Violence in the media has been around for as long as mass media itself, and as such, many people begin to contemplate weather it can have negative effects on people. After all, when we hear about a violent crime, and later hear that the person who committed that crime had the idea from a movie, TV show, or video game they watched or played, it can be very concerning. Parents especially are always at the forefront of this problem as children are known to absorb things from the media differently. They are known to model certain actions after characters they see on TV or in their video games. With how powerful mass media is in effecting the viewers in different ways, its always important to discuss the negative effects that might occur.
Personally, as sombody who has grown up in a world heavily dominated by early morning cartoons, Disney animated films, and golden aged video games, I began to see the effects of mass media on people form a young age. Ill never forget the time my brothers would play a game they called “Templeton”, where they would steal food from under the dinner table just like the rat character from the animated movie Charlotte’s Web, or the time my friends and I would swing sticks around like we were Link from the Legend of Zelda games. Of course these actions are relatively harmless and didn’t cause any negative effects on me, my brothers or my friends, but there are plenty of instances we hear a violent crime and wonder weather the criminal was influenced by something they saw in the media. In tandem with many study’s showing little to no connection with violence in the media and real world violence, I believe that violence in the media does not affect the viewers personal levels of violence.
With all the talk about violence in the media, video games, being a rather new medium, have been under scrutiny every time a violent crime is committed. However despite the many negative claims towards violent video games by the media, a decade long study of over 11,000 children in the United Kingdom published in the British Medical Journal “has found no association between playing video games from the age of five, and mood or behavioral problems later in life.” Many other studies have shown the same results, that playing violent video games does not cause real world violence. These studies are not the be all and end all to the topic however. Suppose its true that violence in video games and other forms of media have no effect on the viewers violent tendencies, there are still people who are simply more susceptible to wanting to commit violent acts because of what they see in the media. The truth is, however, that that is a small percentage of people who participate in violent media. Think about all the people who watch violent TV shows, or play violent video games; millions upon millions of people that is. How many of them commit acts of violence because of the media they are exposed to?
