Music videos are produced to entertain the viewer. They are shown in televisions and cinema films. They are meant to entertain both the young and the old. It has been found that instead of its entertaining purpose there are several negative impacts these movies have imposed on the youths. This is because of the impressionable picture they create on the minds of youths. These negative effects include its highlights on how it relates to self esteem and thinness of people. It also influences the sexual activities of teenagers. These videos influence the use of alcohol and marijuana including the aggressiveness and violence among youths. Some youths are committing suicide while others shooting their fellows. The Purpose of this paper is therefore to prove that there is a negative influence youths derives from music videos.

Negative influences youths derives from music videos

According to Kirstetin (2005) music with negative lyrics and videos can influence the minds of child who is developing, therefore parent need to get involved by also listening and watching music videos but cannot apply any force to make them like a particular music video or song. For parents to achieve this, they can educate them to shy away from negative messages and to also focus their minds so that when they grow up they will only concentrate on positive music and media. Youths as they grow develop certain characters based on the environment. Music and videos is part of current life youths are exposed to. They cannot be kept a way from them because even if you deny them access in the house, they can still access them may be on their way to school or shopping centre and moreover there are several commercial cinema where you can pay and watch. It is clear that what should be done is to teach them on how to concentrate on movies which are entertaining and educative. To have a broader understanding of the negative impression that music videos create on youths, much details are as follows.

Music videos instill spirit of violence on youths

Music videos instill spirit of violence on youths. According to Steve (2006) there has been great concern over the effects of music videos on aggressiveness on youths but the research has not been extensive enough. The little research that was conducted was based on outlook of aggressiveness and perceptions. According to Steven (2006) there is no research that has been done relating violent music and aggressive behavior on youths.

According to research by Greeson and William (1986) on effect of violence in music videos on youths, where he watched a video with a combination of sex features, violent and rebelliousness together with 10 year old and a 7 year old for about thirty minutes. The result showed it was not complimenting attitude of violence on the younger grader but instilled spirit of violence on the older grader. It was not possible to establish which among the three features of violence, sex and rebellion would have contributed to aggressiveness on the older grader.  Another study was conducted by John, Jackson and Gatto (1995) to evaluate how violent rap music affects adolescent aged males. They used forty six teenage boys of ages ranging from eleven to sixteen. The boy ware dived into three groups. The first group was showed non violent rap music videos. The second group was showed violent rap music where as the third group were not showed any video. It was found that children who watch music with violent feature developed attitude of aggressiveness. It is therefore clear that watching of violent music movies make adolescent aged group develops the attitude of using violent when trying solving problems. According to Steve (2006) a study conducted among college student showed that when they watch these violent music movies, they develops the feeling of annoyance and also make them have the spirit of aggressiveness.

According to AcaDemon (2003) it was also noted that so much money is use to produce these music videos but one other best selling ingredient is the violence which is always focused on women. It therefore means that the consumers taste is the violence which is featuring within that particular video show. The study also found out that the use of violence in the raps and video music has a greater contribution to several occurrences of vicious behavior among the youths in the United States.

According to Jerome (2000) there are a number of factor that has affected youth in relation to video music. It has affected the social interaction of the youths. These videos have also influence of the school performance of these teenagers. It has affects on the examination ability, emotional reactions and mood of the youths (Christenson & Robert 1998). It is also clear that most of these popular music focuses on attitude and behavioral impact of the youth. For instance, ‘when I want you in my arms, all I have to do is dream' (Everly Brothers, 1958). The listener and the viewer will picture on the message and mood created by such a song and most of them will respond depending on the tone and message conveyed. It is also clear according to Jerome (2000) that even though these music videos with negative impact in youth are few in number, they play a great role in influencing behavior such as sexual habits, spirit of violence, suicide incidences, racism among the blacks and whites, and Satanic behaviors.

How it influences sex activity in youths

According to Nielsen Media Research (1993) more than seventy percent of the Americans were access to cable television therefore most teenagers would watch these music videos from their homes. The study which was done on the composition of these videos shows that seventy five percent contain materials which are related to sex. Music videos influence sex activities in various ways. Within these videos, it portrays various features which are eventually being imitated by teenage girls. These features being copied include the unique sexy dressing style and certain sexy moves. According to Research Assistance (2009) that frequent viewing of these sexy movies by female teenagers will make them develop curiosity to imitate these behaviors which further have effect on their male counter parts. The mode of dressing and body movement portrayed by these videos are so tempting that if are imitated by the teenage girls, they will affect the male boy in that most male are enticed by seeing certain images suggesting to be directed towards sex. This will further make them engage in premarital sex will will perpetuate the spread of HIV and AIDS. They are also certain picture of necked females with only pants dancing in these videos. These ladies are not only necked but also dancing in a sexy manner. All these will influence the way a teenager thinks. They will try to behave in the same manner which will finally ruin their lives. Teenage boys have their hormone very active and when they get exposed to such videos their body starts to react in response to what is seen which will then drive them to experiment and that is very dangerous to their future lives.

Rap music videos have contributed to racism in the United States. According to Zillmann and Colleagues (1995) they perform an experiment on how politically radical rap music would influence race and its related political attitude. They performed their experiment using rap music video showed to both white teenagers and African a merican teenager. They used three different type of rap videos which includes a popular rock video, rap video music which is non political and a rap video music which is extensively political. The outcome was that white teenager were influenced by political rap video message and supported for the abolishment of racism and called for racial accord as was advocated by the African American singer. This was contrary to the expectation because most people claim that radical rap music always instill the spirit of racism in the white teenager.

The influence of music videos on suicides and Shootings

The influence of rap music videos to suicide and shooting has also raised several issues. This is because of the fact that there has been rampant suicidal acts and shooting of their fellows among the teenage school pupils. It is a fact that a several teenagers have been victims of suicide and the research shows that most of this suicidal act takes place immediately after watching these popular music videos. It is also a fact that rampant shooting among teenage school pupils have occurred. These shootings are attributed from fans of popular music such as Marilyn Manson as well as the popular goth rock. These gangster rap may be said to be the cause of the incidence of rampant shooting but in real situation most of these fans normally enjoy their stuff without threatening their fellows. Most people have diverted their thought and argued that the cause of the suicide and shooting in schools is caused by factors such as when there is despair and teenagers' accessibility to these guns and drug abuse (Jerome, 2006).

According to a journal by Colorado Holistic (2005) it was found that music videos and have influence on teenage body image. It found to have greater impact that would take place within a short time. Teenage girls who watch these videos will develop what is called eating disorder. The research shows that almost one thousand five hundred teenagers ranging from grade 8 to grade 11 who are exposed to these videos develop the behavior of slimming whereas boy teenagers became influenced to develop masculine body. According to Marika Tiggemann, there is enough evidence that a typical female model to day is weighing twenty percent less than the standard weight. It was also noted that most of these underweight ladies are diagnosed with a condition known as anorexia nervosa. It is therefore true that the short time spent by these teenagers watching these videos pose great danger to their lives because of their curiosity to imitate the message and action (Colorado Holistic, 2005). It is therefore noted that these videos conveys messages which are harmful to the health of the youths.

There is also the issue of pregnancy and drug abuse among youths. Most of these videos portray images of drug addicts. The reggae video music is directly spreading the message of devil worshiping. These teenagers have copies their way of life. Most of these teenagers are lured in to smoking of marijuana which is a very dangerous behavior. Marijuana is a very dangerous drug such that when smoked would finally destroy the normal brain functioning of the victim. Because the brain cannot function normally, the victim will end up being engaged in criminal acts such as robbery with violence. It is also clear that there are certain attires which depict a reggae man. These teenagers go as far as imitating the dressing styles of a reggae man (Pediatrics 1996). It is therefore clear that it is the responsibility of the parents to help in straightening the live of teenagers not by denying them access to these videos but through offering constructive advice to them on what is wrong and what is right. This should be done at the right time, in the right place and in the right manner.

Music videos have also been found to be of great importance to among teenagers. This is because these music videos help the distinguish the borders of social life and sub cultural lives. According a survey that was done in a bout two thousand seven hundred and sixty aged from fourteen years of age to sixteen years of age which were coming from southeast cities in Sweden it indicated that they were able to listen to music for a period of a bout forty hours every week. A Swedish study also showed that children who became used to these music and videos at early age would easily be influenced by their peers than their parents as contrary to older teenagers. Not all music videos are dirty because some are educative especially the sacred video music which have also been into the market for sometime though not like by many (Scribd, 2009).

Conclusion

As much as some video music are educative, the disadvantages over weighs the advantages. It is therefore clear that video music have greatly affected the behavior of youth. It has developed bad behaviors in youth such as ladies tying to slim up; teenage boys trying to body build themselves. They also develop the behavior of smoking tobacco and marijuana. They do not stop there but some go a head to develop the behavior of aggressiveness. Others committing suicide and even killing their fellows. To reduce these problems Parent educate their kids at a tender age to grow responsibly.

For additional information see Facts for Families:
#33 Conduct Disorder
#37 Children and Firearms
#13 Children and TV Violence
#5 Child Abuse, and
#9 Child Sexual Abuse.
See also: Your Child (1998 Harper Collins)/Your Adolescent (1999 Harper Collins).

The author Sarah Hopkins has resume writing experience of over 5 years. She holds a PHD in writing from Cambridge. She has been assisting students, professionals in writing professional resumes and cover letters capitalresumes.com