Music and Teens

According to the New York Times article that is found in the post below, “Teenagers listen to an average of nearly 2.5 hours of music per day.” That is almost 18 hours a week, which is half the amount of time that children go to school in a day.

Now, when children are in school they listen to the teacher and are influenced by the knowledge that goes in their heads while at school. Why is listening to their favorite music star any different? Children are exposed to music for half the amount of time that they are in school which means that they are exposed to, learning from, and being influenced by the music that they are listening to just as if they were in the school classroom.

The popular music that the teenagers of today are listening to are the antithesis of our Christian values. According to the article, “The average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use per day and 591 references per week, or 30,732 references per year.” It is so important that we make sure that we teach our children the importance of listening to music that is wholesome and uplifting so that they will want to stay away from the music that is corrupting American’s teens.

Although the article comments that many are skeptical about the influence that music has on American teens, I think that as members of the church we know. When there is music on that is not uplifting the Holy Ghost is taken away from us, and it is harder for us to make good decisions. If we want our kids to stay out of trouble, we have to teach them this principle.