The influence of media violence on youth

Abstract

The effects of media violence and the ultimate desensitization of today's youth are causing mounting worries over children's development in such a technological world. The average child of today watches 5-6 hours of television, in which they are subsequently exposed to 100,000 violent acts in their mere childhood years. It is undeniable that a child learns and therefore reacts accordingly to the stimulus they are exposed to. Such significant exposure has hence sparked growing concerns amongst parents over the detrimental effects of media violence exposure; through the forms of material such as television, movies and video games, to the youth of today.

The influence of media violence on youth

Why is violence becoming and everyday event in our society? When you flip on the "television" and tune into the news, the highlight of every show is somehow directly related or connected to violence. We see it every evening and perhaps say "Oh my gosh, how terrible." and then forget all about it two minutes later. Or perhaps we don't even make any comments at all, just a simple grunt or ".Huh.". This numbness to violence is very scary and very real. I believe it is this numbness to violence that has made the world so violent.

When I think back to my childhood and remember television I remember watching such programs as "Sesame Street", "Mr. Rogers", and "Scooby - Doo". I have nothing but pleasant memories filled with happiness, peace, understanding, and learning. When you watch children's programs today you see senseless violence often as the first means of solving a problem. The classic view of "good" versus "evil" is the basis of these shows with violence as the answer. When children watch these programs they copy the actions and "morals" of these shows depicting "good" and "evil". Children do not know what "good" is or what "evil" is, how can they? This world is not broken into "good" and "evil". "Evil" to children is what opposes them, what does not agree with them, or any other person or thing that poses a possible difficulty. Children must be taught that there are differences in this world. This world is filled with many people holding different beliefs, ideas, and morals. That is what makes this world so unique and colorful. Children need to learn to respect these differences from a very young age. They need to learn to talk out and solve any disagreements or problems through other means than violence. They must not "know" violence as an answer, as if violence was never even an option to consider in solving a problem(Centerwall, 2007b).

I recently became aware of the problem of violence in children when I started observing small children at play at my apartment complex. I had known one small child in particular when he was just learning to speak. I had watched him and talked with him for several years and noticed nothing "violent" or aggressive about him. Back then he played more outdoors rarely ...