It is argued in this article that to develop richer models and more effective pedagogical tools, studies exploring the relationship between mass media and young people need to foreground media use in the context of young peoples' daily lives, as well as in the context of more broad social and political issues that shape how specific media forms are constructed, deployed, and taken up by young people. Focusing primarily on major trends of the media effects tradition, the dominant paradigm among social scientists, this article surveys and assesses four key themes of effects research concerning adolescents: heavy media consumption, media violence, sexuality, and media and young women. Recent research developments concerning young people and new or digital media forms also are considered, and arguments about media and youth culture from apolitical economy perspective are reviewed briefly.