Charged with the Great Teen Escape

Nearly everyone loves to be entertained on some level. No matter the age, ethnicity or background, most people thoroughly enjoy being amused. Electronic media has caused a virtual explosion in the ability of young people to escape to and share their favorite forms of entertainment. I marvel at the power of recreation to influence young minds, and the underlying responsibility of content providers to be conscious of what’s being offered to young people as entertainment. It’s my observation that never has the goal of being entertained through multi-media been so aggressively pursued as it is today by a massive audience of children, teens, and young adults.  

“The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it’s even more than a full-time work week,” said Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation.  “When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”

A few hours engrossed in a thrilling adventure story have afforded many of us a much needed break from the daily grind, and now sharing our pastimes is just a click away. Kids are especially adept at living life through the palms of their hands; smart phones, tablets and e-readers allow Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games and even my own book, Sons of Caasi, to offer a near instantaneous escape from peer pressure, cutthroat competition and the usual host of causes of adolescent angst. The release of a super hero blockbuster (think Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc.), or a chick flick with Taylor Lautner or—you know it’s coming—Justin Bieber, can send multitudes of young people flocking to the theaters for a couple of hours of on-screen diversion. Music, video games, sports and more on the Internet make it possible to enjoy a virtual smorgasbord of mesmerizing multi-media entertainment options with untold numbers of online friends. Facebook and Twitter mean impressions and even experiences can be shared virtually by millions.

We live in an age of technology that allows the entertainment experience to be communicated in numbers that boggle the mind. It follows that as producers of entertainment we have the privilege and the opportunity to create content that will be consumed in unprecedented amounts. It’s likely the effects of the entertainment content we choose to deliver on such a vast scale will be felt by children, teens and young adults—the most likely to choose electronic entertainment as their great escape.

Preview Sons of Caasi: Battle for Time