Media Violence free essay sample

Argumentative Essay :Media Violence and its Effects on Children â€Å"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised† (Manson 1) This is a quote by Marilyn Manson from his article in Rolling Stones magazine called â€Å"Columbine: Whose Fault Is It? † Recent studies show that Marilyn is right about violence being more televised, but they also show that televised violence may lead to violence in children. Media is a large part of life in these current and coming years. Many parents have come to letting their children watch whatever they would like without supervision. Due to violence in the shows and movies children watch, games they play, and the language the world uses, children act more violent in life. Media can be described in the Oxford English Dictionary as, â€Å"The main means of mass communication,  esp. newspapers, radio, and television, regarded collectively; the reporters, journalists, etc. , working for organizations engaged in such communication. We will write a custom essay sample on Media Violence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Also, as a count noun: a particular means of mass communication† (OED). It is regularly used to describe news stations, newspapers, or even some types of video games. In Charles Clark’s essay called â€Å"TV Violence†, the reader sees that children who watch television are generally exposed to â€Å"8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of  violence before finishing elementary school† (Clark 1). There has been a link between the amount of television violence children are exposed to and the amount of physical violence that child shows in life. In Richard Felson’s article, â€Å"Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior† he critically reviews the effect of media violence on its audience. He finds there is evidence that is discussed regarding short and long-term effects. It is shown that in laboratory and field experiments exposure to violence is just as likely to affect aggressive behavior (Felson 1). This aggressive behavior can become a problem with the child and in their years to come. The effect media has on children is greatly increasing as the years progress. There are many current and past experiments on the effects and how the exposure reflects on children’s behavior. The authors of the article â€Å"The Influence of Media Violence on Youth† explore the idea of mass media violence on youths. There is some evidence to show that youths with milder aggressive personalities tend to show larger effects from the violence than those showing no aggressive behavior previous of the media violence. The author allows the reader to know that the sample base was large, using different types of experiments and people. The article then goes on to explain that in some people, media violence shown in their childhood would lead to violence later in life. Media violence tends to produce short-term increases of violence (Anderson 1). The article, â€Å"Violence in the Media† written by Helen Shaffer goes onto explain what people see when watching television. Shaffer allows the reader to know that there is violence in many forms of the media. This includes the news, video games, and popular television shows. Shaffer states that, â€Å"It was hard for many concerned persons not to believe that daily exposure to so enticing a medium during the growing-up years, beginning typically at age two or three, could fail to affect the personality formation, attitudes, concepts of right and wrong, and behavior patterns of the first TV generation† (Shaffer 1). There has been a substantial growth in television sets in each home every year. Almost all children grow up on it and tend to follow suit of the shows they watch or games they play (Shaffer 2). Most of the articles touched on the point that violence has grown since first person violent video games. Aggressive behavior does not come just from children watching the violence shown on television, it can also be learned from aggressively used language. In the article, â€Å"Moral Panic and Moral Language in the Media†, written by Arnold Hunt, he critiques the media in their use of the words ‘Moral Panic’. The article follows the words ‘moral panic’ from the first time it was stated in the media in 1972 to present day. Those words were thrown out of the media multiple times and continuously brought back. It also influenced journalists and other writers to use it when writing. The author believes that ‘moral panic’ is an unsatisfactory form of language that can cause panic in itself (Hunt 1). V. Held begins by talking in their article â€Å"The media and political violence† about the definitions of ‘violence’, ‘political violence’, and ‘terrorism’. They then consider the media responsibility in respect to political violence. They ask questions such as how should violence be described, and whether the media should cover terrorism. They then argues that media should decrease political violence and their aggressive wording (Held 1). The wrong words can lead children to behave and develop poorly. Barbara Wilson, the author of the article called â€Å"Media and childrens aggression, fear, and altruism†, believes that mass media can have a negative effect on a child’s well-being and development. She takes a closer look into this topic and finds that media influence depends on the type of content the child likes and how much time they spend watching it. She then goes on to look at the relationship between media and children’s emotions learning that children can learn their emotions from what they watch. She also finds that strong evidence shows that violent television programming contributes to childrens aggressive behavior. Wilson finds that media can greatly effect childrens altruism, cooperation, and even tolerance for others and goes on to tell parents how they can regulate and help their children (Wilson 1). Though there is many studies going on that seem to prove that media violence has a effect on children’s behavior, people like Marilyn Manson disagree. Manson was accused of influencing Columbine. Columbine was a Massacre that took place in 1999. Two high school seniors brought guns to school and began to shoot many of their classmates. They killed twelve students and one teacher before turning the gun and shooting themselves. The media was lead by angered parents into a combined effort to blame Marilyn Manson’s music as influence on the boys to murder. In the article Manson wrote called â€Å"Columbine: Whose Fault Is It? he stated, â€Å"Mans greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed. I remember hearing the initial reports from Littleton, that Harris and Klebold were wearing makeup and were dressed like Marilyn Manson, whom they obviously must worship, since they were dressed in black† (Manson 2). It was proven later that Manson’s music had nothing to do with the murders; the media even found out that â€Å"Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans — that they even disliked my music† (Manson 3). The columbine murders then looked towards video games to explain why these boys would kill all their peers. Manson is a great case to show that there are always mistakes when trying to study the correlation of media violence and child aggression. According to Kevin Browne in his article â€Å"The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach† there is a continuous argument about media violence and its effects on youths. He also believes there is constant debate on how to measure or study this. He finds in his research that â€Å"There is consistent evidence that violent imagery in television, film and video, and computer games has substantial short-term effects on arousal, thoughts, and emotions, increasing the likelihood of aggressive or fearful behavior in younger children, especially in boys† (Browne 1). He then goes on to explain as the age of the child increases, the studies become inconclusive. He never the less believes that there is obviously a small correlation that can cause problems (Browne 2). There are also studies going on about how media violence towards certain sexualities and races are affecting violence among children. The article â€Å"Teenage sexuality and media practice: Factoring in the influences of family, friends, and school† written by J. R. Steele is about a study to find out how â€Å"mass media images and messages about love, sex and relationships interact with what teens learn about sexuality at home, in school, and from their friends† (Steele 1). The study uses Adolescents Media Practice Model as a starting point to find answers. Data is found through focus groups, media journals, room tours, and in-depth interviews with middle school and high school teens. Also, in the article â€Å"The context of violence for children of color: Violence in the community and in the media† written by Sanders-Phillips and Jipguep explores the difference between violence that can be picked up by colored people in the community versus the type of violence that can occur from exposure to media violence. With community violence colored people can experience psychological distress, greater risk taking, aggression, and learning problems. In exposure to media violence, children of color may experience aggression, psychological trauma, and other psychological and behavioral problems. The article goes on to explain though that these relationships have not been completely analyzed (Jipguep 1). There is still a large amount of controversy surrounding the topic of media violence and its effects on child behavior. Although there is no conclusive answer, there is still a large amount of evidence to support the idea that media violence does create negative behavior in children. There is also evidence that this behavior can lead into adulthood and continue to be a problem. Parents should take the time to watch what their children are watching to help prevent the spread of violence through the generations. They should also be aware of the type of wording their child is exposed to help prevent bad behavior in both the present and future development. With the knowledge that media can cause negative behavior there can be a bettering in children’s lives and futures. Works Cited Anderson, C. A. , L. Berkowitz, E. Donnerstein, L. R. Huesmann, J. D. Johnson, D. Linz, N. M. Malamuth, and E. Wartella. The influence of media violence on youth. †. Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Associati, 2003. Web. 2 May 2012. . Browne, Kevin. The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach. Centre for Forensic and Family Psychology, School, 2005. Web. 2 May 2012. . Clark, Charles S. TV Violence.   CQ Researcher  26 Mar. 1993: 265-88. Web. 2 May 2012. Felson, Richard. Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior.   Annual Review of Sociology. 22. (1996): 103-128. Web. 2 May. 2012. . Held, V.. The media and political violence.   Journal of Ethics. Spri nger, 1997. Web. 2 May 2012. . Hunt, Arnold. Moral Panic and Moral Language in the Media. . N. p. , 1997. Web. 2 May 2012. . Jipguep, M. , and K. Sanders-Phillips. The context of violence for children of color: Violence in the community and in the media. . N. p. , 2003. Web. 2 May 2012. . Shaffer, Helen B. Violence in the Media.   Editorial Research Reports 1972. Vol. I. Washington: CQ Press, 1972. 375-94. CQ Researcher. Web. 2 May 2012. Steele, J. R.. Teenage sexuality and media practice: Factoring in the influences of family, friends, and school.   Journal of sex research. Taylor Francis, Ltd. , 1999. Web. 2 May 2012. . Warner, Brian. Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?.   Rolling Stone Magazine. N. p. , 1999. Web. 15 May 2012. . Wilson, B. J.. Media and childrens aggression, fear, and altruism.. . N. p. , 2008. Web. 2 May 2012. . 1 6