Mass Media And Violence Essay

In fairy tales, children are pushed into ovens, have their hands chopped off, are forced to sleep in coal bins, and must contend with wolves who've eaten their grandmother. In myths, rape, incest, all manner of gruesome bloodshed, child abandonment, and total debauchery are standard fare. We see more of the same in Bible stories, accentuated with dire predictions of terrors and abominations in an end of the world apocalypse that is more horrifying than the human imagination can even grasp.

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.

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)

On April 20, 1999, two students walked into Columbine High School armed with shot guns and explosives. The incident ended in tragic results, as fifteen families will forever set one less plate out at the dinner table. March 24, 1998, an eleven year old and a fourteen year old walked into school with hand guns, killing four and injuring ten classmates (teen-violence.com). Thirty years ago, the biggest problem that kids at school were faced with was forgetting homework or being sent to the principal's office. There are many kids today who may fear that the person sitting next to them in class may have a loaded handgun in their book bag. On average one hundred and thirty five thousand weapons are brought into classrooms across the nation each

The concept that the media and violent video games have an effect on aggression and violent behaviour in youth is one that I have heard speculations about in other classes and ultimately agree with. In the article by David Grossman, titled Trained To Kill, he presents the idea that while it is against human nature to kill one’s own kind violence in the media has led to an increase in criminal acts committed by youths (Grossman, 2000). Overall, I agree with his argument because the common theme of violence in media leads to desensitization, and creates a conditioned response to violent situations. However, since the 1980’s we have seen a decrease in homicides in Canada, which contradicts Grossman’s theory.

Huesmann and Taylor then begin to define violence in its various forms and stages. This seemed to be slightly redundant and useless information since it is obvious and is not specific to the topic in question. The authors then begin to obtain the reader’s attention as they begin to describe the issue faced by the youth having unlimited access to violence on television. A study done on children is then mentioned, where half of the group watches a violent movie and the other half a non-violent movie. The two groups of kids are then combined for a hockey game where levels of aggressive behavior are observed and compared. As expected, the research indicated that the kids who watched the violent movie demonstrated more violent behavior.

The sense of what is right and wrong comes from within and is not influenced by what

Whether it’s a story on the news or a drama at the theatre, violence has become a social norm in the media. Today, companies have significantly relied on the use of violence to ensure that their audiences are still motivated to watch. According to the Media Education Foundation, the level of violence on prime time television has increased 167% since 1998. Although there is a widespread belief that watching fictional violence causes people to become violent, the rise of violence on TV compared to real-world crime statistics over the past 20 years tells a different story.

The world today has a variety of problems and violence is one of the most

Everyone sat, with eyes wide open, staring at the tv, wondering what 's going on. Everyone calling everyone asking if they are ok and what 's going on. No one knew, but tv broadcasts said that a deadly virus has broken out in Washington. The broadcast explains that the virus is turning people into zombies and then the zombies have been infecting people by eating them. Suddenly a fence is ripped apart by zombies behind the broadcast, the zombies start heading towards the broadcast people. The women speaking says, “may God be with us all” and then the broadcast abruptly cancels. We all know what has happened and that we need to prepare ourselves.

In the past, storytelling was the only means of passing information from the original source to the new generation. However, storytelling was only limited to those individuals that had access to the storyteller and they would have firsthand information before it was passed on to others and distorted. This gave a need to record stories in a more convenient way to ensure that the next generations would receive the message in the original non-distorted state. It is for this reason that saw evolution of message conveyance from complete dependence on human brains to a recorded form. As technology advanced, there was introduction of films. As the film industry grew, there was excitement as films even went to extreme point of

In this era of internet connectivity, access to an array of violent media stimuli is readily available. Scientific exploration of the effects of such exposure on real world violent behaviour carries potential ramifications for the safety of global communities. Media violence is understood here as stimuli that includes depictions of violence or calls to violent action and includes image, video, television and gaming. Violent behavior is defined as behavior causing emotional or physical harm expressed verbally or physically. Whilst there remains no causal proof for the

In today’s world, there is an endless amount of information available to people everywhere around the globe. Mass media is definitely shaping our world, whether it is in a positive way or a negative way. Television and the radio waves provide us with hours of entertainment. The emergence of the Internet allows us to access thousands of pages of information within the reach our very own fingertips. But with the convenience of all this information comes along a certain level of responsibility. As a society, we Americans must decide what is appropriate information and entertainment for the masses to access and enjoy. But does today’s society give too much leeway in what it thinks as “appropriate?” Does increased

            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.

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