There has been at least one shooting every year since 1991. Even though violent video games, television, and bullying in schools influence children in negative ways, the children, themselves, have psychological problems, and there is nothing else to blame their violent acts on. One in three students in America does not feel safe at school (Orr). What are the shooter’s reasons for attacking the schools? Some experts conclude that the recent trends of violence in video games and on TV are manipulating children.
There are television sets in nearly every household in America. Therefore most children grow up watching television. The problem is that television programs are becoming increasingly violent. Regularly watched, these programs can cause harmful effects on children. Children, being easily influenced, will imitate the television characters.
We need to be aware of what’s taking place in children programming’s. They sit for hours watching television and it’s their main source where they absorb and learn new things while parents are occupied. They received wrong messages that in the long run may affect the way they see other children. For example, their early childhood years are important because is when they learn the best from their surroundings. They want everything they see, and want to be the same as
There has been concern about the effect of video games on children almost since they first became popular. As early as 1982, the Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, stated that “children are into the games, mind, body, and soul - everything is zapping the enemy” (Cited in Scott 1995). Since then the concerns of the public have intensified. President Clinton and the first lady addressed “kids steeped in the culture of violence do become desensitized to it and are more capable of
Many have more. One study found that 32 percent of children age’s two to seven had television sets in their bedroom. This number increased to 65 percent for children ages eight to 18. Although television can be an educational tool for student, exposing them to information and situations that they cannot experience first hand, social scientists and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have raised specific concerns about the effect of television watching on young student development. Areas of concern include: inability of young student to distinguish between television fantasy and reality exposure to television violence, especially where violence is not shown to have any serious consequences exposure
Vulgar language routinely appears in programs and movies which is accessible to youth. It is realistic and believable to younger youth which can lead them to aggressiveness. As with our American youth viewing these ideas, these images are imposed on the viewers, especially the younger generation. There is a huge amount of younger children that sit and watch television for many hours. In doing that it will handicap their brains.
This number does not even take into account the violent images portrayed on the internet, in music videos and video games or real-life violence that kids may witness in their homes or communities. “Two-thirds of all programming contains violence. Programs designed for children more often contain violence than adult t.v. Even in G-rated, animated movies and DVDs, violence is common—often as a way for the good characters to solve their problems. Every single U.S. animated feature film produced between 1937 and 1999 contained violence, and the amount of violence with intent to injure has increased over the years.” (Boyse) What constitutes an act of violence?
More ways of playing violent video games are created each year, but most of us have this question in mind. Do violent video games influence young people to act aggressively? Overplaying video games can have many disastrous effects on teen limiting gameplay can have multiple positive effects. Sitting in front of a TV screen shooting people can incite young players to act violently. Repetitive killing can train them to act aggressively.
Bandura conducted research into social learning and was interested in the possible effects that watching aggression on media or in real life could have upon children. He devised an experiment where children were put into different situations where they witnessed acts of aggression towards a five foot tall toy doll, the children were then observed to see if they did indeed imitate the aggressive behaviour. The Bobo doll studies in more detail The experiment was conducted using 96 children split into 4 groups of 24. All the children took part in the experiment individually but under different circumstances according to which group they were in. The first group were taken into a room and sat at a table with some toys.
When children witness acts of violence from the media, they begin to believe that it is normal and so they begin to act upon the instances of violence and anger they witnessed. Videogames also play a large role in the manifestation of violent thoughts and behavior in children and young adults. Just like television, videogames desensitize the player of the game. Thus, violence within the media should be censored and monitored to prevent the decay and desensitization of the human race. To begin, throughout history studies have been conducted on the ability for children to retain information and how this is affected by certain factors.