The world faces an alarming increase in violent incidents in children’s lives today. Children are victims of abuse, personal assault, and neglect, as well as witnesses to violence in homes and the community at large. It is crucial to shed light on the topic of media violence because it explicates the dynamics of such violence on the lives of children globally. There is a need to promote more developmental and educational programming in all forms of all media. Such advocacy will go a long way to ensuring that children are entertained and have positive role models as well as acquire knowledge about the world. This paper will elucidate the effects of television and movie violence on children’s development using available evidence. Also, the paper will shed focus on the impacts of violence in video games on children and the differences in such effects by employing relevant theories.
Television programming and movies can impact violence in children considerably. When such forms of media are directed to kids, it exposes them to violence, which, in turn, exploits their unique vulnerability. Children are practically incapable of deducing the helpful content in the media and lack the needed discernment to reject the unhealthy influence from TV programs and films actively. An article by Psychology Today suggests that the early childhood of children lays out the foundation for the future social, cognitive, emotional, and physical development (Psychology Today, 2018). Thus, children can hardly control the messages delivered to them by the environment.
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Further, it is arguably difficult for them to differentiate reality from the fantasy they see in movies and TV. It follows, therefore, that responsibility falls on parents and other stakeholders to protect children from such exposure with utmost vigilance. Most censorships in the media also operate on this rationale, and agencies have made significant attempts to liaise with the industry’s standards setters to limit the amount of violence exposed to children.
Sufficient evidence exists suggesting that violent content in media affects children’s behavior. Various problems have been identified as the effects of violence in media on children. Fikkers, Piotrowski & Valkenburg (2017) argue that heavy viewing of television violence may make children insensitive to other’s pain and suffering. Television depicts pain as something one can easily endure without too much assistance from others. Second, children become more fearful of the environments around them when they are exposed to too much violence in the media. This is especially the case when the media tends to focus on broadcasts and programs that portray extreme societal ferocities while paying insignificant attention to the aspects that show the communal well-being. Third, a study by Wiedeman et al. (2015) finds that children who are exposed to ferocious content are highly likely to behave aggressively towards others. The research further suggests that such exposure makes children see violence as a reasonable way to react to stress and as an acceptable conflict resolution approach.
The violence in video games is no less harmful and impactful on children. While children’s video games’ developers have tried to make gaming gorier and more entertaining, the premise and plot of these games are still inherently violent. Following conclusive research on the impacts of the aggressiveness in video games, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) concluded that playing violent video games detracts children from the feeling of sensitivity to aggression ( Psychology Today, 2018 ). However, a considerable amount of research refutes the claims by APA on several grounds. First, Ferguson et al. (2016) argue that most studies on video games are prone to faulty conclusions due to false positives and negatives. Second, a study conducted by Ferguson (2017) finds no substantial proof linking the increased sale of video games that exhibit a significant amount of violence to the increased rate of violent crime. Also, Szycik, Mohammadi, Münte & Te Wildt (2017) argue that some claims on these effects are potentially inflated since researchers fail to consider other variables predicting such behavior. Nonetheless, the lack of irrefutable evidence that children’s aggressive behavior may result from violent video games does not mean that children should be exposed to just about any game.
While the violence in most forms of media has a similar impact on individuals, some forms are certainly more impactful than others. The argument is based on the premise that some media types are more alluring to children – hence more influential – than others. Also, the influence depends on how well children are acquainted with the rules and the environments of a given type of media. However, research exists that proves a significantly stronger influence of violence in television on children’s behavior than video games ( Psychology Today, 2018 ). Furthermore, it is worth contemplating that the effect of violence in video games is pointedly different among several ethnic groups, whereas it is generally the same for television. Psychology Today finds that white participants have a substantial effect while the children with Hispanic heritage record the least influence.
Violence in the various forms of media has varied influences on behavior at different ages. Generally, children between the age of eight and eighteen years are more exposed to media the form of television, moves, radio, print, video games, and the internet. This age group also represents the category that spends and average of 6 hours per day on the named media types ( Media Violence, 2009 ). On the other hand, children between the age of 0 and 6 years spend at least two hours daily using screen media, which includes computers, movies and television ( Media Violence, 2009 ). With the current trend of having televisions equipped in bedrooms, there is a significant increase in viewing-time has increased by an hour, which researchers have linked to a 31 percent and 200 percent increase in obesity and smoking among children, respectively ( Media Violence, 2009 ). According to a report published by Pediatrics, parents and guardians are becoming less capable of monitoring what their children view, and it is difficult to implement consistent rules for children’s media use. Essentially, by 18 years of age, an average person will have been exposed to at least 200,000 acts of violence on television alone ( Media Violence, 2009 ).
In brief, there exists a considerable influence of violence in media on children’s behavior. The various media forms provide exciting and alluring content that may invoke children to be violent in their childhood and adult life. Television programming and movies can indeed impact violence in children due to their incapability to discern the vital message from the content to which they get exposed. Also, violence in video games is considerably impactful to the behavior of children. Such influence may vary among age groups from 0 to 18 years, given that exposures may also vary ( Media Violence, 2009 ). There is a need to promote educative and developmental media targeting children to set better behavioral standards and a better society at large.
References
Ferguson, C. J. (2007). Evidence for publication bias in video game violence effects literature: A meta-analytic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior , 12 (4), 470-482.
Ferguson, C. J., Trigani, B., Pilato, S., Miller, S., Foley, K., & Barr, H. (2016). Violent video games don’t increase hostility in teens, but they do stress girls out. Psychiatric quarterly , 87 (1), 49-56.
Fikkers, K. M., Piotrowski, J. T., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2017). Assessing the reliability and validity of television and game violence exposure measures. Communication Research , 44 (1), 117-143.
Media Violence. (2009). PEDIATRICS , 124 (5), 1495-1503. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-2146
Psychology Today. (2018). Do Violent Video Games Make Kids More Violent? Psychology Today . Retrieved 29 November 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evidence-based-living/201807/do-violent-video-games-make-kids-more-violent
Szycik, G. R., Mohammadi, B., Münte, T. F., & Te Wildt, B. T. (2017). Lack of evidence that neural empathic responses are blunted in excessive users of violent video games: an fMRI study. Frontiers in psychology , 8 , 174.
Wiedeman, A. M., Black, J. A., Dolle, A. L., Finney, E. J., & Coker, K. L. (2015). Factors influencing the impact of aggressive and violent media on children and adolescents. Aggression and Violent Behavior , 25 , 191-198.
