Violence In The Media

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Television and video games are a huge part of most Americans lives. According to an article from the New York Times, statistic show that the average American watches around five hours of television each day and plays about six hours of video games every week. Much of the screen time is full of violent and cruel acts with shows like The Walking Dead and Dexter plus video games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. Violence is quite common in the media but is often shrugged off by parents. Parents often do not supervise what their kids are watching and do not realize the impact it has on their child. On average, by the time a child finishes elementary school, he or she has seen around eight thousand acts of murder on television. This much …show more content…
If children learn from what they see on television, why would they not learn to be violent? People often have a biased perspective as violence is not acceptable in society. If a child were to watch a movie about football he/she might be inspired to play football, or if one were to watch a musical, he/she might be inspired to sing. Why would watching a violent movie be any different? People learn from what is around them. If children are not taught by their parents that violence is wrong, they will learn from other things, such as the media. The video also has a greater impact if the one doing the violence is considered the "good guy". This is because violence is seen as a good way to solve problems. "If a child sees himself as the 'good guy,' then anyone who disagrees with him must be a 'bad guy' -- and this black-and-white thinking doesn't leave much room for trying to see it from the other side, or working out a win-win compromise," says Michelle Garrison investigator at Seattle Children's Research Institute Center for Child Health, Behavior, and Development. Children copy what people surrounding them do and support. It is not any different with violence. This is where the phrase "like parent, like child" has its trueness. Violence in media affects children just as much as anything else in the media affects