The Relation between Mass-Media and Youth: Influences and Effects

This paper aims to point out how and in what manner is the young generation influenced by the television nowadays – one that changed its complexity in a spectacular way throughout the years. The methodology we used, was based on an opinion survey, in which teenagers aged 15 to 18 participated. The main topics we addressed, regarding the young generation were: the access to mass-media, ways of spending leisure time, T.V. viewing preferences, motivations and personal satisfactions, associated with certain television programs and exposure to shows with negative potential. The objective of this article and its research was to set the preferences of the younger generation for certain television programs, and also to establish the level in which they change their behavior. Along with the central purpose, we also analyzed a series of secondary objectives, with a lower importance, but whose achievement sustains the basic ideas of the survey. The followed targets were the following: a) the frequency with which teenagers watch T.V. shows, the number of hours spent daily in front of the television and the days in which they watch it for longer periods of time; b) knowing their leisure time activities and establish the place mass-media occupied in this hierarchy.