By the time the average U.S. school child finishes elementary school, he or she will have seen about 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television, and if the child also has violent games, films, or cable TV these numbers are even higher (“Denial”, par. 1). There has been intense debate about whether widespread exposure to media, such as movies, television, music, video games, and internet, influences our behavior. In the aftermath of various school shootings, there has been increased public concern that media violence causes aggressive behavior. There are many people who doubt that there is a correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior.
These individuals believe that real violence in society is responsible for breeding aggression. They believe that the increase in media violence today is a reflection of real violence in society (Cutler 20). For instance, they attribute school shootings to be more influenced by the news media because they glorify violence in an effort to inform the public, then by the depictions of violence in entertainment media. People who share the opinion that violent events in real life have a stronger influence on aggressive behavior, also believe that they “can’t simply ignore the way media violence reflects and reinforces what is already out there” (Rapping, par. 7).
For those that disagree that there is a correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior, find that media violence is a complex issue that does not accuse media violence as the only risk factor, but actually claims there are other factors involved. Violence and Youth it states, “inborn temperament, early parental abuse or neglect, poverty, cognitive impairment, plus a deficiency of corrective influences or role models” may lead to aggressive behavior (Cutler 19). Depending on the age of a child and varying degrees of these factors, children deal with media violence differently.
Whether a child has been exposed to aggressive behavior at home and the extent of this exposure influences how he or she processes media violence, either as harmless entertainment or impressionable admiration (19). For those that believe that media violence does not cause aggressive behavior may also believe that aggressive individuals may turn to violent media because it reflects how they already feel. We live in a culture of violence, where violence is the “basis of our social stability” (Rapping, par. 11). Americans’ enthusiasm for media violence continues to develop stronger. This has largely to do with the fact that media violence is commonly viewed as expressions of art, which have been criticized for its social effects.
The violence depicted in horror films, like Silence of The Lambs, uses symbolism and metaphors to express opinions about social and political issues (Rapping, par. 14). Common sense tells us that there is a correlation between media violence and our behavior. Even though there are many reports that claim exposure to media violence has detrimental effects on our behavior, the public is not aware of these effects, and the consumption of media violence continues to increase. It is difficult to blame acts of violence like school shootings to just one type of media because once media messages are internalized it has subtle effects on us.
If we were to censor media to reduce aggressive behavior in our culture, we would no longer have freedom of expression. Although the freedom of expression in the media contributes to violent content, suppression of art alone would cause an array of different social problems. One of the main concerns that social scientists have regarding media violence, is its effects on children, especially because they like to emulate adults. Researchers that studied this subject found that young children that were exposed to a lot of media violence displayed either fear towards the potential dangers in society or displayed aggressive behavior that continued on into adulthood.
Acts of aggression are usually physical, verbal, and social. Studies have also shown that these children have a higher risk as adults to get arrested and accused for a crime. Since it is more common for children to access media without adult supervision, children are becoming more vulnerable to the media’s harmful influences. Among the different outlets of media, video games seem to have more negative effects on children because of its interactive capabilities which require children to associate with the attacker. By the time a child turns 18 years old, his or her exposure to media violence will double to 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders.
Even children’s cartoon programs display acts of violence, around 20 every hour. Although not all individuals become aggressive, research experiments that studied exposure to media violence have concluded that there is a positive correlation between media violence in the media and aggressive behavior (Jipguep and Sanders-Phillips, par. 20).
In striving to present both sides of the argument, I learned that although there is scientific evidence that supports my position, there are other confounding factors involved with this issue. While exposure to media violence is a risk factor to aggressive and violent behavior, it is difficult to ignore there are other contributing factors like pre-existing behavioral and social issues.
The scientific perspective on media violence will continue to be undermined by public criticism because it is difficult to perform ideal controlled studies (“Denial”, par.5). As a result, people with opposing perspectives will continue to point out the flaws in scientific studies and debate that media violence is too complex to study. If the community is really interested in reducing the negative effects of media violence then they should change the way news outlets glorify violence. Since we live in a free country, media violence is most likely going to always be around. If you ever experienced road rage, then you know from experience that aggressive behavior does not only apply to physical violence. We should all be cautious of our exposure to media violence because of its harmful influences on behavior, especially among children.
