The Influential Effects Of Teens
How The Media Can Steal Your Money
By Jackson Nakos
The Problem
Teens influencing each other to buy products or services by others is a problem that needs to be addressed. An article titled, “Impact of TV Advertisements on Teens,” states, “Children between the ages 12 or under convince their parents and pupils to spend around millions a year”(Mehairi 2). Later in the article Mehairi says, “This group impact is very influential as teens influence each other to buy new gadgets and products, and it can also create tension in between them as human nature lets them always strive to do what they think is best, try to compete with each other in terms of fashion, gadgets, and trends that in turn benefits the advertisement company and proves the success, of the advertisements in causing a group impact on teens which normally results on a negative manner in the teenagers behavior and psychological growth”(Mehairi 2). As you can see, teens, including myself, influence each other’s buying decisions, and it can lead to negative effects in our brains. Companies also benefit from us influential teens because they increase profits by encouraging us to spend instead of save. Another demonstration of teens’ influential impacts would be: “The undeniable influence of kids,” which that state's kids can influence up to eighty percent of all household purchases, and spent up to 1.2 trillion in 2012 Packing Digest Staff). Many teens, including me, have a powerful influence upon our parents and peers, where we control what our families buy and make most decisions ourselves based on advertisements. This is a problem for me because I see people who are working hard, including my parents, to make money, but when advertising companies trick people into buying things they don’t need, it can affect their financial status in the future when they need money.
The Solution
My solution to the problem in the media where teens influence parents and peers to buy products, is that I will limit my spending each month to $50, and will try to not influence others to make purchases for me or for them. By limiting my spending, I will not be tempted as much as other peers are to buy things. It will allow me to carefully decide what to purchase each time I want to buy something. Limiting my spending each month will also reduce the chances of me being attached to new products or trends, and making me unaffected by peers who try to influence me, saving me money. On the other hand, trying not to influence others might reduce the amount of people who try to buy all of the latest products, saving them money. In fact, trying not to influence others will make me less liable to do it myself, helping me even more. Furthermore, parents would have extra money to spend on their family. These solutions would solve my problem and the problem of the people around me.
Bibliography
Packing Digest Staff. "The Undeniable Influence of Kids." Packing Digest. Bill Goodwin, 16 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.
http://www.packagingdigest.com/packaging-design/undeniable-influence-kids
Al Mehairi, Saeed. "Impact of TV Advertisements on Teens." (2013): 2. Print.