Part of being a teenager involves social outings to see the latest movie with friends and family. Other teenagers glue their eyes to movies at home.

While seeing a movie in the theatre or at home can be thrilling and entertaining for a teen, some teens find themselves changed for the worse after model movie plots in their own lives. Issues can arise when teens watch too many movies or those films that are not appropriate for their age.Teens try to emulate movie characters and scenarios without realising the fact that sometimes these movie models are not always the best for teens and you may not want to recognise or admit that, but it is a fact.While watching movies, some teens try to be like their favourite characters, thinking they need to change their body image and weight drastically to fit those of movie characters. Problems can develop such as anorexia, obesity and general self-esteem issues, while of course, you cannot stay away from all negative messages in movies, but you can make sure you understand what can be considered a negative message.Teens who spend too much time watching movies can find themselves battling weight issues such as obesity. Obesity is strongly linked to inactivity among teens that usually comes with spending too much time in front of the movie theatre screen. Of course, the reverse can occur in teens, thinking they need to lose excessive amounts of weight to look like their favourite movie stars. Understand that what you see on movie screens are not the ideals.Many of the movies targeted towards the teen audience depict intense scenes of violence. Any viewer, especially a teenager, can notice that violence and mirror it in their own lives, thinking it is cool or in style. However, violence in movies can be detrimental especially at a time when you are forming your own values.Teenagers that view violent movies on a regular basis are exposed to images that can eventually lead to desensitization. Teens might not recognise this effect, but violent movies have been known to lead to bullying in school or violent behaviour at home. Teenagers become desensitised to images of violence if they see their favourite movie stars acting out violent and physically aggressive scenes on the big screen, and you may not want to believe that, but there are real life situations that can be attributed to this.While studies have shown that parents are the top influences on a teenager’s behaviour, when a teen watches a violent movie, they may become more inclined to act out what they are seeing in their everyday life. While you surely have an understanding of right and wrong, you may think it’s okay when you see someone using physical force to hurt another human being. Watching violent movies can also cause increased aggressive behaviour that can lead to problems down the road in terms of getting into and even finishing high school. Movies are fiction and teens need to understand that movies should not be basis for their decisions.Although movies have some negative side effects, they do help one to relax especially after quite long hours of studying.