National Institute on Media and the Family article:http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_vlent.shtml
Article from Children's Advocate:
http://www.4children.org/news/1-97toxl.htm
The advancement of modern tecnology has made, and continues to make, every day life easier, faster, more fun, and a bit more organized. When we need to remember an important date or appointment, we set a reminder in our Blackberries or Palms. We can now check our e-mail without direct acces to a computer. For entertainment, we can play video games or watch movies from the comfort of our own living rooms. However, when selecting the types of movies or video games we are watching/playing, people often do not take into consideration the amount of violence and obscenity they are about to endure or how the violence present will affect them or the others around them. Today, many argue over the controversial debate of whether or not media violence is directly linked to an increase in aggressive behavior. Several studies have shown that children who are more exposed to television or video game violence are more likely to exhibit and/or imititate the aggressive and violent behavior as opposed to those who were not exposed to media violence.
When televisions were fresh on the market in the 1950's, prime time television shows were along the lines of I Love Lucy, Lassie, Leave It to Beaver, etcetera, etcetera. Situational comedy entertained thousands of viewers each and every week. The best part? These shows were "clean." They exhibited classic humor that we still laugh at today, and they did so without guns, swearing, or other types of violence evident in the media today. Now, we have movies like Untraceable, Saw, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the list could go on and on, that broadcast killing, violence, and most of the other negative qualities people probably don't want their children to be subjected to. Granted, there were violent films in the 1950's as well, but I feel comfortable saying that the movie/television industry has grown increasingly violent throughout the years. Each new film or T.V. show tries to surpass the others by adding more gore, violence, or psychologically twisted killers. We as viewers -- in order to cope with the increasingly graphic shows and movies -- have become more accepting and desensitized toward this media violence, and because of people's lack of sensitivity (and, perhaps, because of the lack of shows with zero violence), they allow their children to watch this violence without thinking of the consequences.
Although many studies have proven that exposure to media violence can alter a child's level of aggression, parents often disregard the warnings. Several psychologists claim that younger children who are exposed to this violence are not mature enough to separate the fantasy of movies, such as Saw, with reality. Because violence brings an end to conflict in the movies, children think violence may solve their problems. Also, in a study done by the National Institute on Media and the Family, the study showed that younger children do not have the mental capacity to comprehend the motives for killing or for other forms of graphic violence. According to a survey that appeared in the magazine Children's Advocate, 25 to 33% of younger people who had commited crimes had copied what they had seen on television or in the movies. The statistics are startling, but there is more. The National Institute on Media and the Family also found that, with normal viewing, by age eighteen, children will see roughly 200,000 violent scenes, of which 40,000 are murders. All of that, on television, and those statistics exclude the movies! To make matters worse, the psychopathic killers are not always caught (in order to add the suprise twist to the ending, of course!). Ergo, the children do not see the consequences that accompany violence. They, like the rest of us, become desensitized to the violence (and its effects), and because of their inability to distinguish fiction from reality, act out the violence they see glorified on the big and small screens.
How do we stop children from being invaded with media violence? How do we keep them from acting out what they see in action and horror flicks? Simple. Stop them from being exposed to violence and aggression in the media. We like to think that we don't condone violent and aggressive behavior. In fact, most of society turns their nose up at this type of "unacceptable" -- and rather "barbaric" --behavior. Yet, we continue to finance the horror genre of games and films because it is entertaining and suspenseful, and why should filmakers discontinue to produce this horror genre when it sells? They need money, and the viewing public is quick to pay them. We have been exposed to media violence, and as the National Institution on Media and the Family predicted, we desire to see more. In order to meet our needs, more and more movies are being produced in the horror genre and being viewed by younger children. Who's to blame for corrupting the children watching violent programs? We (the benefactors of this epidemic) are.
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