Bored with studying for my Statistics midterm at 1am this morning, I had turned to the Internet to keep me awake and entertained. As I roamed the interwebs, I noticed the frequent appearance of a certain advertisement promoting Evony. I am sure many of you have come across these ads – they feature barely clothed women (sometimes only covered by their arms) with rather enticing proportions and pouty faces inviting you to ‘Feel like a King!’ and play Evony, an online game. Despite the obvious photo manipulation, I am not interested in discussing unrealistic body images and whatnot at the moment. That is another issue for another person to mull over. Instead, what struck me about these pictures was where they appeared. I was not browsing inappropriate websites, or even anything that could remotely be considered racy. They popped up while I was searching for sheet music and lyrics or trying to find the name of a certain movie. What struck me was that anyone could browse the same sites. What struck me was that anyone could see these images – even my baby sister.
I remember back when my sister’s media world was filled with Dora the Explorer, a children’s television program about a lively little girl and her scavenger hunts. When Dora needed help  and asked a question, my sister would excitedly jump up to point to her answer on the screen. For a long time, she even wore a Dora-style haircut and eagerly expressed her desire to have a pet monkey, just like her television role model. That was about three years ago; she has long since grown out of that phase of her childhood.However, I have to wonder: if she reacted so strongly to a simple kids’ show, how much is she being impacted (and how much has she been impacted) by the graphically violent, highly sexualized, and other not-so-good images, shows, messages that are being thrust upon her from all sides now? When I was younger, I never had the chance to view indecent images such as the ones that Evony plasters across the Internet. But here and now, they are as accessible to eight-year-olds as they are to me. Even shows and programs that target younger audiences explore more mature topics such as dating, hooking up, etc.
Vulgarity in language is also drastically increasing in the current media world. Those words that used to be used to express only the most powerful emotions of anger or hatred and only in certain environments are now used everywhere. Coarse vocabulary and sexual innuendo are frequently and casually employed in music, film, and even everyday conversations. I was surprised when I was informed that even my baby sister’s classmates often said “the S-word and even the F-word,” as a result of hearing it on television, seeing it on the Internet, or listening to it in their own family.
Do not get me wrong – I do not want to lock up all children in a room of stuffed toys and educational books to keep them away from “bad influences.” I realize that each and every form of media can be a boon as well. The endless well of instruction, guidance, facts, statistics, opinions, etc. offered by American media has proven to be extremely useful in multiple situations and for many individuals. I also recognize that kids are not always as immature as we often make them out to be. While our culture puts them under such circumstances as the aforementioned, it also teaches them to take everything with a grain of salt, to use a filter, to be a bit skeptical, which can be quite healthy in my opinion.
The world is changing. Our societies and communities and lifestyles are undergoing a transformation. Though I do not wholly approve of the indecency that young children are being exposed to, I do accept that it is happening and that there is very little anyone can do about it. The eyes of my baby sister (and millions of other little kids) will be eyes that are different than my own. They will see more than I ever had, and they will absorb more than I ever had. I suppose the only thing we can do is affect the reactions. There is no way to totally shape them, but we do have some sort of an impact – as sisters, as brothers, as cousins, as friends, and one day (as far away as it may seem), as parents. It is our responsibility to take whatever little power we have and use it to help. Those television personalities and Internet messages come from a whole other universe behind a shiny screen, whereas each of us are here in flesh and blood – real, live role models. Let us instill a sense of right and wrong in them. Let us teach them about true moral codes. Let us show them that they need not accept each and every image and idea forced upon them – rather, those images and ideas are opportunities to absorb, analyze, and learn. In an age where more and more information is available to more and more people, we must learn to value (and pass on) not only knowledge, but also the ability to evaluate and use it. Let us do it for the kids.