The Effects Of Media Violence On Children

Media Violence Currently observed increase in the number of crimes related to violence, especially among children and adolescents, makes us think what is the main causes of violence in society that leading us to it? We live in the world of fear, when each of us waiting for a moment when random guy from the streets will kidnap us then torture and kill. And mostly this “random guy” is Latinos, black or Muslim. This stereotypes were created in our mind because of media that controlled by government, however it not only creates stereotypes, but also it makes us act violent against each other. Nowadays the media portrays drugs, sex, guns, even though they know that most of their viewers are kids, so media builds the base of violence in children’s minds.

Have you ever come across gothicism? Have you ever noticed it? It first appeared in Great Britain from the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Gothicism in literature is something that forces you to think beyond the preternatural line between the supernatural and natural. Gothicism exposes the unspoken and deliberately forgotten, using dark language in what we are uncomfortable discussing. The two pieces of American literature Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe are great examples of gothic literature. As a Gothic writer, Poe uses specific words and events which exhibit gothicism in these two texts by haunting, usually unspoken, and dark themes which are characteristic

The media is generally seen by people as a way of conveying the truth. If something is seen on TV, has been heard on the radio or something has been read in the newspapers then it is perceived as being the truth. Throughout history the media has been used as a tool to convey different messages to people. The issue of the behavior of children when exposed to violence on media has been an issue to be debated upon and studied for a very long time. There are many devices that children have access to of late which include video games, iPods, iPads, DVDs, computers and so on. Children are often said to be impressionable, this means that they do not see the world in the same way as adults do. Children tend to see things the way they are. They take things literally as they do not posses the sensibilities that are sophisticated to make a distinction between reality and fiction (Limit TV, 2010).

L. Ron Hubbard developed a new controversial religion called the Church of Scientology. Which is as an extension of his earlier psychological theories of Dianetics. Many people think of Scientology as more of a business instead of a religion. Reader's Digest quoted Hubbard in the 1940s saying, "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion." He did just that. His religion has become a huge money maker. Church of Scientology members are expected to pay fixed donation rates that have brought great wealth to the church. It’s also considered the religion of the twenty first century. Celebrities such as Tom Cruise has made Scientology famous.

How many hours did you spend watching TV last week? How many fighting scenes did you witness during one movie? Yeah, the Hulk and Spiderman might be super cool when they fight off the bad guys, and yeah, they are every kids hero, but, have you ever stopped to think what all of this violent media is doing to the minds of the younger generations? How it can affect them, not only now, but in the future? We may believe that what we see in movies, music videos, and video games is all fiction, and may never happen in real life, but that is not true. Children like to repeat what they see, not knowing whether it is good or bad. Examples like The Bobo Doll Study showed us that children who observed the

Impressionism takes the moment at hand and depicts it with light and color. George Seurat was influenced by Impressionism using modern subjects and urban leisure scenes. He used color characterizing of Impressionism but also made arrangements based on color theory. Seurat wanted to capture all the colors that interacted to make their own appearance which differed in thought to Impressionism of putting colors next to each other to create colors that blended optically. Seurat helped move Impressionism into Post-Impressionism by developing a systematic structured way of painting.

According to the Media Education Foundation, once a child reaches eighteen years of age, they have witnessed around 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders (jacksonkatz.com). Our society loves entertainment and a grand portion of this entertainment contains violence. Children constantly consume violent visuals, due to their prevalence. Majority of our society is uninterested in the effects of media violence since its effects do not show immediately. Misinformation is our greatest enemy in the battle against media violence. Children under the age of eight do not easily differentiate fiction and the real world (Media Education Foundation). Young children are vulnerable, and their inability to accurately distinguish reality from fiction is one of the main culprits in why fictionalized violence being shown to children is dangerous. As members of families and communities, we must make an impact ourselves through leadership. Violence is widespread and easily available through media outlets, causing our children mental harm. We are active caretakers and we can easily protect our youth by the usage of parental controls on television set, mobile devices, and computers.

Pretend you are a parent. You are at home and you see your child acting in a hostile and aggressive manner. You ask him where he picked up on this behavior. He replies, “I saw it on Television.” Television violence had a role in the child's behavior. Media violence can have a lasting impression on children, teenagers and adults not only through television, but also through video games. In the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in violent behavior in the United States (Merino 1). This is the result of exposure to violence. More than half of television programs and video games contain some type of violence. Perez Daly says, “’... children are likely to see 8,000 murders and at least 100,000 other acts of violence prior

“Children aged five to 16 spend an average of six and a half hours a day in front of a screen… ”(Wakefield). But unfortunately, much of the television today is full of violence. Scientists believe that the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers may cause them to become immune to the consequence of violence, terror or horror, cause them to be unable to handle their problems in a healthy form and cause them to copy, imitate, the violent behavior they see on the television. Therefore, there needs to be a removal of violence from cartoons such as the ones on Boomerang, as it is negatively affecting children.

Violence has been around since the beginning of mankind, and it is not going away anytime soon. Ever since the era of cavemen, we have relied on violence to provide us with the basic necessities to survive; such as food and clothing, in harsh and barren environments. Fast forward several thousand years and these basic necessities for survival are now abundant and readily available for a large majority of the population. Unfortunately, this hasn’t decreased the presence of violence in our society. Today’s entertainment and media mostly focuses on these violent examples because they know that it will garner the most attention. The question on everyone’s mind is if these violent images shown throughout our multiple media outlets have a direct correlation with violent behavior. Research shows us that violent images can directly trigger violent behavior.

With the growth in popularity in films, media has been a major influence in people’s lives. In recent years we see movies and tv shows impacting the way we talk, move, and even think. In recent events, theories on violent behavior have emerged with the belief that media is causing it. The issue becomes even more serious when“...watching violence in the media becomes enjoyable and does not result in the anxious arousal that would be expected from seeing such imagery.” ("Violence in the Media."). A lack of anxiety leads to apathy in people when it comes to doing violent crimes themselves. People become so used to watching violence and crime that it becomes apart of their lives and could influence them into behaving the same way as a character in a movie or tv show that they watch. This is especially true for children because they are watching these types of shows and movies while their minds are still developing. Violence in media is a serious issue because as media influence grows, the bigger the chance that crime rates will go up do to the impact it has on children in such an early stage of their life, and parents of these children need to get involved to stop the promotion of violent behavior.

Communications technology is expanding through the entire global community (Dyson 2). Children everywhere are being born into a world of images and messages, which are largely separated from their home, school and spiritual lives (Dyson 2). In society today storytellers are seldom parents, grandparents, teachers or the clergy; instead they are the handful of distant forces with something to sell (Dyson 2). What is unique about the media industry is that in global and corporate domination they have become part of our culture as well as our identity (Dyson 3). Social scientists and child advocates have been exploring the effects of media for decades, yet it is only recently that

In an article entitled “Violence and Suffering in Television News: Toward a Broader Conception of Harmful Television Content for Children” found on the Pediatrics Journal website, Dr. Walma Van Der Molan writes, “Pediatricians are in good position to inform parents, educators, policy makers, and broadcasters of the potential harmful effects of violent news and to suggest ways to enhance children’s understanding of such news information. Pediatricians could take action within their own practice, for example by including news consumption in the assessment of children’s media histories and by preventing children from watching violent news during their stay in the hospital. However, they could also engage awareness of the negative consequences of violent news within other domains”(1773).

Media plays a significant role in the United States. What first started as limited information on paper has now transformed into endless amounts of news, data, and entertainment that we can easily reach out of our pockets. Media has evolved into two forms: print media which consists of magazines and newspapers, and there are broadcast media which consists of television, radio, etc. Broadcasting media is now considered the most prominent media outlet out of these two because it is used more frequently, and it is more accessible than ever. Radio media, which started in 1920 with the invention of the radio channels and broadcasts, has now evolved into many different forms like television, movies, video games, and the internet. A very controversial and worrying topic for parents and guardians nowadays is the amount of violence that is now being used and broadcasted in media. Many people believe that violent media is the main reason why there is youth violence in America. Violent media doesn’t precisely contribute to violent youth behavior because research shows that even though the amount of violence in media has increased over the past years, the number of youth homicides and violent events have decreased. There are also broader factors that contribute to youth violence rather than violent media, like a history of violent victimization, low parent involvement, and even living in socially disorganized neighborhoods. And although violent media seems like a bad thing to be

Many video games, television programs, adverts, films and music lyrics depict different forms of violence. Some people feel that there is too much violence exposed in the media. Many studies have made the claim that the media is responsible for much of the violence seen in the world we live in (List and Wolfgang). However, people have choices and responsibilities we cannot allow ourselves to blame it on other things such as the media. The violence seen in our media has an impact on both adults and children. Since children are also exposed to various forms of media, there has been additional concern for how they process and think about the violence they see, read or hear. Excessive exposure to media violence can also affect people in many ways as they can become disturbed and develop serious fears of being victimized in real life. Nevertheless, the entertainment industry and those in favor of the media argue that censoring these images or music will not solve the problems of a society, which is already violent.