The Media and Adolescents Risky Behaviour: Implication for Counseling Psychologists

A mass media explosion which occurred in the 20th century revolutionized the way people gain information about their world (Bushman and Anderson, 2001). The  media  plays a central part in the lives of adolescents, as they interact with it on a daily basis in the form of music, television, the Internet, or video games. Media is used for entertainment, information, and communication. Although people do not necessarily seek out violent content, violence is an integral part of the media landscape. Its influence is often subtle and always inescapable. As one researcher noted: “we do not drive down the freeway in order to see billboards, but we see them and we acquire information from them anyway” (Strasburger and Wilson, 2002, p. 281).