Several months ago, my husband and I were the waiting room at our doctor’s office.  As we looked around us, we became aware of the fact that we, with the exception of the staff behind the front desk, were the only ones that were not using some kind of electronic devices.  We looked at each other and shook our heads.

All around the room, people were involved with their cell phones, computers, tablets, iPods, or games.  Everyone, including a two-year-old and an elderly gentleman was looking at something that took them away from the people around them.  One family had six children, and each person was in their own little world.

The media often enters our lives, unobtrusively, through our electronics.  We hardly realize it when it happens.  The addiction to electronics has opened a window that never closes.  And it is  nearly impossible to separate ourselves from its influence.

For nearly a century, American life has been affected by advertising in newspapers, radio and magazines, increasing exponentially over the years to include billboards, television and the internet.  Virtually, everywhere in our society, people have become consumers of products, ideas, beliefs, and even their own self-images based on what the media says.  It is a profoundly ubiquitous factor in our daily lives.

The effects of this phenomenon is especially dramatic in young people who are not savvy to the ways in which their lives are being manipulated.  Some of the results of this have caused the suicide rate to spike, with cyber-bullying being only one of the many causes.   Other negative effects include: eating disorders, self-harming behaviors, extreme depression and other debilitating conditions.

It is extremely important to many teens to have the latest cell phone and multiple pairs of expensive athletic shoes.  Why are these possessions so important?  The media has dictated what teens should want, have, and therefore, need just in order to be “good enough.”  Ownership makes one worthy of notice, attention, and the message goes deeper, even love.

Desperate to be accepted, kids are easy prey to the ploys of this brainwashing, all through advertising.  More has to be done to educate our youngsters about the traps they are falling into, that just because these influences are a huge part of their world, it doesn’t mean that their messages are true.  If we can find ways to change the tide of this phenomenon, we will reap the benefits of a society that judges things from a perspective that takes in information, but does not allow itself to be told what to think or do.  In fact, people of all ages need to remember this.