The world has changed over the last decades. The rapid development of new technologies has changed our lives completely. We do not work, do not study, and do not play as we did before. Now we can barely see children playing outside in groups like their parents or grandparents used to do when they were young.
There is one simple reason for that: nowadays children are more occupied by other ways of entertainment such as television, internet or computer games which does not necessarily require a company. All of it is called the mass media.
After our day-to-day life started full speed change, people themselves also started acting different in terms of uncontrolled violence in people's behaviour, lately intensified indifference when it comes to people's emotions, and we also need to mention hyperactive children that are impossible to be entertained by simple games, teenagers who do not want to wear a hand watch for reason they consider all those things which have only one function: they think it is old-fashioned so they would more preferably use mobile phone with multiple options.
Media is a wonderful servant but a terrible master
Many people put in lining the media as a source of knowledge and a source of a role model for both children and adults, and people's strange and more violent behavior in the real world. Like never before we are being bombed by different violent scenes on television where we are taken away by the movies that portray the bad guys as tough fighters who can kill people with the snap of a finger, or violent video games where every minute characters get shot and a large spray of blood covers the walls and floor near the character.
On the occasions when explosives are used, the characters burst into small but recognizable body parts. In spite of the violence, the violent video games are also the most popular games on the market. When video games first came out, indeed they were addictive. Although there have been studies claiming that video game violence has almost no negative effect on their gamers, there are also many studies that claim an evident connection of negative behavior, such as aggression and games and movies violence. Thus, in order to totally assess the effects of game violence on its users, the limiting conditions under which there are effects must be taken into account, which include age, gender and level of education.
Also, that does not have to be a child under the age of 12 to get mesmerized by some movie or video game and try to copy it. That can be a teenager, or an adult. There is a recorded case of two young boys attacking a high school in Colorado, murdering 13 and wounding 23 before turning the guns on themselves. Although nothing is for certain as to why these boys did what they did, there is the fact which is of essential importance for the case- two of them had enjoyed playing the bloody, video game Doom, a game licensed by the U.S. military to train soldiers to effectively kill. In that game there were two shooters, each with extra weapons and unlimited ammunition, and the other people in the game could not fight back. For a class project, they made a videotape that was similar to their customized version of Doom.
It is all the story about a role model! Throughout one's life, especially teenager's, one will need to have a role model, somebody to follow, and somebody to copy their actions. The reason of that is teenage confusion, their inability to develop their personality which leads them to a search for someone who would show them how to behave and act accordingly.
For the same reason they care a lot about how others perceive them and they want to be accepted in their company no matter what.
Some time ago, all of us used to have mother/father or sister/brother as a role model, but nowadays children spend more time in front of a television or a computer in solitude than playing or talking with their parents or friends.
With mass media as its nanny, what else is to be expected from a child who wants to be as strong and „respected“ as his favourite movie character who did not even say 10 lines during the whole 2-hour movie he watched, but kicked everybody's butts and stayed alive. The same child will come to his school after he has watched the movie and hit everybody who insults him instead of trying to solve it by conversation.
There's a reason why the movie industry produces so much violent fare: action films export well.
Unlike dramas and comedies, which need expensive translation of their dialogue, action-packed movies make the transition to foreign languages and markets easily and cheaply. Even at home, their simplistic content means that violent films appeal to a broad range of ages.
In North America and abroad, violence is profitable.
To conclude, the media is almost everywhere in our day-to-day lives. From TV to video games, internet, it's a very large source in our culture and has an impact on our lives.
When obscene violence is on TV or other forms of entertainment, it will be seen by many,including those who will be effected the most, namely our children.
The effects are too numerous and cannot be ignored.
But are these effects enough for us to get rid of this genre of entertainment that sells very well all together just to protect our children? There is nothing else to be said but media is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.
tags:effects,Media-wonderful
