Effects Of Media Violence On Society

THESIS STATEMENT: The world’s media today seem to have more violence than ever. Video games have vivid depictions of accident catastrophes, fighting and murder. Television news programs generally lead with a violent story in order to gain an audience. This is free society people can stay what they want. ‘’ Media violence has many negative effect on youth today to commit crimes in society.’’

A ponderous medium of media is video games in co-relation to violence. Video games encourage violent behavior in children as they are at a crucial stage of adaptation.

I chose this topic because I want to be a videogame designer and I wanted to defend my right to create what I want. Unfortunately, after researching this topic it is clear that it is no longer possible to say violent media is completely harmless. Videogames and television do have harmful effects on children and young adults. Research has been done since the 1950’s and almost all studies show clear evidence that media violence does cause increased violent tendencies, desensitization, and antisocial behavior – which is the same as sociopathic and psychopathic behavior, it does not mean introverted.

Many people still have several questions they want answered, such as, is media violence actually affecting children or are children already prone to violence drawn to media violence? Some experts have shown short and long-term negative effects occur in children from watching violent media; however another group of experts have shown that media violence is only one of many risk factors leading to aggression developed in children. These two groups need to continue more research and go beyond that to find true solutions. Nevertheless, no sources were found to say that media violence has no influence on the increase in modern culture’s violent actions. The key to discovering the true correlation between violence in children and media violence is to continue research until a solution is

Savage and Yancey had noticed that while there had been numerous studies on whether video games increase aggression to their peers, no one had tested whether or not they affected criminal tendencies in teens and young adults. After exposing them to a violent television show, the kids were made to take a test to see if violent tendencies were displayed later. Once it was all said and done the results pointed to there not being any correlation with criminality and violent media consummation. (Savage, Yancey 16-17)

This could be opening the doors to a plethora of other cases and assumptions that can lead to our youth potentially becoming killers. Research was conducted on the exposure of television violence and its effects on kids, organizations like the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and the Academy of Pediatrics have concluded that there is a cause and effect relationship amongst those exposed. However, such studies does not demonstrate that media violence causes aggressive behavior, only that the two phenomena exist together (207). This finding was used to make the assumption that it would likely be the case with video games.

The authors continue to point out the various influences that media violence is affecting the youth and studies that back up their arguments. Huesmann and Taylor then shift to another source of violent influence, videogames. The various ratings categories of video games, Everyone, Teen, and Mature, are mentioned and the fact that all three of them allow some sort of violence. It is mentioned that the Teen category consists of roughly 94% violent games which is astonishing. This turns out to become a major issue because of the amount of time that teenagers spend playing video games. The authors then mention studies that show that teenagers who play violent video games demonstrated

Violence in the media has been proven to leave notable lasting impacts that negatively affect society. Not only that

Violent media is a prominent part of America's culture. America is the home to dozens of multimillion dollar industries that specialize in making violent media. This media usually has a rating label on it, categorizing it as being made for young children, teens, or adults. The purpose of this is to protect children from the disturbing and/or violent scenes depicted in the media. Yet, millions of children under the age of 17 still have free access to violent media. However, even though children have access, the overall effects of violence on children are not negative.

In the article "Media Violence" by the The American Academy of Pediatrics, they state and recognizes that exposure to violent media, such as TV, games, comics, movies, and music, can pose a health risk to young teens and children. There has been some research that shows these risks can include, aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. The American of Pediatrics also provide a way to counteract such effect such as advocating for media literacy, more thoughtful and proactive use of media by children and their parents, more responsible portrayal of violence by media producers, and more useful and effective media ratings.

There has been continuous research with regards to the relationship that exists between media violence’s and the behavior of the viewers. Some of this research has focused on children and teenagers. Despite most of them indicating the absence of a strong relationship with real life violence, there have been proof that it affects other aspects such educational performance and social relationships.

It’s the ever-present question that has been asked by authorities, educational institutes and parents alike. Does violence in the media influence the behavior of society? Some say yes, others say no. Other questions posed that I will try to clarify in this essay are those to do with what, if anything is being done to control this virus. To fully comprehend these questions we must first understand what is meant by violence in the media, and whom it effects, if anyone at all. Also, did violence in the media come first, or was it derived from violence in the ‘real world’? There are arguments that can be stated from both sides. Some say that escalation of violence in society is a symptom of

Television, movies, and video games have a great influence on the minds of today's youth. But, what exactly are the effects of such an influence? Certain people have exaggerated the effects that these media have on today's youth. Many people, including government officials, have singled out these three media sources as the cause of some types of violence simply because it is an easy target for laying the blame. The truth is that television, movies, and video games are nowhere near the actual causes for acts of violence and other crimes. Studies on the issue are, at best, inconclusive on the issue. Many people believe that television, movies, and video games are the

            In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term “violent media” and  brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.

In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.