If a child acted violently towards someone else, like if he or she punched another child, there would be consequences for that child. Perhaps detention or grounding, but then their act of violence is mostly forgotten about. Rarely do the parents or school officials investigate why the child acted violently in the first place. If asked, the adults might say something like “the child probably watches a violent television show, like Powerangers, or he/she plays violent video games, like Grand Theft Auto.” Most people would consider that an acceptable reason. It is the norm to blame “the media” for everything that is wrong with our culture. But the question raised now is why; why does our society claim that violence in the media affects the behaviors of children?
The term “the media” is somewhat overused in our culture. It is a vague term we use to include any and all ways that messages are portrayed to us, usually in technology. Dr. Cyndy Scheibe, a professor at Ithaca College and media literacy expert, says that media is “messages conveyed through visuals, language, and/or sound that are mass produced for a mass audience. [Media is also] mediated by a form of technology and the producer of the message is not in the same place as the receiver of the message” (Scheibe). This means that media would include things like television, movies, the internet and print. Media doesn’t include things like text messages because they are not intended for mass audiences. For the purposes of this essay, “media” is mostly going to refer to television and video games.
Media violence can also be broken down to a specific definition. Dr. Scheibe describes the characteristics of media violence as frequent and pervasive (it appears on ...
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Works Cited
Browne KD; Hamilton-Giachritsis C. “The Influence of Violent Media on Children and Adolescents: a Public-Health Approach”. Lancet 365.9460 (2005): pp. 702-710. Print.
Jenkins, Henry. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: NYU Press, 2006. Print.
-----------------, ed. Congressional Testimony on Media Violence. n.d. MIT Communications Forum.
Olson, Cheryl K. “It’s Perverse, But It’s Also Pretend”. New York Times. 28 June 2011. Print.
Scheibe, Cyndy. Media Literacy and Popular Culture CLTC 11000-01. Ithaca College Textor 101. 25 January 2012. Class lecture.
Walma van der Molen JH. “Violence and Suffering in Television News: Toward a Broader Conception of Harmful Television Content for Children”. Pediatrics 113.6 (2004): pp. 1771-1775. Print.
A "hot topic" of discussions today is the issue of violence in the media. After reading about the subject, I am convinced that media violence negatively affects the viewer. The most susceptible are the young.
Today, there is more violence on TV, in video games and in music than ever before. Many times, media violence is linked with kids and teenagers committing violent acts. This is an attempt by parents and critics to eliminate violence in the media. Although, many think media violence is a cause of violence among children, they should be looking at what else causes violence.
Drive-by shootings and school massacres are just two of the many violent past-times of today’s youth. Is television a contributor to this insidious erosion of children's respect for life? Much research that has been done in an attempt to answer this question. The majority of the findings are very similar in content, and the results are grim. Television violence has been shown to cause four major changes in children's behavior: "Increasing aggressiveness and anti-social behavior, increasing their fear of becoming victims, making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence, and increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life." (AAP Committee) Television is causing a change in America's children, and it is not a change for the better.
Acts of minors killing minors across our nation is sadly becoming trendy and familiar. School shootings are tragic and yet that is all that is said about them. It seems as though words of action to stop such tragedies are just that. Educated experts study reasons why such crimes take place, but the findings are rarely put into action. The violence and content that the media of the United States displays to children causes hidden irreversible damage that most deny. What it would take to minimize the spread of school shootings is simple and the results would surprise American society. The content of movies, music, and other forms of entertainment have a serious effect on children because media inadvertently trains their minds for violence and needs to be stopped.
American Life Project (27 June 2007). Rpt. in Media Violence. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. San
The media in today’s society is very influential on children. There are many things that children at a very young age are learning, for example violence. Many children learn violent behavior and they become violent and aggressive children because they are exposed to so much mature content. Many parents are not aware of what their children are watching, and without knowing it, their children are raised by the media. Many television shows contain a lot of violence, for example kids fighting each other, kids bullying other kids and kids yelling and disrespecting their parents. Unfortunately, at a very young age children are learning to be aggressive and violent because they are spending more time watching television than spending it with the family. Now days many kids turn into bullies because they believe it is a way to defend them, a way to gain respect and admiration from their peers. They do not respect their parents and they get out of control at a very young age, and many parents cannot control their behavior. If parents do not monitor what their children are watching, then the media will have a great impact on their children’s life.
The Effect of Television Violence on Children Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior; The violence that children are constantly subjected to on television can have very harmful affects if not monitored carefully. More and more often parents are using television as a means of entertaining their children when they are unable to, and the amount of television that children are watching is a growing concern in our society. While a large part of the concern is the quantity of television that young people are viewing, a more pressing issue is the quality that is offered to them. While cartoons may seem to be harmless and humorous, that is not always the case. A good portion of the violence that is on television is captured in Saturday morning cartoons, when children are most likely to be captivated by them.
A massive amount of violence is being displayed in the media and has become harder to avoid. Violence is everywhere. We experience it in various ways, such as rap music, television, or first person shooter video games. We hear rap music and remember the vicious lyrics. We constantly watch celebrities commit crime on television and observe people being slaughtered multiple times a day. Youth can virtually do the slaughtering of the other characters while playing first person shooter video games. These forms violence in our media is overwhelming. To hear, to see, and to virtually experience the negative actions have a negative affect on the youth, especially if more than one of these influences are being experienced by the same individual.
The long-term affect of media violence could potentially push young kids into aggression, in an article titled “Violent Video Games Promote Teen Aggression and Violence” Craig Anderson says that “this type of violent media is allowing younger people to believe that what they’re seeing is positive therefore making it okay to act in such ways” (Anderson). What Anderson is trying to say is that the long term affects of media violence is letting kids think they can justify their behaviors because they have seen it before. This causes children to continue their violence and see things for not what they really are. The short term impact just shows their aggressive thoughts increasing and extra emotion whereas they become much more defensive as soon as they can relate a real life situation to a television show or a video game. Soon enough, if parents don’t take control of their child these short term affects become long
first time in human history most of the stories about people, life, and values are
The Effects of Television Violence on Children's Behavior. Television violence causes destructive behavior in children, however television can be a powerful influence on young viewers in our society. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is very violent. Many researchers, like scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries, have studied to find out what it is about television violence that makes it such a big affect on the way kids act and behave.
Does violence on television have a negative effect on children and teenagers? The violence shown on television has a surprisingly negative effect. Television violence causes children and teenagers to become less caring, to lose their inhibitions, to become less sensitive, and also may cause violent and aggressive behavior.
By the time a child reaches the age of one, they see about 200,000 acts of violence on television. (Nakaya, 3). The Media has been becoming more and more violent over the years. A poll in an issue of Times Magazine, from 2005, showed that 66 percent of Americans think that there is an abundant amount of graphic acts of violence on televisions (Nakaya, 18). People are exposed to thousands of acts of violence through video games, television, and movies. Many studies show that media violence increases violent behavior in in humans. Studies show, violent video games, and graphic television have physiological effects on children. The government has very few regulations on media violence. Some people believe the government shouldn’t limit content because others might be insulted by its material. Media violence is such a broad topic and has such a large presence in daily lives, so we cannot simple get rid of it. The Federal Communications Commission stipulates, “By the time most children begin the third grade, they will have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a television set.” Even though the government shouldn’t censor the media, Media violence is becoming a serious issue because it is becoming more violent, it makes people behave violently, and it has little regulations.
No single factor can cause children or adults to act aggressively. Instead, it is the accumulation of risk factors that leads to an aggressive act. Hundreds of studies look into the issue of violent media, it always seems to end up the same place with three major effects including increasing aggressive behavior in a variety of forms, desensitization, and spurs fear. Not every viewer will be affected noticeably, but we know that every viewer is affected in some way. Some have argued that violent media are the primary cause of mass shooting. Others have argued that there is no solid evidence of any harmful effects of violent media. But it is clear is that exposure to media violence is one of risk factors increased aggressive behavior, desensitization, and fear.
This literature review is based on the effects of television violence on children. More specifically, it deals with the relationship found between television violence and aggression found in young children. I chose this topic because I found it interesting to learn that studies have indeed found a connection between television viewing and the behavior of people, especially children. The first study reviewed is entitled "Television Violence and Children's Aggression: Testing the Priming.