Violent Media is Harmful to Children Since the 1950’s the number of households with televisions has increased from ten to ninety-nine percent. Over the past 30 years, there has been extensive research on the relationship between televised violence and violent behavior among youth, aacap.org. Eugene V Beresin, M.D. concluded in his article “The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions” aacap.org.
Studies reveal that children watch approximately twenty-eight hours of television a week, more time than they spend in school. The typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including more than 16,000 murders before age 18. Television programs display 812 violent acts
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Video games involve the players killing people as part of the game to move to the next level. The games are very graphic, showing blood spilling or spurting out of the bodies, decapitation, mutilation, and death. It is incongruous for a child to crave and enjoy the suffering of others. This desensitizes the viewers to the acts they are seeing, which could lead to escalating levels of violence: the adrenalin rush needs increasingly more cruelty; children find themselves acting out their aggressions on others with little or no restraint. Elisabeth Wilkens quoted Ann Giordano in her article titled “Video Games and Violence: What Every Parent Should Know” on …show more content…
The children can release pent up aggression in a safe environment. The article “Research Shows Violent Media Do Not Cause Violent Behavior,” on massgeneral.org discusses a research study on children and gaming to see if there was any correlation to irresponsible conduct. “The researchers . . . found that kids played games to cope with their emotions, to enjoy challenging situations, to keep up with peers playing similar games, to create their own worlds, and to relieve stress.” Social networks give the introverted child an opportunity to make friends exploring new personality traits they want to develop. In his article, “Violent Media is Good for Kids,” Gerard Jones, quoted Melanie Moore, “Children need violent entertainment in order to explore the inescapable feeling into a more whole, more complex, more resilient selfhood” (444). Children who have poor self-esteem or feel uncomfortable showing their feelings find gaming a safe place to vent. Balanced viewing of material developmentally proper for the age is important as well, Creativity fosters how children express themselves. Budding young artists can learn and grow their artistic talent. In contrast to the positive effects, it is important to consider the child who is not emotionally stable; who is unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Behavior may not be proper with a bully at school. Today child predators join in games, pretending
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
Longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental studies have all confirmed this correlation. Televised violence and the presence of television in American households have increased steadily over the years. In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television. Today 99% of homes have televisions. In fact, more families have televisions than telephones. Over half of all children have a television set in their bedrooms. This gives a greater opportunity for children to view programs without parental supervision. Studies reveal that children watch approximately 28 hours of television a week, more time than they spend in school. The typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including more than 16,000 murders before age 18. Television programs display 812 violent acts per hour; children's programming, particularly cartoons, displays up to 20 violent acts
Children playing such harsh games forty minutes a day will result their mind to alter. “A dose of violent gaming makes people act more rudely than they would otherwise” (These games have a huge result on the user’s brain. “Violent games activate their anger center while dampening the brain’s conscience causing them to become more violent” (“Children and Violent Video Games” 1). Teenage brains are in the middle of growing, so it is very penetrable for video games to have a major impact on the child’s mind. “Playing violent games correlates to children being less caring and helpful toward their peers” (“Children and Violent Video Games” 1). After these games get into the players mind, they began to plot disasters: shootings, bombings, and theft.
Children spend more time learning about life through media than in any other manner. The average child spends approximately twenty-eight hours a week watching television, which is twice as much time as they spend in school (Dietz, 75). According to the American Psychological Association, the average American child views 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence before finishing elementary school. In
Television with its far reaching influence spreads across the globe. Its most important role is that of reporting the news and maintaining communication between people around the world. Television's most influential, yet most serious aspect is its shows for entertainment. Violent children's shows like Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and adult shows like NYPD Blue and Homicide almost always fail to show human beings being able to resolve their differences in a non-violent manner; instead they show a reckless attitude that promotes violent action first with reflection on the consequences later. Contemporary television creates a seemingly insatiable appetite for amusement of all kinds without regard for social or moral benefits (Schultze 41). Findings over the past twenty years by three Surgeon Generals, the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence, the American Medical Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other medical authorities indicate that televised violence is harmful to all of us, but particularly to the mental health of children (Medved 70-71).
Beresin, E. (2014, January 1). The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
American Psychological Association. "Violence on Television. What Do Children Learn? What Can Parents Do?" APA Online. www.apa.org/publicinfo/violence.html. Accessed October 23, 2001.
On average and American child will watch 32 acts of violence per hour on TV. This number has skyrocketed from 20 years ago when it was just 12 acts per hour (Krieg). This being said a child will have watched anywhere from 8,000 to 100,000 acts of violence before they even finish elementary school (Weiss). While adults can watch violence on TV and understand that it is not real, children on the other hand have difficulty differentiating the between what is real and what is make believe.
middle of paper ... ... Educate your child about violence and video games Set time limits on gaming Encourage your child to do other things besides playing video games. REFERENCES Lieberman, Joe (1997) "Video Game Report Card, 1997" http://www.senate.gov/member/ct/lieberman/releases/r112597a.html. Cesarone, Bernard "Video Games and Children" http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/video.games.html Zarozinski, Michael "Video Game Violence 2001" http://www.louderthanabomb.com/vg_voilence.htm "Fact Sheets: Effects of Video Game Play on Children" http://www.mediafamily.org/research/fact/effect.shtml Children Now "Children and the Media 2001" http://www.childrennow.org/media/video-games/2001/#violence The "Violence in Video Games" http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/articles/features/violence_92/ The "Video Game Violence" http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/vgv.htm Walsh, David A. Video Game Violence: What Does the Research Say? 1998.
Parents should not allow their children to play violent video games because they are at risk of becoming desensitized. Parents often let their kids play violent video games so parents do not have to watch over their kids. Why shouldn’t parents let their kids play violent video games? Parents should not let their kids play violent video games because they will be influenced to make the decision to hurt other people. According to Dr. Phil (renowned psychologist), kids don’t think they are actually killing people, usually when they are shooting someone in the game, they are getting bonus points. Kids are also becoming desensitized by all of the violence. Parents, I just want you to know that, if you are allowing your kids to play these horrific games, then you need to keep a close eye on your kids as they grow up, because you never know if they are going to grow up with such barbaric behavior and then apply it to another human being. Obviously, I do not appreciate the fact that parents allow their kids to play violent video games at such a young age. It is undeniable that your kids are might grow up to be serial killers or homicidal
A widely accepted cause of the murders committed by children is violence in the media. The parents of three students killed at a high school in Padukah, Kentucky filed a $130 million lawsuit against the entertainment industry because they believe that violence in the media inspired the boy, Michael Carneal, who killed their children ("Media"). To some extent, these parents are correct in their assumption. On average, children watch television 16 to 17 hours per week, beginning as early as age 2 (Strasburger 129). Furthermore, when video games are added, some teenagers may spend as many as 35 to 55 hours per week in front of the television set (Straburger 129). Within these many hours of television viewing, there are many violent scenes. The National Television Viole...
A study in the medical journal Pediatrics discusses how a group of 181 Japanese students from the ages 12 to 15, and 364 U.S. children from the ages 9 to 12 were tested in order to observe the effects of violent video games. It was recorded that the children who were more subjected to the violent video games were more aggressive than their complements who did not participate in the games. (Moeller) The children who played the games also ended up controlling numerous situations inadequately; this involves pushing or shoving for what they wanted, or yelling at each other. It is tolerable to have faith in that this is a standard stereotype for children at this age; however, children are becoming more and more out of control and belligerent. Research has also found that, controlling for prior aggression, children who played more violent video games during the beginning of the school year showed more aggression than other children later in the school year
Several studies and reports show that videogames also stimulate bad behavior. An article from “New Scientist” shows that “Unequivocal evidence from a wide variety of studies show that in the short term, exposing children to violence in movies, TV, video games, and music increases physical and verbal aggression” (“Bad Influence”, web). This negative influence is going to have a huge change on how kids and teenagers act towards individuals. The International Journal of Phycology says that, “Adolescents who play more mature rated games were more likely to engage in b...
Television violence is also a cause of both violent and aggressive behavior in teenage boys. According to the evidence in a study done by Turner, Hesse, and Peterson-Lewis, it was concluded that watching television violence had a long-term increase in aggression in boys (Hough 1). In addition to this study, Dr. William A. Belson evaluated fifteen hundred boys, aged thirteen to sixteen years, and he determined that boys with heavy television exposure are more likely to commit violent acts than other boys (Langone 51). In Belson’s study, he discovered that the effect of each violent act on television was collective, and over time, Belson discovered that the boys engaged in many aggressive acts, including painting graffiti, breaking windows, aggressive play, swearing, and threatening other boys with violence (Kinnear 26).