Media Madness

Today's teens face an endless barrage of media – television, movies, radio, the Internet, magazines, and electronic games, not to mention those advertising slogans that shout out at them from billboards, bumper stickers, and even T-shirts.

The sheer amount of time that teens spend with media is mind-boggling. Over the course of a year, young adults spend more time watching TV than any other activity, except sleeping. And according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 78 percent of teens use the Web for entertainment and to communicate with friends, as well as to conduct research for school. In fact, some teens say the online environment is more hospitable than many libraries'. The result is that media have lured many young people away from libraries, thereby presenting a huge challenge for those of us who work in the profession. What can we do?

For starters, librarians need to understand the potential harm of media messages as well as their attraction for young people. For example, fast-food ads touting nutritionally poor products have fueled a national epidemic of obesity, which now afflicts more than 15 percent of adolescents, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The media also encourages risky behaviors by showing attractive young people using drugs, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol, or engaging in sex and violence. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study called "Teens, Sex, and TV," three out of four teens say that television has influenced the sexual behaviors of their peers either "somewhat" or "a lot."

How can librarians use media to woo teens back? Consider taking advantage of one of its most popular forms—music. You can jazz up your Web site by adding an audio track. Another surefire way to get kids' attention is to sponsor music-based programs or host an after-hours "LAN party," so teens can use the library's high-speed network to play online games.

Librarians also need reliable information to help teens become more media literate. That's why companies that cater to adolescents, such as Abercrombie & Fitch and the Gap, pay almost $10,000 a year for the services of Teen Research Unlimited, the leading market researcher specializing in young people. Librarians, of course, don't have such deep pockets. But that doesn't mean we can't obtain valuable information about teens. A good starting place that provides insight into kids' likes and dislikes is the National Study of Youth and Religion by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (www.youthandreligion.org/research).

How else can we help teens become more media savvy? By asking them probing questions. For instance, when kids make questionable statements, we need to ask, "Why do you believe that?" By using the Socratic method, we encourage young people to become independent critical thinkers, a key development of adolescence. Teens also need to be encouraged to use this approach to analyze media messages. To make informed decisions about important issues—on anything from the war in Iraq to the upcoming presidential election—young people need to have quality information. And who is better suited to that task than the original information people—librarians?