The results of a longitudinal study tracked 700 male and female youths over a fifteen-year period. They found that those who as children were exposed to violent television shows were much more likely to later be convicted of crime. All other possible contributing environmental elements such as poverty, living in a violent neighborhood and neglect they were factored out of this study. Researchers also said that media violence can affect any child from any family
Critique on Do Video Games Kill? This article “Do Video Games Kill” by Karen Sternheimer addresses the wide spread idea; video games are the cause for “young killers” (210). Sternheimer believes concern for the influence video games may have on youth is spiraling out of control. She put most of the blame for this out of control concern on the media. She also writes some about politicians and the Juvenile Justice system.
Mother Jones says that since children will see, on average, 200,000 acts of violence on televsion before they are 18 it must be television's fault. But then, why is it in other countries children are exposed to the same televsion, but crime rate and murder isn't nearly as high amoung teenagers? So it can't be television, it has to be a different source in their life. It is no coinincedence that crime is higher in certain areas and within certain races, eventhough they are exposed to the same media. Even within the same cities, "murder rate among black teens in Washington, D.C., is twenty-five times higher than that of white teens living a few Metro stops away."
1.Topic: To what extent is media violence related to aggressive and violent behaviour? 2. According to oxford dictionaries violence can be define as behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Psychology and your life text book by Robert S. Feldman states that the amount of violence in the mass media is enormous.by the time of elementary school graudation,the average child in the united states will have viewed more than 8,000 murders and more than 800,000 violent acts on network television(Huston et al 1992;Mifflin,1998).most expects agree that watching high levels of media violence makes viewers more susceptible to acting aggressively, and recent research supports this claim. For example, one survey of serious and violent young male offenders incarcerated in Florida showed that one fourth of them had attempted to commit a media-inspired copycat crime(surette,2002).A significant proportion of those teenage offenders noted that they paid close attention to the media.
The physical and mental effects on teenagers through technology are causing concerns for many parents and experts. According to Strasburger, Jordan, and Donnerstein, "parents and professionals are seeing an increase in aggressive behavior, sexual experimentation, weight gain and loss, and school academics” (Strasburger, Jordan, & Donnerstein, 2010). The average teenager will have viewed almost 200 000 violence acts on television. Interactive technology can foster antisocial beliefs and behavior in teens because of the violence in new technology, which can be found video games. An example is "In the aftermath of the West Paducah, KY School shooting, it was revealed, the shooter had never fired a real gun in his life, yet his marksmanship was both accurate and lethal” (Strasburger, Jordan, & Donnerstein, 2010).
The daily news escalates the problem by showing terrorist attacks and car bombings. The government needs to impose stronger regulations on violent medias. The violence from the media influences children’s actions and behavior. Violence originates from the feeling of aggression. Mass media influences people to take their aggression out with physical violence.
Unfortunately, many of today’s television programs are violent. So does TV influence kids that violence, drugs, alcohol and sex are ok? How much violence, drug references, alcohol usage, and sex references does the average American child come across? How much of this do they take in? Hundreds of studies have found that children and teenagers that watch television may: • Become “immune” or numb to the horror of violence • Gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems • Imitate the violence they observe on television; and • Identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers Also, Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness.
“More than 1,000 studies have established links between television violence and behavior that emerges later in life” (U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 11, 1995, p.66). “When entertainment industry leaders deny that violent entertainment spawns violent behavior, it is like tobacco company executives denying that smoking causes cancer--- they are simply ignoring the facts! Today we are witnessing the horribly tragic results of such misguided thinking. Increasingly, younger children are killing their peers and others who get in their way”. (www.tomorrowsworld.org> Magazines 2003- January- February) This brings me to the visual media television series I chose to evaluate with a critical eye.
Evidence suggests that in schools the trend seems to suggest the one in six Australian children are bullied weekly, and that 20-50 per cent of children are bullied at some point throughout their school life. (McGrath 2003) Research also suggests that 65 per cent of children, who frequently bully others, are more likely to end up with a criminal record by the time they are 25. Bullies can experience depression and suicidal thinking if the issues are not addressed in school years, and they can also be more prone to act violently in the home or workplace as adults. (McGrath 2003)
The increase in violent crime by youth is an alarming trend that has many contributing factors. An environment where violence is fed to our youth daily from all avenues including, home, school, and the media can only reinforce the concept of violence as the answer to our problems. Who has the answer for such dramatic damage in our society? Experts who have studied youthful offenders state that most of them grew up in broken and abusive families marked by drugs and alcohol, violence and mental illness. Abuse at such an early age can lead to aggression and violence (The New York Times, 2000).