Many studies have been conducted for many years on the impact of media violence on children. I do not understand how anyone can deny the fact that the violence children are exposed to on television, in movies, video games, cartoons, and even the music has a negative impact on them. It can cause aggressive behavior, de-sensitivity to violence, and fear.
Let’s face it, violence has always been part of human nature, and always will be, but it seems everywhere we turn escalation. To not deal with them, children would not watch TV, do not go to the cinema, theater, and not to listen to music and do not have access to computers or computer games. It just does not happen.
It is assumed that most children will watch about 200,000 acts of violence on television at the age of 18 years. A lot of that violence has “good guys” in their attempts to capture or kill “bad guys”. Children want to emulate their “heroes.” If the good guys can do, then why can not they?
And then there are the villains, the characters are portrayed as attractive. They can be killers, but they really tug at our feelings for any reason. Thus, we accept their violence and find yourself rooting for them to avoid or evade capture. Children learn that if a person is nice, maybe violence is not so bad. They know that some violent behavior is acceptable when in fact it never happens.
Another aspect of the impact of media violence on children is an increase in the fear that the world is not a safe place. I do not know how old I was when I first saw “The Wizard of Oz, but I know that I was young. Something about this movie scared me, whether an evil witch or the flying monkeys or whatever, but I was in my adult years before I could watch it without having that terrible feeling. Just the mention of the movie scared me many years. The fact I say that I was too young to know exactly what about it I am afraid that I could not even really deal with it. I do not know what was reality and what is pretend.
Many children watch films and TV shows that frighten them to such an extent that they have to sleep light, door open, playing music and still have nightmares.
Teens love to cruel and bloody movies. Why is this happening? It is only this generation, or is it always so? I do not remember being so many bloody movies when I was a child. Movies like “Scream”, “Saw” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” all continue because the movie did so well. And all this bloody film. How can they not affect the emotional attitude and behavior of children who watch them? And it is terrible that these films seemed to targeting teenagers, desensitizing them to the spilling of blood in real life and real death.
Studies show that children do become more violent, subjected to acts of violence and can grow to more aggressive perpetrators of violent crimes. This only makes sense. If they are formed with the formation of aggressive behavior seen on television, played between the parents, playing video games, listening to music, then, of course, they are created, molded and groomed to violence people.
Anyone refuting this would be the agenda of their own for any reason. Why research still needs to be done? Even as an adult I watched some movies that I got so immersed in that I felt indestructible then ready to “take on the world.” I felt “Go ahead, make my day” attitude, Clint Eastwood felt. But I understand, it’s just a movie, and I can not go out and shoot or attack someone without severe consequences. And how much more influence to make these films have on the young “unbreakable” teens – teens who want to escape his mundane life and experience of the violent adventures they see on the screen?
I think one of the reasons for this theory can be argued against what the overwhelming task of finding solutions. Violence in our society is not going away. We can not hide from the children. We can limit ourselves, but we can not completely exclude it.
The fact is, – TV and movie violence, destruction, assault, fighting, bloodshed, murder, mutilation, etc. DO effect our children differently. Some of them may grow and become aggressive, violent and control adults. That’s unfortunate, but it will always be so, but not the number of studies may alter this fact. Unfortunately, no one will never be completely safe in any place and self-defense products will always be needed. It is fortunate for those who sell products. It’s too bad we live in a world where they are needed.