Mean World Syndrome Essay

According to Sr. Elizabeth Thoman, the Executive Director of the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles said, the public has produced fear generated by media violence. She calls this the "Mean World Syndrome," in which the impact may not be on potential perpetrators, but on the rest of the population, who begin to believe that violence is inevitable, that crime is everywhere and that they must be afraid. The projection of violence intensifies our views of the real world, making it seem worse than it really is. As the media increasingly reports the gory details of violent acts, the public becomes more immune. It may make the children more fearful as they come to believe that violence is as common in the real world as it is on television and as a direct result children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.

According to Twenge, the number of teens that go out with their friends has decreased by 40 percent compared to earlier generations. Twenge compares iGens to different generations such as Gen X (born between 1965 and early 1984), baby boomers (1946-1964) and Millennials (born around 1982-2002). Twenge emphasizes on the time teenagers spend on their phones. Social media plays a huge role in this. In accordance to Twenge, different forms of social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are what teenagers spend more time on. According to Twenge, the more time teens spend on smartphones the greater they are at risk for suicide, depression, and loneliness. Twenge also explains how teens are not receiving an adequate amount of sleep, many teens now sleep less than seven hours. Twenge concludes the article by sharing her own experience with her children and technology, she recommends parents to limit the time their children spend on phones. (59-65)

Watching the video has educated me to think differently and not to form conclusions based on what I see on TV. I cannot say I can relate to anything that had happened to everyone in the video, but being an African myself I feel like there a lot of things that might be happening around me that I do not notice. The only things I can say is that when I was younger most of the things I saw on TV scared me and haunted me day after day. There were even times I did not want to spend time outside because of the fear I had of running into someone who might harm me. The Mean World Syndrome is a fear of the world where people cannot trust each other or people from other social groups. For this reason, the way I see TV will be different because if

The presence of violence in our society has become commonplace as the media is filled with it. From our favorite television shows, video games and even the news, violence is made available to us at the click of a button. This ubiquitous presence that violence seems to have over our society has increased the discussion of whether violent content makes the viewer violent. Through The Mean World Syndrome shows that violent content doesn’t necessarily lead to aggressive behavior but might even make the viewer afraid of the world they live in. So how does mean world syndrome theory tie in with other leading thoughts on violence such as the bandwagon, cultivation theory, priming, framing, and catharsis.

A teen sends 2,000 text messages a month and spends 44 hours per week in front of a screen. (Tarish, 18) 94% of teens who have smartphones use them daily. (Tarish, 19) To much online communication can get in your way of making deep friendships. (Tarish, 18)

In the mean world syndrome video, several points are discussed about how violence in the media affects viewers. Although violent crimes has decreased over the years, the media has been showing more violent acts than before. Children have been affected by this phenomenon and it has had a disturbing effect on them too. The media should be more proactive with being fair and less damaging in the future.

“A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smartphone. That doesn’t mean making calls, but using apps and browsing the Web. Spend that amount of time staring at anything, and it’s inevitable it’ll happen in the company of other people. We’ve all done it.” (Boxall, digitalforbes.com)

Repititions and short sentences strengthen the message of the text. Repititions of the phrase ‘No hope’ reaches its crescendo at the end of the sentence. The choice of stylistic features evokes and increases the feeling of hopelessness. According to Broeren et al. (2011), any iterated negative thought, for instance worrying about your health or economic problems, will spark the release of detrimental neurochemicals.

According to the article “How often do you check your phone?” in the modern world today the average time a person will look at their phone’s screen is around 110 times a day; continuing on with the article it is said that people will check their phones “23 times a day for messaging, 22 times for voice calls and 18 times to get the time.” With all the time focused on the phones it distracts people of what is happening in our world and with their local

General mistrust of people. Heavy viewers are more skeptical about other people’s motives. They stay connected to statements that alert people to hope the worst.

Now, the amount of followers on instagram and the number of views on snapchat are constantly stressing us out cause there’s always someone with more. An article on businessinsider.com says that today social media dominates users’attention with nearly 20% of total time spent online in the US across both desktop and mobile devices being on social media, Facebook alone making up 14% of that total time. Teens alone spend about 9 hours using media for their enjoyment according to CNN.com. Those 9 hours don’t include using media at school or to do homework. Some 13 year olds check social media 100 times a day for god’s sake. That’s like what 5 times an hour, so that’s every 12 minutes.

Technology is the leading distraction in the United States. “The average teenager sends or receives about three thousand three hundred texts a month…that breaks down to one text about every six minutes throughout your entire waking life” (Carr video.) “When people have computers in front of them at work, they glance at their email INBOX about twenty to thirty times an hour” (Carr video.) An adult will pull out or look at his/her smart phone about one hundred and sixty times throughout the course of the day. This simplifies to about once

Today, adolescents worry more about what they will miss on social media to focus on what is necessary while driving or anything else. As of today, this problem happens more and more every single day. Lives are lost from the distraction social media causes. Social media also distracts people from quality time spent with the people that they care about. In most situations today, social media takes away the present moment and keeps them involved in other people’s lives than their own.

The number of hours per day spent on the internet by adolescents is not good for their confidence. According to pewinternet.org, since 2000 the number of people, ages 18-29, who use the internet went from 52%- 90%. This means almost all the United States are using the internet daily. In the last year, the rate increased 22%. Social media is one of the fastest growing sources on the internet right now. Their advertising budget is projected to reach nearly $36 billion dollars globally this year. No wonder why kids are so involved in it; so much money has been spent so all they see on ads of social media sites.

Studies have shown that the average person now spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping according to Nick McGillivray (“What are the Effects of Social Media on Youth?). Social has become part of our social society, especially for the many youths. There are positives to being on social media and also equal amounts of danger that come with using social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These social networking sites also have effects on today’s youth by altering the way they behave, the way they learn, in not only a classroom setting but also in the real world setting, and the way that they socialize with their peers and others.