it began in the 1970s.

For example, he said, one of Eminem's songs, "Bonnie and Clyde",
recorded with his four-year-old daughter, talks about kidnapping,
killing and dismembering Eminem's estranged wife (the girl's mother).

Frazell said television shows teach children it's OK to behave in a
violent or sexual manner, as exemplified in programs such as Beavis
and Butthead, South Park, Crank Yankers, the Osbornes, and the Man
Show.

"We're teaching kids these days to hurt each other. Causing a bit of
pain is (considered) a good thing," he noted, adding that message can
get carried over into violent situations in real life.

"We've got all these problems in real life . . . and then we turn
around and give them to kids as entertainment."

Video games - which author David Grossman has said "are eerily
similar" to real-life military training - have influenced children to
the point where students as young as Kindergarten and Grade One are
bringing guns and knives to school.

For example, said Frazell, in the most popular game, Grand Theft Auto,
a player gets points for killing a prostitute and police officers.

"I am appalled that we do this," he stated.

Such games have even more impact than TV shows because they engage
players, reward violent behaviour and are repetitive, Frazell said.

Rather than looking at such entertainment as giving kids something to
do for awhile, parents must make themselves aware of what their
children play when they engage in long stretches of the games, he stressed.

"Those kids, for those eight, 10 hours are killing and killing and
killing."

The Internet also has its dangers, Frazell pointed
out.

'Kids come to school every day and exchange the raunchiest Web sites
that exist," he stated.

Besides explicit sites, chat rooms can be dangerous because the person
at the other end may not be who they claim to be., and pedophiles
spend hours in chat rooms, said Frazell, adding adults have also been
lured to their deaths.

That's why it's important not to give out a real name or e-mail
address, not to fill out profile sheets and not to identify oneself as
male or female.

By way of helping parents, Frazell said it's important for them to
look at how their children interact with peers and be wary if "their
comments and opinions change drastically."

Also, look at what the youth depicts in his or her doodles and
drawings, as "kids give off a lot" in those pictures., he said, adding
if professional help is needed, it should be sought.

Above all, said Frazell, parents need to remind themselves that by
paying attention to this aspect of their children's lives, they are
telling them they do care about their entire lives.

Dan Frazell's Ten Suggestions for Parents
1. Feeling plus power equals addiction.
2. Monitor: Take an interest in what your child is watching and listening
to in YOUR home.
3. Communicate: ask, listen and discuss.
4. Do your homework: Your kids are more likely to talk to you if they
believe that you know what you're talking about.
5. Pay attention to the warning signs: interactions with peers, comments
and opinions, behaviour towards you, doodles and drawings and computer time.
6. Peer Pressure: You hear about it. Don't underestimate the power of it.
Talk about it!
7. Explain the value of having values: rules and boundaries vs. confrontation.
8. Create and offer positive alternatives to your children.
9. Help . . . professional? R-E-S-P-E-C-T
10. Remind yourself that by paying attention to this aspect of their life,
you are telling them that you do really care about their ENTIRE life.