Do Social Media Encourage Bad Behavior - Assignment Example

Do Social Media Encourage Bad Behavior? It has been empirically proven that media has a significant affect over behaviors of people. The debate started a very long time ago when violence related video games and movies were introduced in the early 80’s and became a craze in the young generation during 90’s around the world. History explores that the era of increasing domestic violence was the same when become and access to every home. The immature behaviors of teenagers get more influence from the media and its productions (Anderson et al, 2007). There are two extreme groups which have different opinions regarding relation between media and bad behavior such as bullying and violence etc. One school of thought opines that media has a significant impact over the behaviors of people. This implies that media plays an important role and people conceive significant behavioral impacts from the shows broadcasted on television. The other group defines that media has controlled effect because every person who watches action movies and video games does not show violent behavior. It depends on controlled broadcast of television channels and media content according to the age of target audience. They further explain that media will not significantly impact if the target audience will be defined according to the sensitivity of the content. As nitty-gritty, media or anything impacts adversely if the usage becomes inappropriate. It is a counter argument to the question of media’s affect over people’s behavior. The empirical studies reveal that violence amplification is a side effect of media in certain types of broadcasted events such as, war like situations and real time violent news coverage like murders etc. It still has not been completely explored by longitudinal studies about the exact measurement of impact. However specific correlation analysis for certain events confirms it positively (Potter, 2012). According to the evidences grabbed from relevant literature, it seems to be more concrete that media is playing a significant role in turning the normal behaviors to bad. The crime ratio has significantly increased since the time media has started covering the insights of the entire crime cases such as murder, abduction and robbery. The settlement between media role and violent behavior has been made due to social influences and people’s psychological rate of adoptability. The societal melodies and mental diseases have been reported to be initiated by media and several of the television shows. It is not a big deal if a teenager gets influence from the actions of his favorite wrestler despite disclaimer presented as, “do not try this at home.” The debate of preventing the violent actions in films, video games and television shows has lasted for a long time. Some society loving organizations took initiatives to prevent broadcasting but it is not easy because the target audience is already defined and the entire jumble is created because of inappropriate use (Huesmann and Taylor, 2006). According to a survey, around 82% of male teenagers are indulged in video games playing activities at any stage of their teenage life. Some studies explore that the fond of video games is found in mature people as well as it has become a part of their routine amusement. Fighting and violence related activities account for 70% of games sold/produced. Sample studies were taken place by the experts of Yale University and there they found that violence and bullying with younger siblings and friends is found more in the case of the teenagers who play videogames. Further exploration opens the avenue of future research about the nature of games they play in order to generalize the study (Anderson et al, 2007). According to the record, a 33 year old man murdered of his wife as he was not happy with his wife due to a mental mismatch. But the wife was so wealthy that he could not give up the luxuries he had from his wife. He started watching wife murder cases from previous crime pages. He confessed that he was in search of some solid implementable plan by eliminating the mistakes committed by the captured murderer. After he was successful in killing his wife, he started feeling extreme dissatisfaction with the environment. He felt that his dead wife was chasing him but in fact he had become psychologically ill because of internal dissatisfaction. Consequently within a month he went to police and confessed the murder he had committed (Savage, 2008). The above stated real time story clearly defines the role of media because the murderer found the way through media. The nature of media also varies in embossing an impact thoroughly. The two kinds of media, that is print and electronic, have varied natures of impact over people’s behavior. Print media targets the mature audience who are used to reading newspaper every day. Some people are naturally destructive minded so they gain more influence from the coverage of negative news and updates. This might be as deadly as some people are lean to repeat the same situation only to check the variance in the outcome? For instance a teenager, who was resident of Brazil, tried to cut his hand vein just to try the feeling a person will have by the same act. After investigating, it was found that he had excessive interest in suicidal news and stories (Potter, 2012). Experts of human psychology took two samples randomly from people of middle age in order to check the impact of media in order to influence negatively on human behavior. One group was named as the experimental group whereas the other was known as controlled group. In order to make the study general, acceptable and universal, the experiment was intended to last for three years. During the experiment, the controlled group was deliberately taken away from any activity that could support violence. The television shows they were asked to watch were simple domestic and general ones. On the other hand the experimental group was normally interacted (not excessive) with violent television shows including crime stories’ coverage on news channels. After three years, it was found a significant variance in the behaviors of both groups. It was a significant and acceptable study but it remained a target of criticism. Counter arguments included that it was psychologically tested that every person feels anger and aggression at any stage of life. For example a mother became so powerful that she pulled a very heavy stone down to the mountain in order to save the lives of her children. Was that an impact of media? Obviously not, however this is another avenue of debate (Savage, 2008). In general, it is believed that people who frequently interact with violent content become more aggressive as compared to the people who are interacted less or normal (Huesmann and Taylor, 2006). It is the case found with female audience, the melodies of jealousy, telling lies, back stabbing and many others like this are injected from films and media. However media cannot be held responsible entirely. But significant impact is inverted especially in immature female audience. The problem of social class and feeling superior or inferior might also be influenced through media. Up to some extent, while talking about negative impacts, it influences a lot over the regular viewer as exactly in the way the programs are telecasted (Anderson et al, 2007). In a nut shell, everything is two sided: one is positive and the other is negative. It is as similar as evil and angels exist in the same world. Same is the reference with the media. It depends over use, choice of programs and self control. If we talk about the main concern, then yes! Media impacts significantly in altering the behaviors from good to bad in various means as stated above i.e., violent video games, crime story coverage, wrestling and other action films released. However the control of a target audience may prevent the adversities significantly. References Anderson, C. A., Gentile, D. A., & Buckley, K. E. (2007). Violent video game effects on children and adolescents: theory, research, and public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Huesmann, L. R., & Taylor, L. D. (2006). The Role Of Media Violence In Violent Behavior. Annual Review of Public Health,27(1), 393-415. Potter, W. J. (2012). Media effects. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. Savage, J. (2008). The Role Of Exposure To Media Violence In The Etiology Of Violent Behavior: A Criminologist Weighs In. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(8), 1123-1136. Read More