Tv Shows And Troubled Teens

Every year more and more parents are searching for answers to deal with troubled teens. They’re seeking out programs for depression, anger, defiance, addictions, sexual activity, and low self-esteem. For the most severe cases they search for everything from boot camps to therapeutic schools to help their teen. What is causing this upswing in at risk teens? Some people believe there is a link between TV, computer games, and music videos and problem teens. TV reality shows push the limits and could lead to problem teen behavior. Parents need to be aware of these shows, monitor their kids, and filter what could be damaging.

There are people that believe that TV watching can contribute to depression, overeating, sleep problems, academics, and problem relationships. Many of these problems parents see in their TV watching teen are the same as those associated with severe cases of a troubled teen.

A TV watching study conducted on 4142 kids in 1995 showed a higher percentage of depression in teens watching more TV. They watched over two hours of TV per day and forty minutes of videos. In 2002 a follow-up survey discovered that 308 of the subjects met the criteria for depression. These kids had watched an average of 22 minutes more TV each day than their non-depressed counterparts. In 2011 the stakes are much higher. New shows and rap videos have pushed the boundaries of good taste and could be leading to increases in teen promiscuity, cutting, and serious depression just to name a few.

"Reality" TV shows are pushing the limits. Sweet sixteen parties for the extremely rich girls, teen mom reality series and then there is Jersey Shore. Sex, drugs and rock and roll have been around for a while but new shows like Skins go too far.

Skins is a scripted show using 17-24 year old actors. The most recent episode has Parents Television Council asking the Department of Justice to file child pornography charges against the series. This arises because of a scene that depicts a teenager running nude through the streets after swallowing an erectile dysfunction drug. The problem is the actor in this scene was merely 17 years old!

There is also the argument that television and movies are merely fiction and that they are merely for entertainment and not meant to influence people's lives. However, when you are talking about influence on teenagers and younger children maturity levels must be considered. American teens and preteens spend an average of four hours per day in front of the television and many take what they are seeing as typical, safe and acceptable. Couple this with the CDC studies on how peers influence drug use and sexuality and clearly shows like Skins can have an effect on, at the very least, teenage promiscuity.

Television programming will continue to push the envelope on decency. It is also controversial on how damaging TV programs can be to teens. It’s too late to figure out there is a problem once you are looking for a solution. The time to do something is now not when you are looking for a program for your troubled teen. The best parents can do is monitor closely what your children are watching. Use parental controls included in most television, satellite and cable programming. And., imagine this, restrict TV watching. Come up with other, more interesting, things for your kids to do with their time and save yourself from the worries of having to find help in the future.

By: Karen Booker

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www.thepinnacleschools.com/our-programs/elk-river-academy was used for some information about troubled teens and therapuetic schools. Karen Booker writes about teen problems and at risk youth. She has several articles on therapuetic schools and helping kids with depression.