While many people in Chicago and other large cities don't have many positive influences, the negative ones flourish all through radio stations and youtube. With murder rates on the rise, Do you think rap artists like Chief Keef who proclaims doing drugs and carrying illegal firearms and killing his enemies motivate others to do the same? Does what they see on Youtube affect their behavior? Do you think parents should be responsible for the role models that their children look up to? Should parents monitor what their child is watching, and if it's inappropriate do not allow it? How much does music matter to a child's perspective on life? At what age should the monitoring stop? Many parents are not aware of their child's activity outside the home--does this play a role? What kind of effects will this kind of music have on future generations? Do you think these images have a positive effect or negative? Any other thoughts on the influence of music videos
in general?
Danny
20 comments:
I think children listening to music such as rap is somewhat bad but also good. Rap artists have a very unique way of getting their point across through their lyrics and with a beat. I think if kids were to want to listen to rap music it should be more of a childish form of rap, rap without violence or drugs. Kids like the beat of the music but they don't usually know what the artist is saying, so the kids sing whatever they heard the artist who made a good beat said. With the kids that have been exposed to rap in a different or more difficult way that it affects the way the child lives their life, should just be shown that just because the rapper likes to shoot people and rape women doesn't mean the kid has to. Artists are entertainers and that's all their here to do. There here to express their opinion in a musical way, and if it's a thing the artist grew up in a difficult neighborhood where people were doing drive-bys all day then let him express himself in that way. When kids start doing things that they hear a rapper talking about, then they need to be taught the same way parents try to tell their kids that everything that they see on TV isn't real.
Julie
I think music, and other types of media, play a huge role in influencing a child’s behavior. These things are messages to children that inevitably teach them lessons—whether the lessons are good or bad. When a kid hears at a young age that older people are using weapons and hurting others with them, then they tend to think that it’s okay to do that, and they will eventually do the same thing. It’s the same thing with positive songs: if a kid is surrounded by music that preaches about the lord, then they are going to be more likely to follow the lord instead of negative role models. I do think parents should be in control of what their children are listening to because parents are a huge role model to their children. Kids tend to follow in their parent’s footsteps a lot of the time, so if parents are listening to songs about drugs and murder, then kids will listen to those songs to and receive the wrong message. It works both ways. I do think that music has a huge impact on a person’s life; especially if they start listening to it at a young age. It is hard to monitor what a child is listening to at all times, but I think for the most part parents should try until they think their children are mature enough to make their own decisions.
Chelsey
Children are innocent little people who do not know what evil is. That being said, who are we to rob them of their childhood by showing them blood and guts and gore? Some children cannot handle such topics, (even if they say that they can) and subjecting them to music that details violence and sex is very wrong. So yeah, it is up to the parents to help monitor their child and make sure that he or she does not see anything (or hear anything) that is inappropriate. However, they should start weaning the children off of such controls around the time they reach their teens. That way they can still be there to talk about it and pick up on signs of dangerous behavior before it is too late.
I also agree with Julie.
Lauren Smith
I think explicit songs such as rap songs or hip hop songs can have a good effect or a bad effect on a child.
The influence of music is very big these days. I think the type of music reflect the generation itself. For example, people who were born in the 50s or 60s grew up listening to Rock n Roll therefore they reflect that era. Song is like a short musical message created for people to listen, it can teach you a lot of things. There is lesson in every song, it depends on the listener whether to take the song positively or negatively.
-Nilay
Unfortunately music does in fact influence behavior. Rap is a prime example.Tupac Shakur advertised thug life freely. He was proud of who he was. With that same confidence ,this attracted more young listeners.Thug life was glorified and Rap music dominated. It dominated so much that behavior started to change through out because people thought it was cool whether they really knew what thug life was or not. On the other hand those that are apart of African American culture also were influenced by Rap music. Their behavior was influenced just because Rap music was something the African American Culture/Community could call their own. Rap music also talked about what most lived everyday in the African American culture.So basically it gave African Americans pride and a voice to express what life really was for some.Not ashamed of the life they they live,this influenced voilent behavior in effort to display thug life .
A child as young as 2 can't make the decisions on what to watch by themselves. The parents need to decide what is and is not okay. If parents set proper boundaries for the children and stick to them they will have an overwhelming influence on the child. We pay so much attention to the negative stuff that we don't see the majority of people are good law abiding citizens.
However when parents fail to set these boundaries children are going to look for other role models. Unfortunately they often find bad ones in violent music and video or even gangs.
Rebecca Spellmeyer
I believe that music has a huge influence if peoples behavior more than people actually see. There are so many little things that the artist can do that can influence a new fasion statement, how he or she talks and what words they like to use, or the things that they like to do for fun. I believe that most of the influence that can be put on from an artist is mostly absorbed by the younger fan base. You will generaly see many young kids dress, act, and speak like their favorite artist. The effect that an artist can have on some body can be both good and bad depending on how the artist behaves on a normal basis. Thats how I feel about music having an influence on behavior.
Nolan
I think the music is very influential on people’s lives of all ages. Starting at the age of 2 kids don’t know what they are really talking about in music, but as they grow up and hear the music, more they will begin to associate it with other things in life. After time and a lot of learning, they begin associating the things they have learned from lyrics they have been hearing for a long time not knowing whether it is positive or negative. Parents need to be careful of what they allow their children to see and listen to because most of the time kids follow in their parents footsteps and are more likely to go along with whatever their parents do. If their parents listen to rap music and music with a lot of negativity, the kids will think it is okay too.
Elizabeth Luke
I honestly think that kids listening to rap these days can be either good or bad. It can be displayed as good, because the kids are getting to know what the real world is like, but may want to be a little less discrete. Rap is known to have explicit versions, so the ones that kids should be hearing would be the edited versions of songs. Now do we all sit back and think about ways we can be good, and do the right thing all the time? No, so we know that kids are going to listen to which ever version they please, giving them the right to choose. When a person is given the right to choose, they feel as if they are given a chance to prove themselves. I think that gives us a little more of a boost to know right from wrong.
-Samantha
The media and music industry indubitably have an effect on children, whether it's classic music, rock, rap, hip hop, Christian bands, etc. As stated previously by someone else, children like certain kinds of music because of the beat. They may have no idea what is going on in the song but they'll be so overwhelmed in the rhythm and beat of the songs they hear. I think that parents should be held mostly responsible for child's behavior. There are so many things that parents can do to prevent their kids from doing obscene things, such as ones stated in rap songs and shown in rap videos. A lot of things should be monitored, but when you're not willing to monitor them, it then becomes your fault for the actions of your child. Parents indeed should pay attention to everything that their child hears or sees anywhere and should be ready to explain why it's wrong and why they themselves, should not behave that way.
-Cherie
I believe that music plays a major role in people’s life, especially in children. As a child, we tend to find our identity through. In some cases it motivates your actions but this isn’t necessarily the case in all individuals. It thinks it depends on how the child decodes the music in his mind. They can either think it’s catchy and has good lyrics or they could try to imitate the artist action. I think a major problem with kids listing to “bad” music is that they tend to pick up things like cursing since there in some songs or change their attitude because that how this artist acts or does. Either way music is going to influence our lives in some way.
As for parents monitoring, children are always going to hear music parents try to have them avoid, especially with technology being at our disposal wherever we are. Kids are able to hear music anywhere, from the radio, a friend’s house, on their phone or the internet. It’ll be hard for parents to completely monitor a child’s music. I think parents should understand that the music playing in their child’s generation is a lot different and much more expressive. Parents should try to censor music, especially at a young age and then as they get older, in their teens, to be able to hear whatever they choose because their bond to hear all the stuff parents don’t want them to hear at school or with friends. There are some parents that don’t know what their kids listen to and in some cases it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t affect the child’s behavior. In other cases, the child acts very aggressive, or tranquil, depending on the music.
Josue
I think it is up to the parents of how they child is raised. television, you tube, or even rap, i think have the slightest effect on a child, but the environment the child grows up in, and how the child react to things. The same thing a child sees on T.V. or any where else they see in the streets or in their own home. My pastor said " bring a child up how you want them to be" that is the best words he could of said all year.
Natoka
Well, I am not sure how much of a good influence music can have on a person, but I know it can be bad. I do not know who chief keef is but the rappers nowadays don’t really have that much of a bad influence on others. Honestly, rap on the radio are usually about getting money and women. That’s not too bad right? We don’t really hear about wanting to kill others or anything like that. I mean, big sean dedicated a song to butts… that’s the kind of music you hear in America. Music such as KPOP has a better influence on people than most American music. Group members all dance in sync and sing really well, that may sound really gay to most Americans but the style is extremely awesome. Honestly, I think Korean groups are much better artists than American artists.
-Charlie
Yes music can influence behavior, technically anything can influence behavior. The general message I got from taking sociology as a class are that people are generally are product of their environment. This is not always the case, however, as everyone has choices. Do some people listen to a rap song about shooting people or dealing crack and then go do that themselves? Yes if they are ignorant and stupid. At the end of the day people should make their own choices since they are the ones who will be dealing with the consequences.
Schnitzel
I honestly don’t like rap, but I do listen to a lot of aggressive hard rock, and it doesn’t inspire me to go out and do reckless things. Maybe this is because I have certain morals that have been passed down to me through my parents, teachers and other influential characters. Music has always influenced me, whether I noticed it or not. It has inspired a lot of my drawing, and even some of my political views. On the other hand, I’m sure music has inspired people to do some pretty crazy and reckless things.
I’m sure youtube videos can and have influenced young peoples’ behaviors and choices in life, though like I said above, I have not seen anything that has driven me to go create chaos in the world. Then again, I know my boundaries and have no desire to end up in jail or to harm other people. When people bring children into the world, it is their responsibility to do the best they can to raise responsible, respectful, and considerate human beings. I realize parents can only do so much, but I also believe that they should have some say in what their kids choose to listen to, knowing in the end it comes back to the saying, “You can take a horse to water, but you can force it to drink.” I would say parents lose the right to have a say in what their kids do and listen to at the age of 18.
-Sam
As long as the ready-to-be-influenced person understands what music is, the influence shouldn't be very problematic. Music is just simply a form of art.
Music, in my opinion is the single most influential thing man has ever made. Music is also formed from surrounding influences, so its hard to tell if music influences drug use, drinking and violence or if its the world and music is just being used to describe it. what i hate about rap music is someone like A$ap rocky will rap about drinking liquor and codeine, shooting Ak's and dealing so if someone listens to him and does the same thing, instead of people thinking its just what life is for people,which it is for some, they say it was the music and rap must be bad. but, if i listen to some slow jams and go have relations with a girl no one thinks the music influenced it they'll just say that's life for me. i feel like people only look to rap music when something bad happen and blame it when really its just saying "hey look at all the crazy stuff that happens to us". music can influence good and bad in some cases but what we have to remember is music isn't made to get people to do things, not all the time at least, but its made to describe human emotion and surroundings, music is effected more by the world then in vice verse.
brent
I don't think you can look at one person who has a criminal background and think, "Oh that person must listen to a lot of rap music." Sure, sometimes the songs are a little crazy, but there are plenty of indie songs or hip-hop songs that can be just as messed up.
Katherine
I wouldn't say that music influences the behavior of whoever listens to it but there are cases where it can be damages. Listening to excplicit music at a young age can affect the way you talk. Listening to types of music where part of the performance is makeup and certain types of clothes and people can be influenced to dress that way too if they like the music. I think that parents should moniter what their children see up to a certain age, maybe 13 or so, but then I think it is okay for the child to be responsible for the types of music and television shows they watch. At that point I think they are old enough to control what aspects of their personality they would like to be influenced by other people.
Andi
Music plays a large amount on the influence and behavior of children, but that isn’t the biggest influence on their behaviors. All of the learned behaviors start at home. Majority of these children have seen thing that family members do and want to do them also. They feel like if mom and dad are doing it I can do it also. But getting back on the bus, children majority of the time cannot decipher from fiction and non-fiction, and it isn’t good for the mental process of a growing child. I feel as if we need to regulate more of what these kids watch, instead of letting them watch what they to just get them out of t=your face.
-Christopher Hodges
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