SUBSTANCE USE AND ABUSE 2
Title of the paper
Your name
Institution
Substance Use and Abuse
Drug abuse is the use of chemicals that mostly affect the brain, and normal functioning of the body if used repetitively. The substance is used among many different youths across the world and could be considered a world epidemic. Moreover, the use and abuse of substance have different effects which include health consequences that are either long-term or short-term. There are different ways a person can use to administer substance into the body; through ingestion, inhalation and also by injection. In the U.S, it is estimated that 67% of teens aged 12 and above consumed alcohol substance in the year 2014. Moreover, more than 10% of individuals who were aged 12 and above used illegal substance and it was approximated that the illicit drug users were 27 million (Stirrat et al., 2015).
Substance abuse is a detrimental psychoactive use of a substance such as illicit drugs and alcohol. The use of substance could result in a syndrome called dependence syndrome which is a collection of cognitive, behavioral and mental complications which occur as a result of repeated consumption of substance use. The repeated action of consumption creates a desire in a person using it crave for the drug. Consequently, a person using this substance in most cases spends much time and money on drugs than any other constructive activities. Other materials that are popularly used and which may lead to addiction are such as; unregulated over-the-counter medicines and tobacco.
Agrawal & Lynskey (2006), says that Substance use can be looked at as using drugs or consuming alcohol. Substance abuse, on the other hand, is the regular and repeated use of drugs regardless of the consequences and dependency on a substance which leads to full addiction.
Pop culture is a word that was coined from a longer word “popular culture.” The popular perception was in the years back associated with people of a lower or poor class in society. The pop culture can be defined as a combination of different products of culture such as literary works, film, dance, music, fashion, radio and television. However, it has been associated with substance use among teens in many countries; this is because the majority of people who primarily consumes the products mentioned above are the young people. Due to this, pop culture is more attractive and appealing to teens across the world (DiTommaso, 2014).
There have been claims that pop culture plays a significant role in terms of influencing young people to substance use and abuse. According to a research done about the influences of mass media on attitudes of television viewers, it was evident that exposures coming along with social media especially television had the authority to its consumers and led to change of values and attitudes towards substance use and abuse (Christenson et al., 2000). The messages in pop culture products have a dictatorial power to command the attention of its viewers who consume the information. The effects of information acquired from mass media be it films, music, television, and others largely depend on various factors which include, different interpretation of the message by the viewer, impact of contending information from different sources such as friends and parents in the cultural and social background (Christenson et al., 2000).
Christenson et al., (2000), asserts that Messages that are repeatedly shown on social media about substance use creates a culture whereby young people watch, internalize and feel like it is something valuable to try out drugs. The more regular and repetitive messages on substance use are shown on television, the more it creates a sense in the mind of individuals to easily relate with that type of drug or substance shown more frequently. What does the presence of substance use by celebrities on television and other mediums show? It shows that the use and abuse of substance have no harm. Given that most teens are consumers of television programs, most of them end up abusing the substance to addiction because of the powerful influence of mass media (Christenson et al., 2000).
Youths and parents watch different television programs; whereby young people have distinct viewing patterns. In America, and any other parts of the world, music, and movies are very common to young people (Siegel et al., 2013). Behaviors are influenced by the frequency with which music and movies display. Cultivation theory talks of behavior whereby audiences distinguish behavior that is repeatedly portrayed in mass media. For instance, violence (Siegel et al., 2013).
There are theories such as social learning theory which also argues that messages young people get from any mass media influence them in a more significant way and provide them with a concrete representation for behaviors. For instance, smoking, feelings, and attitudes (Bandura & Walters, 1997). Despite the fear of substance use and its effects in a human body, it is evident that Whenever youths encounter depictions from songs and movies, there is an existence of the behavior limitation which might overpower him or her and end up consuming or start abusing the substance. The theory of social learning demonstrates that the possibility to imitate depends on the situation that surrounds the portrayal, predominantly significances devoted to behavior (Bandura & Walters, 1997).
The imitation of some behaviors come from influential people who live flashy lives in society and are considered role models for young people. Characters who perform on television shows, radio presenters and music artists play a role in promoting substance use and abuse among teens. They live a beautiful life, at times they appear powerful and on top of everything and also, they are the people who spend lots and lots of cash to do drugs, romance, and sex. When young people see this, they involve in dangerous activities thinking that they will live this kind of life when they use drugs which turns later to be hazardous to their health, life, and security.
To conclude, Substance use and abuse is a very critical issue for most young people across the world. Different platforms have contributed to the behavior which is as a result of biased influence from social media, radio, televisions and even music. Despite the dangerous effects that substance use and abuse have to young people and a vast population, there are still many reasons behind the use and behavior. Social media considerably is the leading influencer on young people since most of their time is spent on television. Different programs, music, and shows have adverts that contribute and display scenes of substance use and abuse. The regular and repeated messages that keep on appearing on screens have a more significant impact on its consumers on behavior change.
References
Agrawal, A., & Lynskey, M. T. (2006). The genetic epidemiology of cannabis use, abuse, and dependence. Addiction, 101(6), 801-812.
Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1977). Social learning theory(Vol. 1). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-hall.
Christenson, P. G., Henriksen, L., & Roberts, D. F. (2000). Substance use in popular prime-time television — the Office.
DiTommaso, L. (2014). Apocalypticism and Popular Culture. In The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature.
Siegel, M., Johnson, R. M., Tyagi, K., Power, K., Lohsen, M. C., Ayers, A. J., & Jernigan, D. H. (2013). Alcohol brand references in US popular music, 2009–2011. Substance use & misuse, 48(14), 1475-1484.
Stirratt, M. J., Dunbar-Jacob, J., Crane, H. M., Simoni, J. M., Czajkowski, S., Hilliard, M. E., … & Ogedegbe, G. (2015). Self-report measures of medication adherence behavior: recommendations on optimal use. Translational behavioral medicine, 5(4), 470-482.