So I've been home sick for the last two days. Which translates into way too much t.v., an awful lot of water and some really bad commercials. I've seen some so many anti-drug, alcohol, and teen pregnancy ads, it's absolutely crazy! And they got me thinking.. what's the point? Because here's the thing. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I've no intention of getting pregnant. And all of that has nothing to do with any of those ads. Because they tell me what, exactly? That smoking isn't good for you? That you'll behave differently? But I already knew that! What else? Surprise! Having a baby at sixteen will mess up your life. Well, I think I speak for most teenagers when I say, well, that much has always been clear to us.
And what could they say? Well, I'm not quite sure. They could say, how to avoid becoming pregnant and what to do if you end up in that particular situation. They could, instead of being all cutesy about it, show us what drugs will do to your body when your on them, not what they'll do to your actions. And maybe they could tell you how to be safe, no matter what you doing. I'm not really sure what they say. But what I do know is that the anti-risky behavior X ads may not be doing their jobs.
To be perfectly honest, I think that you can't stop all teens from doing risky things. Physically, it is wired into our brains to have a bad sense of risks and consequences. Yes, we can try to prevent things. But I think it's just as important to help people deal with the consequences of their actions. An ad warning against getting pregnant at age fifteen isn't going to help her figure what to do if she is already pregnant. Prevention is fine, but it has to be tampered with some kind of coping mechanism.
Very interesting topic! I agree. I read in one of my mom's magazines that today's anti-drug campaigns actually aren't very effective. Listen, when a teen does drugs or gets pregnant, it's probably something that a TV ad wouldn't change. Most of those ads sound like overly concerned adults scolding you. Frankly, that's not going to make me any less likely to get into bad sitations. I don't think we should be idealistic OR hyper-realistic. Assuming that "this only happens to teens in unsafe inner-city neighborhoods" isn't helpful, and neither is "if my kid goes to a party and takes one sip of alcohol, they'll be hooked for life". We absolutely can't accept teenage drinking or pregnancy as okay and fine, but ads like this won't help the cause one bit.
ReplyDeletei agree with you completely. the only problem is that most teens go into situations knowing the consequences, and get swept up in the moment. I know (and you know the same ones) people who are smart and mature- while they're sober. smart people do stupid things, life works in crazy ways. Good luck with shakuntala..... I'm coming on friday!!
ReplyDeleteGood point, Anna Lizzle. Most adults I know, who were good students and good kids, have tried drugs at least once or gotten drunk before. They weren't part of gangs or anything.
ReplyDeleteAlso... it really bugs me how I can't have an honest conversation with most adults about topics like abortion or drugs without getting a lecture. I feel like shaking them by the shoulders and saying, "I'm not going to do these things! I've gotten these lectures a million times before! I understand the consequences!" But then again, I could be swept up in the moment. I just wish that I wouldn't be lectured so much. Grrr.
I think that perhaps a way to avoid lectures, is to actually educate teens. Take the mystery out of sex, drugs, abortion, etc and suddenly its not nearly as exciting. Of course, people will get swept up in the moment but in general things you had to have made a choice at some point that put you in such a position. Taking responsibility for ones actions is also super important.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic. I think we need to draw the line between engaging information and where it becomes a lecture or makes people want to rebel. What do you think? Do you ever find an overload of the same type of information really pisses you off or do you just switch off to it?
ReplyDeleteDo you think these situation like 'it happened once' make people wiser or feel they made the biggest mistake of their lives or got hooked onto to something.
Marlees, I totally agree. I mean, one of the main reasons that teens get into things like these, aside from hormones and all :D is the mystery and intrigue. When things are treated as bad, scandalous or dangerous, it just makes teens want to do it more.
ReplyDeleteI Wonder, usually with overloads of information, I can tune it out, but if it's lecture-like, it just pisses me off. I watch the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and at the end, they have the main actress saying the line about talk-to-your-parents-about-sex and so on. Really, I think that's extremely important, but I've heard that so many times it just bugs me.
What do you think about moderation and just trying something? I was talking with my grandparents about this whole topic of drugs pretty earnestly, and my grandpa just said, "You know, in college you're probably going to try this stuff once or twice, and if you do, just make sure you don't try anything too addictive or dangerous and do it in moderation." My grandmother immediately retorted, "No! Don't do it at all!" giving my grandpa a repremanding look. I thought about what they said, and I sort of agree with my grandpa. I think parents and other adults should definitely educate teens about this stuff and lay out the rules about not doing this and that, but chances are, we're probably going to come across this in our lives, and be fine. I'm not in any way suggesting, gee, go shoot up some heroin, but practically every adult I know, even the ones who were goody-two-shoes as kids (or so they say), got drunk in college once, or something like that. And they never did it again, and it didn't ruin their lives. I'm in no way suggesting that I'll try drugs. I mean, that totally freaks me out; my biggest fear is being out of control, and that's what drugs do to you. But I think that, while adults need to make it clear that stuff like this isn't okay, they need to recognize that some things aren't so realistic, y'know? What do you think?
Agreed. I also think that the way the information is presented isn't very positive and is cheesy and cliched. They haven't found a way to really connect with their intended viewers.
ReplyDeleteI Wonder, I think one thing that actually could possibly be helpful would be having actual teens say why you shouldn't do drugs, get drunk and have sex at this age. When adults do it, as you said, it's cheesy and cliched.
ReplyDeleteagreed, agreed, agreed!
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