NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
THE EFFECTS OF MEDIA VIOLNCE ON CHILDREN On April 20 1999 two boys by the names of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris walked into their High school in the little town of Combine Colorado and opened fire on their fellow classmates. Some say it was the parents others say just pure teen adolescence, I say it was the media. In the 1950 's Television was first introduced to America, only ten percent of the families owned a one television in their home, by 1960 that number increased to a mere 90 % of the people owning a TV, but now a whopping 99 % of homes in our country own a TV. 54 % of children have one in their own Television has become so much of a part of are existence that it is virtually impossible to imagine life without it. We all love TV.
We can't help ourselves. But the question is what is TV doing to us? , and how much is too much? Children begin to react to television at a very early age, studies show that by the age of three, 95 % of children will imitate someone on TV as they would a real live person, and children between the ages of six and ten believe that most of what they see on television is true life. Children learn more about life through the media than any other matter. It is said that the average child, from the ages of three to twelve will watch a minimum of 28 hours of TV a week, meaning children spend more time in front of the so called "Boob Tube" then they do in the classroom. This makes them very vulnerable to the effects that television causes.
The average child will witness over 200, 000 thousand acts of violence on television including 16, 000 acts of murder in his lifetime. Violence in the media leads many children to become very aggressive, by watching aggression how to become aggressive, and they also believe that if they act out in a certain manner of aggression they may get rewarded for it, because they just saw their favorite cartoon knock some guy out for a bag of candy. Watching the violence that does go on in the media, not only causes children to act out towards others but also makes them beleive that other children acting out aggressively is alright. But can you expect when the number of violent acts increases from 3 - 5 acts during prime time hours to 20 - 25 different acts of violence on Saturday morning. The more violence you start to take in at a young age the more you want to see as you get older.
Violence is like a drug, it starts out in a harm full manner, but increases as time goes on. Children might start out watching a very small amount of violence on TV such as they see a cartoon character hit their friend over the head, which they will most likely imitate and as times goes on they will become more daring in their acts. Take Walt Disneys movie "The Program" for example. In one part of this film it it features three young men lying down in the middle of the highway dodging cars, but after this movie was released, of course three young men tried to imitate the scene, all three were killed. Another movie that has been closely imitated is "Interview with a Vampire." The story that goes along with this movie is that a young man took his date out to see this movie, after the movie ended he killed her and sucked her blood.
A cartoon such as "Beavis and Butthead" also has impacted the way children react to what they see on TV. A five year old boy had just finished watching the episode in which they are playing with fire, the next thing you know his house has been burnt down and his sister has died. These are just a very few examples of what the media has caused children to Too much TV fo children also causes many other problems. Studies suggest that children who watch more then others have a higher risk of the usage of tobacco, alchohol and a younger onset of sexual activity. It can cause a child to become obese, it increases cholesterol levels and sodium intake, it leads to insomnia and impaired school activity. Violence is also portrayed through video games.
A study in 1993 examined video game playing between 357 seventh and earth graders, the children were asked to name their five most favorite video game categories, 32 % of the children preferred games which involved fantasy violence, 29 % said they liked sport games which included some kind of violence. There was an increase in violence in video games, which took place in 1985 to 1988. In 1985 53 % of video games involved some kind of violence that number increased to 82 % of video games that included violence, and the more children practice violent acts the more likely it is that they perform violent Another problem in video games is that the game will stress children out, and can get them very frustrated in what they are trying to do, causing Violence in music is another way in which violence is portrayed. Many bands are very explicit in what they have to say, and many teenagers will listen. The recent best selling albums include very graphic descriptions of murder torture and rape. Women are very objectified in songs such as "Slap my Bitch Up" by "Prodigy" or "Slap a Ho" by "Dove Shack."Marilyn Manson" and "Cannibal Corpse" go even further, with lyrics that describe rape and torture, "Cannibal Corpse" has a song called "Orgasm by Torture", and these are best selling albums that send out messages of violence and hate.
Violence in the Media needs to be stopped, before it gets so out of control that parents won't be able to tell their children what to do and more and more murders and rapes keep on happening. Bibliography:
Free research essays on topics related to: violence in the media, young men, acts of violence, violent acts, video games
Research essay sample on The Effects Of Media Violence On Children
