Violence In The Media

Violence in the Media and TV

Studies show that violence on television does have a bad affect on young people and the way they think and act. At a young age, our minds are like sponges, and absorb everything that surrounds them, which makes them easy targets for the medias constant influence. This is true not only for young people, but some recent studies indicate that watching violence on television can even affect adults too.
Young people and children learn from both experience and role models. When young people see violence on television, they have a difficult time deciding between what is real and what is make believe, and they often try to copy what they are seeing. Many young people are influenced by violence in TV and the media which can then shape their inappropriate behaviour. This is very dangerous TV viewing.
Also a chemical change occurs in the brain, and if enough violence is viewed, the brain reacts as if the person doing the viewing has actually been abused. As young people who watch violence on television have brains that are still developing, I believe this is also really dangerous TV viewing. Statistics show that over 80% of young people are shocked by violence on TV.
Studies have shown that young people exposed to violence are affected by having less understanding for other people and are more likely to be aggressive to solve their problems. They often react badly and rely on quick reactions to resolve frustrations. Studies have also shown that they appear to be more fearful of relationships. Young people seeing too much violence on TV are also more likely to be argumentative and cause problems in school or college. Studies show that young people who watch too much violence on TV appear to be more unwilling to co-operate with others and less patient than others.
There are also other dangers to violent TV viewing and one of the most worrying is that young people become more violent themselves as teenagers, become more involved in criminal activity and have more problems with the law as adults. Young people today have a fixation with the mass media, resulting in individuals becoming desensitized to the violence they have seen. Desensitization is a psychological development that causes unemotional reactions to the violence seen. Young people exposed to this violence often lack feelings of care or concern towards victims of actual violent acts.
In the media, violence appears to be something natural. Individuals can witness violence in cartoons, sports, the news and sitcoms, making them think violence is normal. In 2009 it was widely reported on TV and in the media about the singer, Chris Brown beating up his girlfriend Rihanna. However, nearly half of the young people questioned said Rihanna was responsible for the attack that landed her in hospital. It appears that many young people in our society think that violence is an acceptable way to behave in response to a disagreement.
Psychologists have also discovered that watching violent video games can be linked to fighting and criminal actions. The majority

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Media Violence