The Vietnamese teens are now heavily influenced by the mass media: the TV, the magazines, the newspapers, the mangas, the animes, the movies, and especially the internet. They are very different from their brothers and sisters, who were born in the '80s, and are a complete contrast to the generations born before that, who grew up in a time without much TV or radios, and computer or www would be a strange concept.

The teenagers have been raised with much better conditions, and now have easy access to the news. There are hundreds of channels to choose 24/7, plenty of books and newspapers, and for many, the internet is essentially the biggest existing encyclopedia. They are bombarded with information telling them how to live: which games to play, which dress to wear, which music to hear, which places to go party, and so on. And the latest changes in fashion, the newest gadgets, the latest gossips about some celebrities, the latest music or movies across the globe are sometimes just one click away. The types of presented information have also changed significantly. Newspapers or magazines used to have much more articles but monochromatic. Now, they is much more colorful with pictures of all sizes, and lots of them are just advertisements.

As a result, reading and writing skills of the Vietnamese teenagers have suffered considerably. Many would refuse to read books or lengthy articles due to their "lack of appeal." The internet language has become a pandemic to both language teachers as well as parents who want to keep an eye on their children. Finally, the busy life created by the mass media has made teenagers much more eager and open about sex than their elders. Caressing or kissing in the public has become the norm. To conclude that the mass media, instead of families and schools, have been shaping the characters of this new generation in Vietnam is actually not a long stretch from reality.