Introduction
Since the dawn of media, it has been argued how the violence shown in media affects the mind sets of children. Violence is not a new concept to humans and is increasingly being shown on television and in video games and movies. The effects of this have been debated throughout the past five decades. According to Article 17 of UN Convention of Rights of Children “Governments should encourage mass media – radio, television, newspapers and Internet content sources – to provide information that children can understand and to not promote materials that could harm children” . Several researchers claim that due to young people being exposed to violence, their reactions towards all situations are more aggressive . Since birth, children …show more content…
Many children prefer to play video games which include violence and are fighting based. These games reward points for having physical combats, thus making a child more comfortable with the idea of violence. 89% of the best-selling video games contain violent content . Most of the children don’t even realise the effect it has on them. The 14-year-old boy argued that he has played violent video games for years and has not ever killed anybody . While playing a video game, it increases physiological arousal and makes the player want to engage in such violent activities without even realizing it. The highly criticized video game Grand Theft Auto 3 was initially banned in Australia for its graphic violence and sexual content. The game grossed $300 million in the United States by the end of 2002 . Such games provide the gamers a life-like experience which tends to desensitize children to real life violence. In developed countries, the standard of living is high hence families are able to afford more video games consoles compared to those in poorer countries. In countries like America, most adolescents have access to internet and video games and are more exposed to the harmful …show more content…
We are constantly being affected by it, especially the youth. Constant exposure to such brutality makes one insensitive to it. It reduces empathy in people and replaces it with anger. We no longer notice what our entertainment media is trying to normalize and blindly follow it.
Recently I came across an article which addressed this issue. I was astonished by it and further researched on the issue. I realised that without knowing, even I had even influenced by violence in media. I no longer reacted to violence as I had become so used to it. Constantly reading about violence on the news, I am no longer surprised when I hear about a robbery or an attack. Among my brothers, I have noticed that the only way to solve a disagreement is to physically fight one another. We become too comfortable with the idea of fighting that we do not even blink when we see a person uses ammunition in a movie. The idea of being a ‘superhero’ and fighting the ‘villain’ has become normal among young children. Recently, one of my younger cousin was caught using swear words and when I asked him why he did, he replied that he saw someone using it on television and accepted it as a social norm. Since then I made it my duty to inform all adults in my family about the dangers of exposing their children to such
Since the dawn of media, it has been argued how the violence shown in media affects the mind sets of children. Violence is not a new concept to humans and is increasingly being shown on television and in video games and movies. The effects of this have been debated throughout the past five decades. According to Article 17 of UN Convention of Rights of Children “Governments should encourage mass media – radio, television, newspapers and Internet content sources – to provide information that children can understand and to not promote materials that could harm children” . Several researchers claim that due to young people being exposed to violence, their reactions towards all situations are more aggressive . Since birth, children …show more content…
Many children prefer to play video games which include violence and are fighting based. These games reward points for having physical combats, thus making a child more comfortable with the idea of violence. 89% of the best-selling video games contain violent content . Most of the children don’t even realise the effect it has on them. The 14-year-old boy argued that he has played violent video games for years and has not ever killed anybody . While playing a video game, it increases physiological arousal and makes the player want to engage in such violent activities without even realizing it. The highly criticized video game Grand Theft Auto 3 was initially banned in Australia for its graphic violence and sexual content. The game grossed $300 million in the United States by the end of 2002 . Such games provide the gamers a life-like experience which tends to desensitize children to real life violence. In developed countries, the standard of living is high hence families are able to afford more video games consoles compared to those in poorer countries. In countries like America, most adolescents have access to internet and video games and are more exposed to the harmful …show more content…
We are constantly being affected by it, especially the youth. Constant exposure to such brutality makes one insensitive to it. It reduces empathy in people and replaces it with anger. We no longer notice what our entertainment media is trying to normalize and blindly follow it.
Recently I came across an article which addressed this issue. I was astonished by it and further researched on the issue. I realised that without knowing, even I had even influenced by violence in media. I no longer reacted to violence as I had become so used to it. Constantly reading about violence on the news, I am no longer surprised when I hear about a robbery or an attack. Among my brothers, I have noticed that the only way to solve a disagreement is to physically fight one another. We become too comfortable with the idea of fighting that we do not even blink when we see a person uses ammunition in a movie. The idea of being a ‘superhero’ and fighting the ‘villain’ has become normal among young children. Recently, one of my younger cousin was caught using swear words and when I asked him why he did, he replied that he saw someone using it on television and accepted it as a social norm. Since then I made it my duty to inform all adults in my family about the dangers of exposing their children to such