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Media Violence Cause and Effect


Media Violence Cause and Effect
Parents in the community of Calabasas, north of Los Angeles, were shocked recently to discover that two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old had been arrested for battery and cyberbullying following a bizarre incidence in which red-haired middle schoolers were beaten, punched and kicked. A 2005 South Park television show featuring “Kick a Ginger Day,” a satirical look at the problem of violence against others because of traits like red hair, spurred the incident. The show’s lessons backfired and have prompted similar events in recent years. Donald Zimring, superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District, was quoted in Monday’s Los Angeles Times: “The irony of this is, the episode that has been linked to this was in fact underscoring how hurtful, destructive and horrible bigotry is. That kind of lesson is a fairly complex lesson. It's going to get lost on a 10-, 11-, or 12-year-old." 
South Park, recommended for “mature audiences only,” and “unsuitable for children under 17,” is one most parents would prefer their children not watch. But many children have, and the situation underscores the exponential problem of media violence and its effects on children’s behavior.
Time spent
With media outlets growing, most children – and many adults – spend an enormous amount of time camped in front of a television screen, a video game, or an Internet monitor. Since the birth of television in the 1950s, home entertainment has evolved from a single, family television to multiple sets and large-screened, wall-mounted plasma units with theater-quality surround sound. Very few families limit their viewing to a single television – or none at all.
A Nielsen report, released October 26, found American children aged 2-11 are watching more television than ever before – over 32 hours weekly for preschoolers and 28 hours weekly for elementary-aged kids. These numbers include time spent playing video games, but television still logs the most hours. Instead of abandoning the “tube” to other media outlets, Nielsen found youngsters are just picking up additional outlets. 
Meanwhile, a recent report on media violence by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), broke it down into 6 hours, 21 minutes that American children aged 8-18 spend daily using entertainment media – television, video, movies, video games, print, radio, recorded music, computers, and the Internet. Children under 6 spend almost two hours daily with screen media. Topping that off, many children – including 19 percent of all infants, 29 percent of 2- and 3-year-olds, 43 percent of 4- to 6-year-olds, and 68 percent of those over age 8 – have televisions in their own bedrooms. Research shows that children with their own television increase their viewing time, along with their risks of obesity and smoking. An unmonitored television cuts down on a child’s outside activities and adversely affects his school performance.
Experts have been concerned about media violence since the 1950s, and it has grown steadily worse. In 1972, the Surgeon General issued a special report on the public health effects of media violence based on “a growing and nearly unanimous body of evidence.” In 2007, a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report indicated “’strong evidence’ that exposure to media violence can increase aggressive behavior in children. The weight of scientific evidence has been convincing to pediatricians, with more than 98% of pediatricians in [one] study expressing the personal belief that media violence affects children’s aggression.”
The AAP report says that by age 18, the average young person will have viewed approximately 200,000 violent acts on television alone. Add to that violent movies, with 90 percent of the top-rated PG-13 films in 1999-2000 containing violence – half of it at lethal levels. An estimated 12 percent of 10-to 14-year-olds saw 40 of the most violent movies in 2003. Similarly, the music to which teens listen has become more violent, and, as teens increasingly use the Internet, their exposure to violence increases. An analysis by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) found recently that more than half of all video games are rated as violent – including 90 percent of those rated appropriate for ages 10 and up. The AAP report summed it up, “Prolonged exposure to such media portrayals results in increased acceptance of violence as an appropriate means of solving problems and achieving one’s goals.” 
Media exposure leads to a desensitization to violence and is associated with violent and aggressive behavior, bullying, fear, depression, nightmares, and sleep disorders. The correlation between media violence and behavioral aggression is greater than that between calcium and bone mass, and smoking and lung cancer, yet has not drawn commensurate preventative measures. 
Most media violence is presented for immediate thrills, without any guidance, and without any portrayal of cost or harm to others. One study of 32,000 teens in 8 different countries, cited in the AAP report, found a strong link between heavy television viewing and bullying. Considering the “Kick a Ginger Day” campaign spawned by the episodes of South Park, watching the harassment of redheads led a group of adolescents to try the behavior themselves – with little or no thought to the outcome or its effect on others. One middle schooler in Calabasas, who said she was punched or kicked by six students on her way to the school office, said, “They seemed to think it was a big, funny joke.” 
Children are influenced by their exposure to media; they learn by observing, imitating, and adopting behaviors. AAP says, “Because children have high levels of exposure, media have greater access and time to shape young people’s attitudes and actions than do parents or teachers, replacing them as educators, role models, and the primary sources of information about the world and how one behaves in it.”
Parents, raised on a steady diet of television themselves, often fail to realize the harm done in uncensored viewing habits. Even the best television shows should be allowed in moderation and under parental supervision. Despite poor industry self-policing, parents often seem reluctant to embrace the growing evidence and take action. None-the-less, the first step is awareness. 
What you can do:
  • Remove television sets, Internet connections and video-game units from a child’s room;
  • Make thoughtful media choices and discuss them with your child;
  • Consider pre-recording programs that meet your family standards, so children can watch them when their schedule allows, rather than objectionable shows;
  • Limit maximum time on all screen media devises for your child, utilize the V-chip, and avoid violent video games and shows; and
  • Encourage and help your child to make smart media choices.
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