Potential Killer of Empathy and Peacefulness: Why Violent Media is Bad for Kids - Essay Example

Indeed, violent media in itself is not argued as the sole or even primary cause of youth and adult violence, but it can be contended as one of the risk factors of human aggression. Violence in the media can be specifically destructive to young children who are at risk, such as those who are poor, have mental/psychological illnesses, or come from broken families and unruly neighbourhoods. Violent media is bad for children because it can influence the development of short-term aggression, contribute to aggressive conflict resolution behaviours and result to long-term aggression as adults.

Violent media is harmful to children because it teaches them violent attitudes and behaviours that reflect immediately on their actions after consuming these kinds of media. One of the seminal studies on the immediate effects of media violence is the series of Bobo doll experiments of Stanford University psychologist Albert Bandura and his peers in the 1960s (Strasburger and Wilson 65). In their experiments, children watched a film where a model of aggression badly treated a Bobo doll (i.e. punching or hitting it).

In one of their experiments, Bandura and his co-researchers wanted to know the conditions that influenced children’s aggressive actions. . Moreover, Bandura et al. observed how watching media violence could be translated to real-life aggression. Young children are at the stage of their lives where they copy the actions of adults, and when they see violence in the media, they may think that violent actions against others, even real living things, are acceptable. These studies suggest that watching violent media can influence children to be violent against others too in the short run.

Aside from affecting real-life aggression temporarily, violence in the media can teach children that violence is a normal conflict resolution tool. Doctor Eugene V. Beresin, Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, stresses findings from several researchers. These studies showed that media generally portray that violence is a suitable way of resolving conflicts. Beresin explains the connection between violent media and brutal conflict resolution skills: “In general, violence [in the media] often conveys a model of conflict resolution.

It is efficient, frequent, and inconsequential. Heroes are violent, and.rewarded for their behaviour.” Beresin explains that media demonstrates that those who use violence to deal with conflicts are heroes. Children see heroes as cool, which makes them think that aggression is cool too. Another example is the anecdotal evidence that media tend to glorify school shooters. Media coverage focuses more on them than the victims. Kids with psychological or social problems see that the media will also one day make them famous, if they use violence to finish off their enemies.

These examples illustrate that media teach children to accept