Violence in the Media Causes Increased Violence in Children

Violence in the Media Causes Increased Violence in Children Introduction There are many factors that have been related to the increased violence incidences among the children. These causes include poverty, child abuse, and exposure to domestic violence, drug abuse, psychological disturbances, and many other variables. Studies have also increasingly linked violence in the media to increased violence in the children. While studies have not proved exposure to violence in media to be directly responsible for violent behavior in children, there is evidence to show that exposure to media violence increases the risk of children becoming violent. Therefore, there exists a very strong relationship between media violence and aggressiveness in children.

Buy this excellently written paper or order a fresh one from acemyhomework.com

VIOLENCE IN MEDIA

2

Violence in the Media and Child Development Violent media content happens to be among the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. Violent media come in the form of television, video games, and other forms of entertainment. Unfortunately, “More than one thousand scientific studies and reviews conclude that significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain children, desensitizes them to violence and makes them believe that the world is a ‘meaner and scarier’ place than it is” (Gentile, 2009). Exposure of children to violent media tends to make children to become hostile and emotionally detached to the portrayal of violence and pain, making them to develop violent habits by emulation. Proper parenting requires parents to act in the best interest of the child and regulate their exposure to media violence. Children in their earlier years have an inclination to be influenced by whatever they hear or see. Imitation of violent activities shown on the media can cause the children to injure themselves or harm others.

Studies indicate that children watch television approximately 28 hours a week, more time than they spend in school. The ready availability of different media contents gives the children opportunities to access them without parental control. It has been argued that 90% of video games, 75% of television programs and more than 60% of cartoon shows have violence content (Gentile, 2009). Most children below 4 years of age are not able to differentiate between fact and fantasy, and they take violence in media as normal. A great percentage of them take the violence in the media to be normal behavior and this attitude becomes difficult to change. These children tend to perceive media violence as portraying a means of resolving conflict. They get to develop an attitude that to be a hero, one has to be violent. Therefore, the television and movie characters become role models to the children. Exposure to media violence makes children to be oriented

VIOLENCE IN MEDIA

3

towards being pro-violent, developing hostile personalities, and to view violence as an ordinary occurrence in life.

The manner the children respond to media violence is determined by “what they watch, how much they watch, their age and personality, whether they watch alone or with adults, and whether their parents talk with them about what they see” (Mwema, 2011, p. 6). This means that children tend to model what they learn in life. Modeling is the strongest way of “transmitting values, attitudes, and patterns of thought and behavior” (Mwema, 2011, p. 6). Most media violence programs portray their characters as heroes, and when children are exposed to too much content they start emulating these characters. The curiosity of children becomes intensified and this is so more especially when the perpetrators in media violence are depicted as cool and smart, and get rewarded. In as much as the children get affected negatively by the sufferings and afflictions that the victims in media violence undergo, the violent behavior also influences their life. This is because the brain has the ability to change in response to an activity that is done regularly.

Children exhibit violent behavior in different ways. The violent behaviors can be in form of bullying, aggressiveness to other people, verbal abuse, harm to animals, and physically assaulting others. When children are exposed to too much of violet media content, they develop traits such as hostile personalities, intensified physiological arousal, development of violence related attitudes, aggressiveness, insensitiveness. An aggressive child becomes intentionally harmful.

Conclusion Mass media has been shown to affect a number of issues in the lives of children and adolescents, such as drug use, sexuality, self awareness, and violence, among others. Media

VIOLENCE IN MEDIA

4

plays a big role in shaping the attitudes and habits of individuals. Media use is thus identified as a major risk involved in teen dating violence. “Media use, including time spent with media, types of media used, and content of media messages, has the potential to influence teen dating violence attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors” (Manganello, 2008, p. 5). Violence breeds violence. Media tends to show violent acting as a normal way of resolving conflicts. When children watch a lot of such programs, they come to appreciate violence as an acceptable way, and these children tend to be faster in physically assaulting others instead of solving their issues amicably. Media violence creates increased fear in children and makes them to become insensitive to violence real situations. It also makes the children to develop aggressiveness.

The human brain undergoes a lot of development during the early years of life. This is also the time when children undergo important mental and physical development through exploration and engagement in many other activities. It thus follows that what children perceive impacts the way their development. This can be exhibited in the way they relate and interact with other people. Media is one variant that influences the development of children. Media can either enlighten the children or misinform them. The content relayed in the media sometimes portrays risky habits as being exciting and attractive. The children get inspired by these programs, and often model them in real life.

VIOLENCE IN MEDIA

5 References

Gentile, D. A. (2003). Media violence and children. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Gentile, D. A. (2009). Media violence and public policy: Cutting through the hype. Pediatrics for Parents, 25(7-8), 20-22.

Manganello, A. J. (2008). Teens, dating violence, and media use: a review of the literature and conceptual model for future research. Trauma Violence Abuse, 9(3), 3-18.

Mwema, A. (2011). Effects of media violence on children. Pediatrics for Parents, 27, 9-10.