The Influence of Music on the Youth
Music is as old as the oldest civilization that existed in the world. It is said that every civilization is coupled with its own unique music. Ancient civilizations used music to express and describe their current situation and predicament. They used it to describe their customs, adventures, exploits, beliefs and tradition. Music depicts emotion, fascination and views of the people or the writer. As civilization evolves, music too evolves, from ancient musical instruments made from stones, metals, wood and indigenous materials to the well polished, electrical music instruments of our day.
Music is defined as an artistic and structured composition of sounds or communication may be a mixture of vocal and instrumental tones in a certain rhythm or pace. Music always has an important role to play in every culture with regards to communication and learning. With music being a staple in youth culture of today, and technology that promotes music propagation in the world, it seems that each teenager has a “soundtrack to their life”.
But, are the youth really just innocently listening to their favorite tunes? Or are they in for something more? Can the content of a song influence one’s actions or behavior?
As statistics shows, popularity of music among the youth grows, just as the number of teenagers involved in violent behavior, sexual scandals, alcohols and drugs. The parallelism seems interesting and sparks questions and concerns from parents and the community.
It is highly accepted observation that there is a seriously deteriorating messages conveyed on lyrics of some music genres notably rock music. Prominent messages detected are advocating drug abuse and indulging in alcohol, videos and pictures depicting sexual exploits, graphics and lyrics depicting violence and suicide as alternative and perhaps bad behavior and scandals associated with the artist.
Some research shows that music is powerful and has the potential to evoke emotions and personality. It has been found that music has amazing effects on memory and learning; in fact, a study shows people who study music are higher achievers that those aren’t involved in music. It is also true that countries like Japan, Hungary and the Netherlands place great emphasis on music education and is, in fact, the top three academic countries in the world. It is therefore, very possible that a negative side is also taking place.
Fear of negative effects of music has been heightened as more incidents of violence have links on music inclination of the parties involved. There is also a link in behavioral changes observe in youth with the kind of music they listen to, these include isolation, depression, aggressiveness, moral view changes pertaining to sex, alcohol and drugs. The artist also presents a significant contribution to these behavioral changes. Music lovers not only like music but idolized the artist. As there is a direct link between the singer/writer to the song, the singer may become an example for the youth. As these artists are also involved in scandals and violent behaviors, this may project a view that these behaviors are acceptable.
This fear is called by Psychologist as Moral Panic. This means a reaction to something based on perception that maybe bias or exaggerated. In some countries like the Philippines for example, a very exaggerated myth is circulating as news reports on some killings involved the song “My Way” written by Paul Anka and popularized by Frank Sinatra. People believe that there is a serial killer doing this or the song is evil or promotes violence paranormally.
Music is not usually a danger for a teenager; The teenagers’ parents can help through guiding them in the way teenager purchases, listens and views patterns. Parental guidance may also be needed in helping them to identify music that may be destructive.
As this moral panic regarding the destructive effect of music to teens linger, many parents all over the world are advocating tighter legislations on censure. The pressure is growing strong to ban certain music and composition from public consumption containing violence in lyrics, graphics and videos, glamorizing sexual scandals and advocating drug and alcohol abuse. As these measures are not yet done, it is better to be vigilant in selecting what music to listen.