by Javaria Atiya Waheed
Justin Bieber is the new 16-year-old sensation, who has taken the world by surprise. Not just amongst pre-teens, Bieber’s songs are gaining equal popularity amongst the adults too and his album sales, even at this very early stage has broken records of artists like New Kids on the Block and N’sync. Sounds amazing doesn’t it?
Such a young child, and already at the zeniths of the world, entirely on the basis of his talent. But is it as amazing as it looks? Popularity at such a young age?
Ask yourself, does Justin live his life as a normal sixteen-year-old child in the world does? Does he go to high school, think about college, and fall into troubles? No, children like Bieber do not have a customary life at all. Every corner of the world has young artists like Bieber characterizing it: whether Dakota Fanning, or Abigail Breslin, Syed Fazal Hussain or Miley Cyrus, all these children may be very popular but this popularity does have its consequences. A rosy picture is very easily painted on the outside, but on the inside, the picture is not so rosy after all. Narcissism, anorexia, anxiety disorders, early pregnancy, drug abuse, and smoking—-these are just examples of what these children fall into. “Childhood” disappears from the lives of these “celebrity” kids and their recognition gets consequences attached to it. Dire consequences.
An average 16-year-old child would be enrolled in full-time education at any high school and be concentrating on that alone: for Bieber, he receives his education on the road. Moreover, Bieber isn’t an exception.
Emma Roberts, the 19-year-old niece of Julia Roberts, is reported to have said in a 2007 interview regarding her education that: “Oh yes, I have a tutor and we have three hours of school every day. That way I am caught up on my work and then when I am not doing school work I am shooting something or other.” Roberts had shown interest in attending two colleges in New York: Sarah Lawrence College and New York University. Well. That was back in 2007, and now 3 years later, Roberts is not attending any of the colleges stated above.
Bieber and Roberts are still in their teens, but Abigail Breslin, the 13-year-old star from Little Miss Sunshine, also receives her education on the road. And the list does not end here. Jamie Lynn Spears, the 19-year-old sister of Britney Spears completed her high school education via online correspondence since she was so busy with her shoots. Miley Cyrus is still tutored by a private tutor on sets, and the Olsen Twins, completed most of their education through home schooling and when they did attend the New York university in 2004, both of them left a couple of months later, to carry on with full-time “individualized” work. In this race for popularity, these “celebrities” totally neglect their educational requirements, the closest they come to going to a school or college is always on some shoot. Like normal children, these children never have regular high-school “buddies” and they never have to go through the nervousness of SAT scores or finals like we do. On the outside, it seems that this is wonderful but practically, the psychological requirements of these children are not being fulfilled. They are socially deprived and since their social circle is the media, it is no surprise that they are the first ones to end up in clutches of drug abuse etc. It is no surprise that they are the first ones to end up in rehabilitation centres too.
The immediate social circle, which these children have, is the media. For decades, the detrimental effect, media has on children, through television has been vastly debated. What effect, then, does this very media have on the children, who are working within it?
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are twins who have been working ever since they were six months old. Now 24, these girls, have made it to the Forbes list of influential people, but with strings attached.
In 2004, Mary-Kate Olsen, at the age of 18, checked into rehab at Utah for suffering from eating disorder and potential drug abuse. This is just one example. When 17-year-olds like Taylor Momsen, work in PG-15 shows like Gossip Girl, being a regular drinker and a habitual addict of drugs, would be far from surprising. Recently in an interview, Ed Westwick, who plays her co-star “Chuck Bass” on the show said: “I was looking at some pictures from the show, and the girl from the first season and the girl now, are two different people”. Momsen is one case. By the time she was 16; Jamie Lynn Spears had already moved out of her house and living with her boyfriend, following an unexpected pregnancy. At the age of 19 now, Spears is already a single mother.
What is more is that, Miley Cyrus, the 18-year-old “good girl” of Disney, has already been involved in a photo scandal with “Vanity Fair” and recently has outraged parents for “wearing less than what some people might wear for a day at the beach”. And if we research a little more, the list might even turn out to be infinite. Celebrity children may be admired a lot, but being exposed to media at such a young age, not only takes their life away but also exposes them to things like drugs, alcohol and sex at an earlier age than normal kids. Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy and Miley Cyrus’s risqué outfits can only be described in terms of a very precocious approach to life, an approach which comes as a perk of being a part of this media. Agreed, that in the 21st century, every teenager falls into the pit of these bad habits at some stage in life, but being a part of a normal high-school and a regular household means that they do have guidance to show them the right path, in the form of friends and parents. That is exactly what these celebrities are deprived of. The possibility of them having “guiding” friends is minimal and as for their parents, these children might just be money making machines, so why prevent them in any way?
According to the parents of these celebrities, such as Billy Ray Cyrus, their kids are a part of this media, because this is what “they were born to do”. Okay, yes they do have a natural, inborn talent for some things which may be directly related to the media, but does that mean, push them into it, from the tender age of 8? Wouldn’t it be rather feasible that they live life as normally as possible and when they are old enough, they exploit their talents to the fullest? That won’t be injurious at all. Neglecting their studies, their “normal” life and pushing them into this whirlpool of media: now that certainly is harmful.
Syed Fazal Hussain, the child who worked in Mehreen Jabbar’s movie “Ramchand Pakistani” was just 8 when he used to go for these shoots. His father argues that he was always with him, spending day and night on these sets. But being on a set all the way on Thar Desert, must have led to some lack of normalcy, one way or the other. Now Hussain can be regularly seen on television, working as part of some soap or the other. The 9-year-old child is now a consistent actor, and instead of regular schooling, he is regularly acting. All he is taking home to his parents is money. From where I stand, all these parents see in this celebrity image of their children is the money and the popularity. What else can there to be it? They obviously fail to see, that their child is being kept away form a healthy life, that their child is falling into a trap which may not harm him right away but will surely, dent him at some point in life.
Recently, I got the chance to closely interact with some of Pakistan’s most famous VJ’s. And upon asking when they joined the television network, the answer I got was as soon as they completed their O-levels: that is at the age of 16. Now these same VJ’s are regular chain smokers and regular drug users. And the females in this category are no exception. Yes, shocked as I was, this was the bitter truth. Now, these people are not “part-time” workers but they are “part-time students”. The only future they have is this media, surrounded by this blinding smoke and only if the parents would have ignored the material gains for a minute and looked at the overall losses, they might have stopped this up.
While, on one side there are parents who exploit the talents of their children and ignore the consequences, on the other side, there are “celebrity” parents, who become the backbone of their child’s career and are exploited by their children instead. In their work, they not only tend to ignore the needs of their children, instead, the only means by which they actually look after them, is that they make them a part of that very media. Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith, is one example of such a child: Jaden appeared in The Pursuit of Happyness alongside his father in 2006 at the age of 8 and has been a part of media ever since. Now, he is a rap musician too and is singing songs alongside Justin Bieber. He is home schooled and his only moral fiber is his father. Such children, with time, not only have to face the menace of media but soon they also become entirely reliant on their parents. Their key to success remains to be their parents and not their own talents. These people fail to have an identity of their own: an identity which other children easily develop.
Not just this, a recent newspaper report, described Justin Bieber, as a narcissist, as quoted by his fellow singer for “Eenie Meenie”, Sean Kingston. Kingston revealed that while working on the song with Bieber, he discovered that Bieber liked to search himself on You Tube and Google and read the comments people had about him, on set. Well, that is one other corollary of getting into media so young. Being in their teenage years, the tendency to grow more arrogant, haughty and narcissistic is much greater, than if they are adults. Only Justin Beiber’s case came into light with the media, but that doesn’t mean he is the only narcissistic fellow present there. Almost all of these young stars can be easily characterized under this category: and who can blame them either? This is the age when their socialization process should still be going on within a school, at its secondary stage, where they can be held on an equal footing with other children. But then again, they are deprived of this and for this reason; they develop self-pride which is greater than the rest, self-pride which can have dire consequences later on.
Where people like Emma Watson do form an exception to the general rule the majority fails to do so. The bulk of these children don’t believe in pursuing a higher quality education like Watson-in fact, they drop out like the Olsen twins, in the first few months only. They give status and reputation an upper hand to education and therefore, inevitably get involved in the world of drugs, booze and sex. Yes, parents should never jab the talents their children possess but before getting them involved in this world of media, they should weigh the material gains against the moral losses too. It doesn’t take time at all for this popularity to turn to ashes, and keeping this in mind, the future possessions should be regarded. Develop your child’s talents to the fullest, but do not exploit them for all the off beam reasons. Media is certainly not as risk-free as it looks and keeping these teens away from this kind of life, at a young age should be the priority. Maybe, getting involved in media after their teenage years, will also give these people a valuable insight into what life really is all about: about how the world is not what it looks like and how your judgment is the most imperative for your well-being at the end of the day. But until, they reach this stage, they need guidance. Guidance which is mandatory, so as to tell them of ways to keep this disguised menace away.
by Zoha Khalid
