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How The Normalization Of Substance Use In Popular Media Is Dangerous For Adolescents

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Recommended: The media impact on adolescents

Amaya Murigi
Hansen
Honors English 10
2 March 2021
The Normalization of Substance Use In Popular Media is Dangerous For Adolescents
“Popular culture plays a large role in shaping the expectations, approach, and behavior in regards to substance abuse,” states Royal Life Centers, a substance abuse resource. (Royal Life Centers) So what happens when popular culture consistently glamorizes and normalizes substance use to their young audiences? It has been shown that adolescents are especially vulnerable to media influences. In popular media, substance use in the form of drinking culture and recreational use of drugs is heavily glamorized. The glamorization of these lifestyles in popular media has a real effect on the actions of people.
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A substance use resource and treatment center states that;``...films exist and contribute to the glamorization of drugs and drug culture, like Blow (2001), Kids (1995), Fear and Loathing Las Vegas (1998), and Thirteen (2003). These movies all glamorize drugs, drug use, drug trafficking, and drug culture.” (Royal Life Centers). Through pop culture like television and music, adolescents often form their first impression of substances and the lifestyles they’re entwined with. It is dangerous for adolescents to be educated through media that only shows the glamorous-looking aspects of substance use because it usually doesn’t properly illuminate the detrimental effects of substance use, and the harm it can do to a person’s body and mind. One of the most influential types of media is music, music has always been intertwined with drug culture and substance use, which is revealed in countless song lyrics of any genre. Matt Gonzales’ article focuses on the prevalence of substance imagery in rap music. “A study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 analyzed Billboard magazine’s list of the 279 most popular songs of 2005. The results showed that substance use was referenced in 77 percent of rap songs,” (Gonzales 2017) These staggering statistics are especially concerning since the main audience for rap music is teens and young people who are evidently the most susceptible to these

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