The average American teenager listen to music and watch music videos at least five to eight hours a day, that's more hours than some spend in school and outside playing with their friends. Many people say that "Music alters and strengthen the moods of youth, providing much of the slang, governing most conversations and providing the atmosphere at social gatherings". Popular music styles define the crowds that youth run in. some popular music styles include R&B, Rock, Pop, Jazz, Blues, Hip-Hop, Classical, Rap, Hard Rock/Pop and country. Do they influence the minds of youth? Many Parents, Teachers, adults, and even some youth would say yes while a very small percent of youth would say no. People think that music can influence youth to rob, steal, kill, rape, sell drugs, commit suicide, etc while others think that there are positive influence in music also some positive influences would include songs can influence you too find love, respect, learn about your heritage, apologize, take responsibility for actions, etc. so why is there so much controversy surrounding the effects of music on youth?
Many scholars have viewed television as the central media influence on adolescents, but in my experience I think youth dedicate more time and attention to music. Teens use music most to control mood and enhance emotional states. "Music can make a good mood better and allow us to escape or 'work through' a bad one," Professor Peter Christenson of Lewis and Clark College Said. But it can also be used to enhance bad tempers, which has led some people to believe that songs about drug distribution and violence against women have rarely led youth to commit suicide or violent crimes. I also think that many adults and news reports over emphasize that music influences youth with stories surrounding songs with explicit content and “it” Musician of the moment. It has also been said that Teenagers use music to gain information about the adult world, to retreat from social contact, to help boost friendships and social settings, or to help them make an identity. "Nowadays, it's too negative, too much sexual content. Back then, it was fun. It was about whose flow was the smoothest, and there was a lot of break dancing. Today there's too much violence.” He says he has a 10-year-old daughter and says he wouldn't let her listen to hardcore rap. "I think at a young age, it sends mixed messages telling them what they can do, but not what the consequences are," Marcus Chapman of Youth Voices said.
When I asked around at Creekside High School I received mixed messages about how people felt about this subject. Most of the Faculty and Staff Replied “yes the think music influences youth and if they paid more attention in class like that did to rap music than there would be many more successful black men and women”. Many my peers said that “we can do what we want and that music does'nt affect the way anybody thinks because if we didn't want to do it before we heard the song then we would most likely still want to do it after the song have been played” When I asked my father how he felt about the situation he replied that "music was, is, and always will be here and if youth are strong minded enough to make their own decisions then they shouldn't be listening to the music they are listening to”.
So the question still is do you think music influences the minds of youth? I don't I believe that anybody is capable of making a decision that could save or harm somebody I also believe that many youth act the way the do to get attention from family, peers, and many people surrounding them. I think that if we had more parents paying full attention to youth, telling them what right and what's wrong then the youth crime rate would be way less than it already is. I also think that the media and adults should have more patients with youth and do more to let youth know that everybody makes mistakes and everybody is somebody if everyone treated people like they should be treated we would never have to worry about high crime rates, suicides, thieves, drug use, etc. so My final thought is that many should think about some of the thing that they do before it is done and pay more attention to the positive things in life.
