Media Violence Essay -- essays research papers fc

Machine gun fire, explosions, and screams for help are only a few of the sounds that can be heard emanating from a child’s bedroom today, while his parents listen nervously just outside his door. Horrified, these parents shake their heads ruefully, wondering at the power of entertainment available for kids nowadays. Sometimes they even argue whether it is right for their child to have access to this sort of violence: the kind found in most video games, television shows, and movies all over the world. But honestly, does it make a difference in the child’s development as a productive member of society, and if so, can a parent really do anything about it? These are the questions that researchers of the subject hope to answer conclusively In order to understand how media violence has an effect on children, different variables must first be examined. To begin with, children of various ages understand what they are watching very differently. Most of it depends on the length of their attention spans, the way they go about processing their information, the amount of mental effort that they put in, and their own life experiences. These stages are broken up into five parts. The first part is the effects on infants. Infants or children up to 18 months old can â€Å"Pay attention to an operating television set for short periods of time, but the attention demands a great effort and infants are more interested in their own activities.†1 Even when it seems that they are focusing on the television, infants will usually not be able to comprehend what is going on. They take it as a bunch of â€Å"Fragmented displays of light and sound†, which they can only recognize and put together certain pieces and characters. Although there is no evidence yet as to the effect of media violence on infants, there is still evidence that infants may imitate some behavior that they have seen on television. The toddler period begins at roughly two-and-a-half to three years old. It is at this point that they begin to pay more attention to the television when it is on. They also begin to develop a minute capability to take some meaning out of what they watch. They are also more likely to copy what they see on television. Children, who are at preschool age, three to five years old, start watching television with the intent of understanding the content. They are drawn to fast-pacing images, which tend to b... ...t of violent games will grow up to be violent. But just as every cigarette increases the chance that someday you will get lung cancer, every exposure to violence increases the chances that someday a child will behave more violently than they otherwise would.†3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Bibliography 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wendy L. Josephson, Ph.D. (1995). Television Violence: A Review of the Effects on Children of Different Ages. Retrieved Nov.17, 2004. Media Awareness Network. http://stauffer.queensu.ca/inforef/instruct/tv1.htm 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dr. Michael Craig Miller, (2000). Does Violence In The Media Cause Violent Behavior? Nov.18, 2004. Harvard Mental Health Letter. http://www.health.harvard.edu/medline/Mental/M901c.html 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Senator Orrin G. Hatch, (1999). Children, Violence, And The Media. Nov.18, 2004. Senate Judiciary Committee Media Violence Report. http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/mediavio.htm 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Saul Kassin, (2004), Psychology. Retrieved Nov.19, 2004 New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. THE EFFECTS OF MEDIA VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN NOVEMBER 23, 2004