Continuing Research Information

Through this past week I have been able to think more about possible research topics that I would enjoy doing. The discussion that we had today in class helped me realize that I need to think of ideas that have not been used millions of times. I need to write my paper in an interesting way that attracts people more than the other topics. The two topics that I am still considering right now are teenage sex rates and eating disorders in relation to popularity.

First is the information that I have gathered on teenage sex rates. A question that I had is class earlier was in reference to when teenage sex was first realized as a large problem. After searching through both the Google and Ask search engines, I was still unable to find an exact year to when the problem first arose. I did find some information on why teenage sex is such a bad problem and I found this information very interesting.

I was also wondering where is the United States these sex rates are the most of a problem. I learned from this website that the more developed an area is, the higher the teenage sex rates normally are. That is why the United States has had increasing numbers for the past few decades. I used different engines to find this information on top of Encarta and Online Encyclopedia. I learned that you can find a lot of different information from each of these different sources that you need to just search hard for in order to find.

The second topic I research was eating disorders among people who feel like they need to belong. Many people are already aware that eating disorders are a huge problem across the world today but they don’t know where they originated from or how to treat them. I want to learn this information for myself and for the people around me. I would want to include a little personal story in my paper so that my readers are able to get a different perspective besides some of the facts that I would be able to provide. I went searching for a couple different questions that I thought up earlier today. One question was in reference to all of the different disorders that there are in relation to eating and weight. Many people only know of a couple of disorders but I was able to find a couple of lists of many different kinds. I had a hard time finding some of this information on the internet but I plan on looking through some print sources later in order to get additional information. There are disorders relating to working out specifically and ones that are only related to binge eating.

A second question that I was also trying to answer was if these disorders are heritable through generations or not. I looked through the Online Encyclopedia and Ask.com so that I could find some facts. I found information that anorexia is very heritable among people. This was very surprising to me and made me want to study this information even more. I also found a map of obesity increases over the past years that could be used to compare to the eating disorders that are rising in popularity today. This might be the topic that I am beginning to lean towards.

I still have to think about what I exactly want to talk about but I am a lot surer about the different points that I would need to cover in each topic. Both have positives and negatives about them, and I am confident that I would be able to produce a very good quality essay no matter what topic I end up choosing to write about.

It's Simply Sex

Along with all of the pressures of individualism and freedom that you begin to experience as you get into your later teen years, many people also have to obtain to social pressures. All of the external influences that are around us continuously pressure us to conform to what they belief is right. Teenagers are constantly surrounded by drugs, alcohol, and sexual messages that persuade them to “do what everyone does”. My experience with high school has included all three of these specific influences. Staying away from these objects gets more and more challenging as time goes on, only because more and more people continue to conform.

The topic that I want to discuss today is sexual influences. Commonly you will find that almost all advertisements refer in some way to sex or sexuality, making it even harder for teens to stay away from it. All of the products that we want to buy relate to sexual instances eventually. This is such a disgrace. Sure we learn about the results that can come along with sex in school, but really these classes have to specific influence against sexual practices. I believe that people will simply do what they feel like doing, and that when people are set on something, no one will be able to stop them. They are simply nothing compared to the multiple influences that we get throughout a day to have sex.

I don’t want to preach about having sex. I can not go against it, only because I am a teenager and I am living through the same times as all other people my age. I would say that it is not the advertisements that should influence people to have sex, it shouldn’t simply happen so that you can say it has happened. Virginity is an important aspect to your life, spending it on one person is priceless, so chose wisely for the right one. Just remember that this entire experience is much more that just simply sex.

In a later entry I would like to discuss some of the affects that come along with teenage sexual practices. Numbers are increasing and deadly measures are beginning to take place; it is time for something to change.

Cellular Capabilities

With the development of new handheld devices that can keep people within seconds of communicating, the American life has been assertively changed. So is this a change for the good, or for the bad? Many could argue each way, saying that our popular cell phones are by no means not only a method of communication but also a destructive tool. Not only is it a quite difficult task to stay up to date on the rapidly-changing cell phones, but you must also spend hundreds of dollars each month just to use them. Teenagers of the American society are bombarded by new technology everyday, and let me tell you, it is hard to resist the bright colors and new features of the improving phones. As these phones might look really pretty, they have been lead to cause health problems and can commonly lead to emotional disorders. As there is still more research to do on this topic, it really changes your insight on the use of cellular phones.

Many psychologists have researched the various effects of cell phones on the American generations. For young children, especially, cell phones have impacted their lives greatly. Comparing the American lives of adults when they were kids and current students proves that the introduction of global hand held phones have really changed the attitudes and behaviors of people. It is hard to determine where cell phones will go from here. Technology is becoming a more and more prominent importance to the everyday lives of Americans, and people are beginning to do anything to stay up with the times. Around 82% of Americans have cell phones today. This is a large increase and a substantial influence of the differing attitudes of American teenagers. Personally, I know that I spend way too much time on the phone, but in our society today, popular culture influences it over and over again.

Emotional Development

As people grow old, they change physically, mentally, and emotionally into different spheres of personalities depending on how they were raised. Today the American popular culture has a large impact on all of these three methods of development, creating diversity among American peoples. Our popular culture is demanding, constantly begging all of us Americans to conform to the strong opinions and stereotypes of the decade. Emotionally, Americans have been changing to play the correct role of our culture in many extensive ways. Anything including abuse, media, books, religions, school violence, and other aspects of American society can change the emotional reactions of the American peoples.

Watching how celebrities react to certain events can later impact how we react after being fired from a job or getting yelled at by a fiancé. Almost one-hundred percent of the time all of these influences are negative ones that only worsen all of the present problems. An even more specific example that you can look at is the development of criminals and predators. Many innocent children are influenced to behave differently through playing violent video games or watching gruesome television shows. When confronted with a problem in the future, these same kids will use their cultural influences to shape how they react. All of this can be referenced to nature vs. nurture. It seems like today our external influences resulting from nurture override the behavioral traits that were taught to us through our nature.

Anther example that comes to my mind can be shown through looking at the teenage Americans across the country. Everyday these adolescents are surrounded by the influences of sex, alcohol, and drugs. All across the media, through television, movies, and the radio we hear about the new celebrity news which all seen to involve either sex, drugs, or alcohol. It is hard for our brains to forget about the external influences around us and we tend to relate to them later by conforming to the same beliefs. No matter how our parents raise us as children, adolescence will hit us hard with strong magnets determined to pull us into the wraps of popular culture.

Commonly we fail to even realize that our popular culture is impacting our lives so much. Much of the process happens in an unconscious matter where we are unable to distinctly point out what is influencing us and why that is happening. Our emotional reactions and behavioral traits are determined by the rapidly changing popular culture of America. Many people believe that there can be no single law that will remedy America’s current situation and the terrible paths that we are heading down. Right now America needs a fundamental shift in priorities, morality, and responsibility so that we can begin on a new path towards good.