An average child between ages 8 to 18 spends more time in front of the computer, television and game screens than any other activity except sleeping (Huston, 1992). Our children are enormously influenced by the media, not only in their decisions and actions, but also in their behaviors. Unfortunately, the large amount of exposure to media has negative effects towards our society, especially towards children and teenagers, one of the most serious effects is desensitization to violence. Children not only learn by observing and imitating what is in the media, but they also come to terms with violence as an acceptable way to settle conflicts and desire to watch even more violent movie and play even more dreadful video game, where players are rewarded for the amount of people killed. Our media needs to be changed; media violence needs to be limited not only in violent video games but also in movies and television. According to the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Family Physicians andAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry the media violence do affect children’s behavior, attitudes and values. As we all know today, children’s desensitization to violence has increased numerously, especially in the past few years. Just because, by the time a child is eighteen years old, he or she will witness on television 200,000 acts of violence including 40,000 of murders (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005). Below is a link to a news clip of two young girls attacking another person in a McDonald's. The altercation was recorded by phone and posted to the Internet by one of the employees. The two alleged attackers were only 14 and 18 years old. Also, at least 6 employees stood by, watched, and encouraged the attack. They had no regard for the victim, who even had a seizer during the attack. An older woman tried to stop the attack and was hit in her jaw by the younger teen. Is this how teenagers have learned to resolve conflict? Are American Youth Desensitized to Violence?
1 comments:
Nope I don't, I'm 14, and I've played all sorts of super violent games for example: bulletstorm, the battlefield franchise, the call of duty franchise, gears of war franchise, red dead redemption, deadrising franchise, just cause 2,etc. Whenever I try to get a game that has brutal violence in it, my parents always say, "Oh it's gonna desensitize you to violence", But they have no idea what I've witnessed at school and the other games I've listed. I think this desensitization stuff is a load of bullcrap, but if you want a real laugh about this whole topic, head over to YouTube and try to find fox news torture game or somethingalong the lines of that, the lady paints the guy and attaches ropes to his arm, and she's saying, "so violent and brutal" "oh my god!" it's hilarious.
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