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Have you heard about Sandy Hook? A fanatic who was a media violence junkie murdered twenty innocent children, along with six staff members. In the past few years, gun violence has been on the rise in many previously peaceful countries in the world and researchers are claiming that the attackers are usually people who have been fed violence via different media channels, predominantly TV and video games, since early childhood. These children grow up to glamorize the people who hold guns and kill innocent human beings.
It is safe to say that media’s romanticized portrayal of violence, be it Walter White or Hannibal, has influenced children’s psychology immensely. Since it is impossible to completely and fully ban these TV shows, parents will have to step in, protect their children from the brutality and stop them from viewing violence-promoting TV shows.
Violence on television has given way to a streak of vicious happenings like setting their partners on fire, jumping off buildings to commit suicide and even extorting money with the help of bombs. Over a thousand studies have been conducted on the topic where children are concerned, and they have all established that children become a lot more aggressive and anti-social immediately after viewing the aforementioned TV shows. They feel cold and unsympathetic towards victims of violence and become less sensitive towards violence in general. In fact, it has been proven that due to the media’s influence children demand to see more violence both in real life and in entertainment. They want to play video games that promote bloodshed; they want to watch cartoons that have hints of viciousness, and they want to buy toy guns and fake-shoot them at each other.
The reality that less than five percent of TV programs show their characters suffering from consequences after resorting to violence makes it seem even more stylish. For children who see this content, bad becomes the new good, the new cool. They feel a sense of righteousness in the message portrayed since it is dispatched so positively. They feel that since their gun-trotting hero could get away with it, there is no reason why they will not be able to do the same. When a child learns something like this, they learn it for life since they do not know the difference between fantasy and reality. Their minds are like blank pieces of paper, and they are sure to right down, and store, everything they see and hear.
The best solution, thus, is to make sure that all they hear, all they see will mold them into exemplary human beings. We may not be able to manage what the TV shows, but we are definitely capable of pulling the plug off our cable connection and saying goodbye to violent TV forever. For entertainment, one can resort to the internet, which will let people see what they want to see. We can select the shows we think our children need to watch, attach the device to the big screen and watch educational shows as a family.
Let us not let our children and youngsters succumb to media giants and their love for violence. Let us make sure that our children’s pure minds develop into mature ones. Let us make sure our children do not become the gun-wielding psycho at Sandy Hook.
References
Florian Rübener, (2003). Violence on TV. 1st ed. Denmark: Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium, Dinslaken.
Juliet Dinkha, Charles Mitchell, (2014). The Relationship among TV Violence, Aggression, Anti-Social Behaviors and Parental Mediation. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 5 (23), pp.
Federal Communications Commission, (2007). Violent Television Programming And Its Impact On Children. USA: FCC.
