Media Violence

Machine gun fire, explosions, and screams for help are only a few of the sounds that can be heard emanating from a child's bedroom today, while his parents listen nervously just outside his door. Horrified, these parents shake their heads ruefully, wondering at the power of entertainment available for kids nowadays. Sometimes they even argue whether it is right for their child to have access to this sort of violence: the kind found in most video games, television shows, and movies all over the world. But honestly, does it make a difference in the child's development as a productive member of society, and if so, can a parent really do anything about it? These are the questions that researchers of the subject hope to answer conclusively

In order to understand how media violence has an effect on children, different variables must first be examined. To begin with, children of various ages understand what they are watching very differently. Most of it depends on the length of their attention spans, the way they go about processing their information, the amount of mental effort that they put in, and their own life experiences. These stages are broken up into five parts.

The first part is the effects on infants. Infants or children up to 18 months old can "Pay attention to an operating television set for short periods of time, but the attention demands a great effort and infants are more interested in their own activities."1 Even when it seems that they are focusing on the television, infants will usually not be able to comprehend what is going on. They take it as a bunch of "Fragmented displays of light and sound", which they can only recognize and put together certain pieces and characters. Although there is no evidence yet as to the effect of media violence on infants, there is still evidence that infants may imitate some behavior that they have seen on television.

The toddler period begins at roughly two-and-a-half to three years old. It is at this point that they begin to pay more attention to the television when it is on. They also begin to develop a minute capability to take some meaning out of what they watch. They are also more likely to copy what they see on television.

Children, who are at preschool age, three to five years old, start watching television with the intent of understanding the content. They are drawn to fast-pacing images, which tend to be violent. "Because television violence is accompanied by vivid production features, preschoolers are predisposed to seek out and pay attention to violence - particularly cartoon violence."1

Elementary school age, age's six to eleven, is the critical point of observing the effects of television on children. It is at this stage that children "Develop the attention span and cognitive ability to follow continuous plots, to make inferences about implicit content, and to recognize motivations and consequences to characters' actions."1 Between these ages children usually still watch cartoons but also start to watch "real life" television shows. It is at this stage that they become more tolerant of violence in the real world.

Adolescence, between the ages of 12 to 17, usually is the most trying time in a person's life. However when it comes to media violence this is not true for most teens. When watching television a teenager has high levels of abstract reasoning and thought which allows them to doubt the reality of the content, and much less likely to identify with its characters. The problem thus arises with "The small percentage of those who continue to believe in the reality of television and to identify with its violent heroes."1 Due to the fact that adolescence is the prime time for arguing with authority figures, this makes them, the minority of teenagers, the most vulnerable to imitating some kind of television violence and crime.

The National Television Violence Study (NTVS) had analyzed 10,000 hours of television for violent content for a three-year period. "About 60% of programs contained violence, and only 15% of those programs showed its long-term consequences. About 40% of the 'bad' characters went unpunished, and in almost three-quarters of the scenarios, violence was presented without remorse, criticism, or penalties. More than half of the programs failed to associate violence with pain, and more than a third of the perpetrators were physically attractive."2 According to this, the only shocking factor is if children would not show any signs of violence as they grow. Just as they learn things at school and apply it to life, so too with the things that they pick up at home watching television. According to the NTVS, "An 11-year-old will have viewed 8,000 murders, and 100,000 other acts of television violence."2

Violence is the foundation of most television shows because it is often synonymous with action, and action is used to attract viewers, especially among the young population. Plots without murder or crime are seen as boring unappealing. In addition, many movies portray violence as satisfying. For example, heroes have been known to tempt their opponents with the phrase, "Come on, make my day." An unrealistic fight usually ensues, in which the actors can painlessly withstand many beatings. This gives the impression to young ones that violence does not actually hurt the victim.

The same goes for other forms of entertainment as well. Video games, for example, allow characters to get kicked and punched without a trace of blood, as though their injuries had not actually caused them any harm. Children are also rewarded with bonus points when their opponents are finally killed. The Senate Judiciary Report quotes Lt. Col. Dave Grossman saying that in this way, "We are not only teaching kids to kill- we are teaching them to like it."3

The American Psychological Association has proven the connection between media and violence through a number of studies. They have concluded that violent media affects children in three ways: firstly, they tend to be less sensitive to others' pain, secondly, they tend to be more fearful of the world around them, and thirdly, they may be more likely to act aggressively and harmfully towards others. One study was done in Pennsylvania State University with a hundred preschool children, who were observed before and after watching various television shows. Those who had watched violent programs were more likely to argue and/or hit playmates than those who had not.

Ronald Slaby, a media-violence expert