Many children watch television everyday, and recent studies indicate that children watch between three to four hours of television a day. Even more astounding is the fact that children spend about 38 hours a week either watching television, playing video games, listening to music, and/or working on the computer (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1996). This time spent is comparable to a full-time job. It is obvious that the media influences children. Today, a main focus of the media is sex. Sexual innuendos, sexual imagery, kissing, flirting, and other things of this nature can be seen everyday in the media. By spending so much time under this influence, children are exposed to this sexual content as well. Singers of all kinds are transforming their images to make themselves more sexually appealing. Television programs contain many sexual innuendos or sexual images, and there are no real restrictions curbing children viewing these programs. According to a recent study, three out of four hour-long programs on network television contain some sort of sexual content (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1996). However, children are not exposed to sexuality just by television programs. Another major contribution to this sexual influence is music videos. Many kids watch music videos, and some of these singers even become role models for the children. More so, many references to sex are evident not only in the music videos, but also in the song's lyrics. All in all, the media makes many references concerning sex, and children are continually exposed to them. The programs and videos that these children view have an everlasting effect. All children are influenced by what they see or hear, and because sexual content is rampant in the media, the children in this country have been forced to deal with a mature subject matter at a very young age. What is this doing to the formation of morals and values of these young people?.
