The current generation is one that is glued on social media. The forms of entertainment have changed with technological advancement and social media popularity. However, children and adults rely on TV films, movies, and video games for entertainment. By so doing, they identify with the characters in various ways. When the media presents violent video games or films to the public, it causes a threat to the public's security by promoting aggressiveness. Television is the center of interest for all people, especially young children, greatly impacting their lives. Continuous exposure to violent conditions leads to a change of mind. For example, there has been an increase in the number of horror movies, violent games such as wrestling, and violent cartoons. This has led to aggressiveness, and now the world is facing insecurity from fellow humans. Shootings are a point of concern, even in children. So one would wonder, where do the children get the courage to shoot? The continuous exposure to violent movies with gun shootings with no punishment makes the children believe that when one wrongs them, the best action to take is to shoot. People have killed their spouses and buried them in their houses without feeling guilty. Rape is on the rise, theft, especially in the banks, has increased. Thus, the paper discusses how media violence promotes aggressive behavior.
In developed countries, almost every household has a television set. The form of entertainment is media inclined. Rarely are there families that do not own a television in this century. People have had different views on the causes of increased violence. Social media has its advantages and disadvantages. The communication has been promoted through social media, information sharing has greatly promoted the economy, and improved education and globalization have been made possible by improved communication which has saved people travel costs to access information. Social media has its flaws such as increased criminal activities due to exposure to information on crimes and violence, moral decadence, especially in youth due to exposure to pornographic films, increase in drug trafficking and violence have been caused by exposure to social media. Some blame social media, while others argue that there is no direct connection between watching violent movies and playing violent games with aggressiveness. In my opinion, I believe that the media has largely contributed to aggressiveness in various ways.
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Violence in the media makes people less-sensitive to aggressiveness and views it as normal. Surprisingly, the current generation praises violent characters. When a character is shot dead in the movie, most viewers will celebrate. The problem is not the violence in the movie; the problem arises when the evil in the movie looks for a way of escaping and go unpunished for years. The youths are now facing unemployment and want to earn. Therefore, they concentrate on the escaping plan so that if they find themselves in such circumstances, they can easily get away with it. The rewarded aggression in the movie stimulates the viewers to be aggressive. For instance, the most-watched movie, "Money Heist," has its characters like professors portraying a lot of wisdom and knowledge that the youths would like to have. It was just after the release of the series that a certain group of Kenyans dug an underground tunnel and stole millions of cash from the bank. When the youth get exposed to these movies, hardly do they focus on the good. They aim to find a way of getting rich. When the movies show that the best way to get rich is through robbery, they put it into practice because they gain skills and experience from watching the movies.
Children cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Children learn through imitation. Unfortunately, the media does not put this into consideration. The cartoons that are mainly the source of entertainment for children is characterized by aggressiveness and comic aggression. The children are irrational, unlike adults and what they see, they are curious to practice it to see whether it works. They further associate with the cartoons. If the television presents a violent scene, the children do not know the reason behind the display. All they know is that what they see should be done because someone did it, why not them. One of the ways of learning is observation. A person's behavior is shaped by nature and nurture. Children exposed to violent scenes and those that grow up in violent environments are likely to be violent if the violence goes unpunished. The effect of media is worse when the videos involve guns. Children cannot differentiate between a toy or a gun (Benjamin et al., 2017). According to Dillon and Bushman's study on the effect of exposure to movies that involved gun shootings on children, children who watched the violent movie when they were in a room with guns pulled the trigger and pointed the gun towards their fellows. It was to no surprise when one child pointed a gun to passerby through the window. This research is enough to show that children are curious to practice what they see in the movies. The sight of the gun is enough to trigger violence (Bushman et al., 2017). The increased violence in children is, therefore, a result of exposure to social media violence.
Catharsis is one of the primary reasons for watching movies and playing games. If this concept's application was real in the current generation, then society could be free from aggressive acts. Watching violent movies and games should be used to purge one's feelings of aggressiveness if it has to have a positive impact. The Aristotle's concept on catharsis was that people get relieved when they watch He gave guidelines on how such artistic works should be if they were to serve the purpose. Unfortunately, the present media does not meet even a quarter of these requirements, yet people keep supporting the violent movies and video games. The catharsis hypothesis that human minds can unlearn a concept by being exposed to it is a contrast of a person's neuroscience in that watching something promotes learning other than hindering it as catharsis suggests. If humans were to follow these hypotheses, the more children learn, the more they forget it! For instance, Aristotle notes that for artistic work to provide catharsis, it must arouse feelings of fear or pity (Dillon & Bushman, 2017). He further argues that the feared action should not necessarily be brought to the stage, but it can be done offstage. The media have grossly violated these two factors. Every action is shown to the viewers. The beheadings or shootings are performed on the stage, with high creativity such that one would think it happened, especially children and adolescents. The aggression catharsis, in my view, does not exist. People do not watch violent videos and games to purge their feelings; rather, they associate with violent characters, thus increasing aggressive behavior.
In retrospect, social media has had its advantages and disadvantages. Media violence has greatly contributed to violent behavior among children, adolescents, and adults. Children cannot differentiate fantasy and reality; the media seems to promote violence instead of fighting it. Catharsis cannot be achieved by watching violent movies and playing violent video games because the current works do not meet the qualities, as stated by Aristotle. Further, catharsis goes against humans' minds functioning in that people do not unlearn a behavior or concept through exposure to it. Media has a lot of influence on people's behavior. As long as the media remains violent, humans will be violent.
References
Bushman, B., Kerwin, T., Whitlock, T., &Weisenberger, M. (2017). The weapons effect on wheels: Motorists drive more aggressively when there is a gun in the vehicle. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 73, 82-85.
Benjamin Jr, A. J., Kepes, S., & Bushman, B. J. (2018). Effects of weapons on aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, hostile appraisals, and aggressive behavior: A meta-analytic review of the weapons effect literature. Personality and Social Psychology Review , 22 (4), 347-377.
Dillon, K. P., & Bushman, B. J. (2017). Effects of exposure to gun violence in movies on children’s interest in real guns. JAMA pediatrics , 171 (11), 1057-1062.
