Media & Family Development

     This week we talked about music as media! It seems like common sense to acknowledge music as the earliest form of media. However, it was a cool reminder to note how opposed people were to music changing throughout the years and labeling new genres as transgressive. The influence of music is an extremely interesting topic to cover. It is hard to pinpoint exactly how music influences a person but it seems to always be there. I have been on so many first dates where one of the first questions is "what do you like to listen to?" or "what is your music taste?". It seems like music is such an integral part of our relationships, who we interact with, and how we get to know each other. Clearly music has a very important role in our development. It makes sense that violent type songs will influence more violent actions and positive songs will help boost us because other forms of media have that same effect. Music defines all experiences and can carry that feeling no mat...

 I thought the article, "A Mean Read" by Dr. Coyne, about books was very interesting! I know books seem to be a dying form of media but they are actually incredibly mainstream, especially for children in schools. Kids are constantly asked to read. The variety in books continues to grow. However, it is so interesting to note how little research there is on the effects of books. The reading reports how adolescents is important and has a profound impact on their self-esteem. This suggests that adolescents are continuously interested in books and reading. Yet, even though it is a common theme for studying in other forms of media, there is no research on violence in books. It was also important for me to see the format of the paper from a content analysis perspective. The findings showed that a form of violence is in every single book! That was news to me! Children are constantly being showed that violence is extremely common with no real consequences. What are the next steps for ...