Thursday, June 4, 2020

Media Violence and Children - Free Essay Example

Media Violence and Children My first research article, Media violence, and children, written by ?ENG?–NL, Turhan explains the negative effects of media on children. This article also provides various scientific methods, studies, and theories related to the media and its influence on todays generation. I used the Social learning theory which is related to the main idea of this article. According to the social Leaning Theory, people learn to behave and act by observing people and sources around them. For example, they learn to behave good and bad both by observing different kinds of people in their environment (Bandura, 1977). As this article focuses on the relationship between the media violence and the children, so it can be said that children develop aggressive behavior by observing violence in the media. Further, observational learning explained that media can impact children for a short and long period of time. Their regular contact with violent enhancing sources makes them aggressive that they look the rest world with an aggressive point of view. Various research studies provided evidence that children who spent their time watching violent movies and playing violent video games are likely to be more aggressive. According to the studies, television is seen as the most effective in contributing aggression in people. A study conducted for 2000 people in the United States revealed that the children from the ages of 8 to 18 spent 7 hours a day with media which means that the two third of people are exposed to TV viewing. (Rideout, Foehr and Roberts, 2010). Moreover, it is also replacing the enrollment of children in active, creative and various social activities. The studies showed the results as an increase in youths before and after the introduction of the television. (Joy, Kimball, and Zabrack, 1986). So, social learning theory and observational theories played a great role in describing the negative influence of media on adolescence. The Second Research article will explain the childrens behavior, habits, preferences and social environment. It was found that the invention of media sources has made children introvert. It explains that television, computer games, films and videos leave a short-term effect on arousal, emotions and aggressive behavior in children. It also describes that the media impacts the brain and the behavior of people. Many scientific theories and studies tried to know the relationship between the media violence and an increase in aggression in children. Neurologists and cognitive psychologists state that human memory functions as a network of various stimulants in the environment (Bartholow, Anderson, Carnagey et al., 2005). According to the scientific studies, at least 50% of the children spent their time while watching television instead of taking part in outdoor activities. It is only due to the introduction of media sources. Nowadays, television has become a major factor in socialization that influences the lives of children in urban and rural areas. It is found that boys are more aggressive than girls as they are more fascinated by their aggressive heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Children like their media heroes and perceive them as role models. With the arrival of mass-media and films, the number of crimes like assault, theft, sexual assault, and prostitution has increased. It explains that the development in media sources like computers, video recorders, smartphones, computer games, and the internet has attracted a vast number of the population towards it which means that it makes a gap from prosocial responsibilities. The real torture and murder scenes raise violent cults and terrorist guidelines. Moreover, the internet has become a source of pornography for todays generation (Groebel and Hinde, 1991). Many studies put forward the evidence that the children behave as same as they see on screens or observe in their daily lives. The Third article describes the results and some effective methods to control the strong bonding between the media violence and the youth. Here, it is examined the role of parents in monitoring their kids towards the media use and applying different strategies to break the relationship between media violence and adolescents. One of the most common childhood behavioral disorders is Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), that is characterized by loss of interest, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This disorder leads one towards the academic failure, drug use and lost interest for society. The strong connection with violent entertainment media, for example, television and videos, films and video games cause the development of ADHD behavior (Kronenberger et al., 2005; Levine Waite, 2000; Zimmerman Christakis, 2007). Moving towards the role of parents to control this habituation of their kids for media, can set up rules for its use. The role of family is effective to control and understand the what media the child using and its results on their minds. Parental Mediation is seen the concerning factor for media and ADHD relationship. There are two types of Parental Mediation that are restrictive mediation (setting up rules for media use) and active mediation (talking about media content with children). The author described three ways to deal with the kids are punishment, being strict, and being supportive and make them understand about the negative effects of excessive use of media sources. So, here in this article, the studies focused on the development of psychological disorders due to the negative influence of media use. The aggressive behavior in the new generation can be controlled by setting up new strategies and rules about violent raising resources. Valkenburg and colleagues (2013). So, three of the discussed articles laid stress on the behavioral changes in children after exposure to the media violation.