Abstract 1

This report talks about the impact the media has on young people, together with the how it effects them and their families and friends around them. It talks about the internet and how it inspires both posative and negative aspects associated with the young. The posative been that it can link Britain to many other countries around the world, enabling a new kind of pen-pal relationship, combining the pleasures of long didstance communication with the immediacy of the telephone. It is an easy way of keeping in contact with many family and friends that you dont often see as they live on the other side of the world but you can still speak to them on a daily basis. Many of the downsides that are talked about are that it is costly and sometimes there can be difficulties in effectively accessing certain information and there can be frustration with the quality of information obtained.

A study has been taken out associated with the use of TV, video, books, computer games, music and personal computers. It finds that young people use the media for around five hours each day and points to the dominance within the UK of 'screen-entertainment culture'.The report also considers some of the differences between social classes and television usage, in homes where there are children. Nearly everyone has a TV and a VCR at home and 4 in 10 have cable and satellite.

The article goes on to talk about how the decline in books in young people's lives is now changing as it is threatened both by IT a sourse of information and TV a form of narrative. Those who have access to a computer are twice as likely to use that as a sourse of information rather than turning to a book. Most children turn to the television or a computer game for their narrative appeal. Over all the book comes across as boring, old-fashioned, frustrating and requiring too much effort. Books arn't seen as trendy they are seen as something atht parents disaprove of.

Music is a topic that is addressed as many children these days have access to some kind of audio equipment in the home. Music today continues to play a uniquely flexible and pervasive part in children's and teenagers lives.

The article also talks about how parents are concerned for their children's safety outside the home while young people themselves say there is not enough to do in the area where they live. As a result, young people are much more likely to be wanting to watch television or playing on their computer games as there is not much else for them to do.