The Experience of Media Violence for Children

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.’’

It is a matter of great importance how much of media content children are exposed to and what exactly they are viewing on media. The issue of violence is not a new phenomenon among children and keeps increasing with time and change in technology and information technology. The causes of violence in children are seen to be multifactorial and exposure of children to media violence is said to be an important factor when it comes to the etiology of behaviors that are violent among children.

Television is the mainstream of our culture. Violence on television has been a topic of conflict since before 1950. There have been repeated debates on how to protect children from the harmful effects of violence on television. Television is one form of modern media that influences the everyday lives of people. Televised violence has a major effect on how children perceive the world and how they behave. "American television has become the most violent in the world. It is for this reason why researchers have focused their attention toward television violence" (Cantor & Hoffner 424-4-25). Children enjoy watching television and now with the increased technology of cable and movie

(1).The problem is that in the last four decades, the government and the public health amassed an impressive body of evidence identifying the impact of media violence on children. Since 1969, when President [Lyndon] Johnson formed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the body of data has effectively grown and grown and it leads to an unambiguous and virtually unanimous conclusion: media violence contributes to

In the media there is a great deal of violence and nobody can really deny that. However, the effects media has on children and young adults have been debated for years. In this paper I will be discussing the effects of media violence, the other factors, and the possible solutions to alleviate this global issue.

Everyone is influenced and shaped by society. Society affects our perceptions, our consciousness, and our actions. A majority of the influence, especially on the younger demographic comes through the media; specifically through television. It is important to examine how violence in the media develops a pervasive cultural environment that cultivates a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the impact of television and media violence, as well as the human cost of violent media, and the overall effects on society from watching TV.

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

Media violence is one of the most debated public issues society faces today. Television screens are loaded with the glamorization of weapon carrying. Violence constitute as amusing and trivialized. Needless portrayals of interpersonal violence spread across the television screens like wild fire. Televisions spew the disturbing events such as children being assaulted, husbands inflicting domestic abuse on their wives and children succumbing to abuse by their parents. Scenes of betrayal, anguish, infiltrate the television screen. Unfortunately, a child becomes subjected to media violence. Everything a child sees or hears in the media affects them in some way or another. The precise effects of media violence on children are

As censorship of the American media has broken down over the years, the amount of violence allowed to be shown in movies, on television, and in video games has skyrocketed. From coast to coast in our nation, this saturation of hostility in our media has caused many contentious debates between scholars, parents, students and government officials alike. In this controversy, the central argument revolves around the effects violent media has on our society. The question that most researchers strive to answer is this: does watching or participating in violent media cause violent or other harmful behaviors? There are those who would say yes, it does promote destructive behavior in

The media is currently regulated according to voluntary industry established rating systems. Many critics state that these systems that are in place do not effectively inform guardians or prevent children from accessing violent content. In 2007, the United States government addressed that some regulations might be placed in order to protect children. Such regulations have yet to be seen but are being pushed (Gerdes81). Violent media is protected by the first amendment, which is why society is fine without the regulations. They would rather place the possible effects on children growing up rather than feel like their freedom of speech is being tampered with. As stated, “Naturally, debate over media violence stirs up strong emotions because it raises concern about the balance between public safety and freedom of speech” (Matter 1). In order to keep hold of our rights, society is not willing to regulate the amount of violent content that is presented in the media. Professionals such as doctors should also be more aware of the role that media is playing on the lives of their patients. It is crucial for them to be asking what devices that patients have at home and what they watch and play. The government realizes that they should place regulations, but it is a difficult situation for them due to the courts protecting violent speech under the first amendment. This is in order to help place some regulations and maintain a healthy amount of violence in the media that they are intaking (Beresein 1). Eighty-two percent of parents that allow their children to watch between two to four hours on a daily basis believe that violence in children's programming is concerning, and nine out of ten says that they are seeing a negative impact taking place in their children (Gerdes 82). Many counter this by saying that it is the parent's

Today the media is more influential than ever. Movies, books, podcasts, tv shows, and other various media outlets have influenced the nation tremendously. Violence has also been a hot topic these past few years. Gun shootings, homicides, and overall crimes are consistently being committed and shared on the news. The topic of violence and the discussion of media influencing that violence is extremely intriguing. In 2008, John Murray, a psychologist, wrote in his published book, “Fifty years of research on the effect of TV violence on children leads to the inescapable conclusion that viewing media violence is related to increases in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors” (Murray, 2008, p. 1212). This research shows that there is a correlation

For years there’s been a contended debate on whether or not violence in the media harms children. On television, thousands of murders are being broadcasted to children who are in Elementary School, they are witnesses to hundreds of thousands acts of murder and general violence. In Media Now, ethics come to play and discussions regarding the question who is truly responsible for media effects comes into play? Watching too much violent TV and playing too many violent video games takes a toll on children's social and physical development, researchers report. It seems as though the more TV kids watch the more they are subjected to isolation and refrain from spending quality time with friends outdoors. Media now discusses the role of producers

          Due to violence on television, children become less sensitive to that pain and suffering of others or to become more aggressive to others. It also makes children more fearful to the world around them. (Abelard 1) Viewing habits of children observed for many decades deduced that violence on TV is associated with aggressive behavior, more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. It also reported that a TV show contains about 20 acts of violence an hour.

            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.