Media Violence Is Harming Our Children

Media Violence Is Harming Our Children

What's the most violent thing you've ever seen on television or at the movies?

A murder? A rape? A deadly explosion? The Iraq war on the news? Or maybe 911? Whatever it was, the chances are, that image is etched in your memory. For the most part we're balanced people; we know those images won't do us any harm. Or do we? Could it be that even well-balanced people like ourselves are somehow affected by mass media and the violence we see?

I'd like to talk today about some of the things I've learned about media violence, and I hope that by the time I'm done, you might see the whole issue a little differently. Let's start by answering this question: What actually constitutes media violence? One person's love of psychological thrillers could be another person's secret nightmare. So right at the outset, we have some difficulty in nailing down the issue. A lot of researchers have already tried to tackle this. After all, there's a lot of money at stake in the TV and movie industry, billions in fact! I wonder if they let their children watch the violent shows they produce?

One group which has made an attempt to define TV violence is The National Coalition on Television Violence. They have created Media Violence Guidelines, which define violent acts. Their definition is clear in describing acts of aggregation and violence.

Some would argue that the mass media is a part of our culture and it's results are merely to inform or to entertain. No demons can be unleashed by simply watching violence unfold at the movies or on a war news report. One could point to nature vs. nurture. Are psychopaths, murders, and rapists, created within families or through connections with violence viewed on the big or little screen?

My belief is that mass media violence can serve as a focal point for the marginal troubled individuals. According to cybercollege.com, a typical child will have witnessed an estimated 72,000 acts of violence by the age of 18. In 2003 an extensive study on violence and TV was released. Over a 15 year period 329 subjects were followed by researchers. According to their findings,

* Children who were exposed to violent TV shows were more likely to later be convicted of crimes.

* Girls who watched more than an average amount of violent TV tended to throw things at their husbands

* Boys who grew up watching violent TV were more likely to be abusive to their wives.

Maybe knowing about this study might change your mind about your children's TV habits and take into account what kind of content is truly in the shows and movies they watch. I challenge each of you to recall Columbine. Luckily we have TV and movie ratings that help censor the shows our children watch.

There are many movies out there that probably most of us have seen such as, Pulp Fiction and The Kill Bill trilogy and TV series such as Nip/Tuck and CSI. Would you let your children watch these videos or programs? A lot of parents do not truly understand the detrimental and psychological effect movies like those have on their children.

The long-term effect, according to some studies, could be damaging. Many psychologists seem to agree that the more violence viewed, the more accepting children are of violence, the more it desensitizes them, and the more likely they are to become violent. One can't