Module 9: Music and Radio
Music is one of the most frequently employed, popular media for adolescents, "devoting approximately four and five hours a day listing to music and watching music videos" (Christenson & Roberts, 1998, p. 8). In a study conducted in 1990, when high school students were asked which media they would take with them if they were stranded on a desert island, at all grade levels, music media was the preferred top choice, even over television (Roberts & Henriksen, 1990).
Uses of music. The appeal of music relates to adolescents'
uses of music (Christenson & Roberts, 1998, Dominick, 1996) for a range
of different purposes:
- information about political or cultural issues or social/romantic relationships.
- diversion, relaxation, release, distraction, intensifying mood.
- constituting social relationships, either solitary, imagined experiences or
sharing musical experiences with others.
- withdrawal or escape into one's own private listening experience
- defining personal identities.