Media plays a significant role on violent acts of behavior. Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between violent behavior and watching violence on television. “Television is indeed packed with violence- three-fifths of all prime-time shows include it, at the rate of 4.5 violent acts per program” (Straubhaar, LaRose & Davenport, 2008). Although television is a primary source for violence, video games and movies have contributed towards the issue.
Think about it, violence is everywhere on television. It prevails from cartoons for children to television series for adults to any genre of movie. Sometimes it is extremely difficult for viewers to grasp what is real and what is pretend. People are entirely influenced by what they see on television. It doesn’t help when children are starting off watching cartoons like Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny that include guns, weapons, hitting, blood, etc. Society is placing these images in the youth’s mind and then wants to punish them when their actions reflect what they see on television. As the youth continue to grow up different shows will be targeted to their age group including violence. Even when the reach adulthood there are shows such as Burn Notice or NCIS that allow scenes to play of people being beat up or tortured and presenting it in a way as thrilling, which only leads viewers to misconstrue the consequences of such actions in real life.
Consider the affect video games have on the youth. Take Call of Duty for example; my younger cousin anticipated the arrival of the newest game and had to have it the minute it was available. I am not a big fan of video games; so I decided to see what all the hype was about and watch my little cousin with his friends play the game. They were screaming and yelling and slapping each other fives when they killed someone or won a battle. It was baffling to me to see this rush they got when they were acting in violent manners in the game. It is safe to say after watching these boys I agree with the statement “antisocial behavior is contrary to prevailing norms for social conduct” (Straubhaar, LaRose & Davenport, 2008). Shortly after they were done playing the game, the boys got physical with each other and just wanted to wrestle.
If we were able to eliminate violence all together in media, do you think violent acts would lessen in society? Let me know where you stand on this issue!
Source: Straubhaar, J., LaRose, R., & Davenport, L. (2008).
Media now: Understanding media, culture, and
technology. (6th ed., pp. 419-420). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
Of course it would. I think the you would see dramatic change in the youth. When i was growing up I did violent after watching some violence on t.v..
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