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In this context, Bokey and colleagues² have studied images of youth in the "old" media, focusing on "Notable Texts" recently recommended by the Children's Book Council of Australia. Suicide, mental disorder and failure were commonplace in portrayals of an insecure and pessimistic young generation. Psychiatrists were predatory or incompetent and offered no reprieve for the distressed. This genre has been termed "social realism" and its rise attributed to the social and economic changes that have aggravated the usual turmoil of adolescence. It is true that with these social changes familiar adult milestones such as stable employment, financial independence, parenthood and home ownership are delayed³ and rates of adolescent emotional and behavioural problems appear high.⁴ Even so, images of pervasive adversity, mental disorder and suicide are overly pessimistic and do little to destigmatise mental disorder in a group whose access to health services is already poor. Moreover, if these images are to be found in the familiar old media, how much more concerned should we be about the new?

Hard answers are elusive. Academic research on the media and youth lags far behind that of marketing. Most work is North American, where the main focus has been on television violence. It is clear that childhood viewing of violence predicts later aggression and criminal behaviour.⁵ It is also clear that there are many powerful moderating influences. Parents, for example, have traditionally influenced not only what children watch but also the effect of those images on actual behaviour.⁶ The closer an image is to real-world scenarios, the greater the effect on behaviour.⁷ For this reason the virtual-reality experiences of the new media may prove particularly powerful.

Trends in young people's media use are relevant. Only a third of today's Australian youth read for recreation.⁸ In contrast, electronic media have become pervasive and the convergence of telecommunication and computer technologies into the Internet has led to a dizzying growth in communication options. The new media offer individualised, two-way, synchronous interactions, and increasingly draw on sound and vision to offer sophisticated virtual environments. The effects are not all negative and the benefits from opportunities for social contact, education, publication and establishment of businesses, regardless of location, can not be dismissed lightly.

The media's growing role in shaping youth lifestyles and cultures also deserves consideration. A longer period of full-time education, growing affluence and greater recreational time have made youth a distinct consumer group, with lifestyles shaped increasingly by the media. The new media offer myriad ways to market messages that affect self-concept, body image, sexuality, and drug and alcohol consumption. The tobacco industry has rightly been the main focus, but the health effects of marketing food, alcohol, fashion, pharmaceuticals and entertainment deserve greater attention.

What options exist for action? One is to do little and allow the market forces behind the media to drive solutions. The success of the Harry Potter series is one example of market forces in action, as young readers turn away from a "social realism" they find boring.⁹ However, the dizzying pace of media change, and a mistrust of increasingly global marketing targeting the young, suggest that few will have confidence in this approach. One alternative is to rely on advisory bodies such as the Children's Book Council of Australia. However, with recommendations to librarians, teachers and parents based on artistic merit alone, a body such as the Book Council seems poorly placed to take on the role.

It's a fair bet that, despite the best efforts of J K Rowling, young Australians this Christmas will be more interested in video games and cyberspace. Without better information from research, parents, media professionals and young people face difficult choices. For parents, media education may prove useful in overcoming their unfamiliarity with the new media, one reason for their diminishing monitoring role. For professionals working in competitive media and advertising industries, emerging ethical questions deserve expert advice. An encouraging step is the release by the Commonwealth Department of Health of a media resource kit as part of a mental health promotion strategy.¹⁰ It marks the beginning of a dialogue between the health professions and the media and one that should go further.

Even with the best of parental and technical monitoring, today's young people will be exposed to a greater number and diversity of media images than any previous generation. For this and future generations, the role of media education in both interpreting images and dealing with virtually limitless information is likely to grow. Academic research may or may not tell us whether Harry Potter is a better companion than the cyberheroine Lara Croft, but should help us all make better-informed decisions about the presents we buy for our children in the years to come.

George C Patton
Professor

Susan M Sawyer
Associate Professor
Centre for Adolescent Health
William Buckland House, Melbourne, VIC

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