English writing

Negative Media Content does not lead to Violence

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Introduction

The debate revolving the effects of violent and explicit TV content on teens remains unresolved. While some studies indicate that there is an apparent link between negative TV and aggressive behavior among children and teenagers, other studies especially those that align themselves to the cause of the entertainers have shown no connection and relationship between TV content and human behavior. However, there is unanimity that sexually explicit content in TVs as well violent scenes have increased tremendously over the last decades. Indeed, Moraes asserts in her article that a research by Kaiser Family Foundation found out that there were over 4000 scenes with sexual content in sample of a thousand TV programs and films (par. 8). Does violent and sexually explicit media content has an impact on the behavior of children and teenagers? This paper explores this question and claims that there is no direct correlation between negative media content and aggressive behavior.

Negative Media Content does not lead to Violence

Apparently, it would be oblivious to suppose that there must be a negative effect of violent television content on children and teenagers not only in the United States but also across the world. Rhodes points out that many medical and psychological associations especially in the US say that negative media content influences the acquisition of negative behavioral traits among children and teenagers (par. 3). In other words, the associations base their arguments on existing research that in most cases is unreliable. According to Rhodes, the information available does not support their claims since it has been criticized and disputed by other scholars (par. 3). Contrary to the claims that effect of violent TV is always negative, the rates of violent crimes has been declining consistently over the last decades. This is despite the increase of films and television shows that depicts crime and violence.

It is important to point out that violent TV content does not necessarily translate to aggressive children and teens. The rationale is that aggressive behavior has different causal factors. Rhodes says that violent television does little if any harm to children when compared to other factors such as violent child upbringing that has more negative effects than mock violence in television (par. 6). In fact, sociologists have established a direct link between development of aggressive behavior in children and abusive parenting (Krcmar and Kean 392). Rhodes therefore articulates that banning violent television is a counterproductive move that will not reduce crime but instead cripple the entertainment industry. The fact that many politicians are unwilling to face the issue of gun control head on implies that they are using the issue of mock violence in TVs as a smokescreen (Rhodes par. 8).

According to various psychologists, violence and sexual explicitness in media content has increased over the last couple of years in an unprecedented way (Krcmar and Kean 396). That’s being true, it is important to ask why they have. First, the most logical answer would be that there exist unmet demand for the media content. As such, if the media content had a negative effect on people, they would not pay for it (Krcmar and Kean 396). Besides, research has shown that many people who watch violent and sexually explicit rarely become violent or sexually deviant. In fact, Rhodes says that only a fraction of people in the society are violent. This is not merely because they watched violent TV program, to the contrary, other factors such as depression, mental health status and predisposition to violence (e.g. peer pressure) dominate the causative factors of violence in the entire world (Freedman 132). Rhodes also points out that a ban on television in South Africa did not translate to a reduction in violence (par. 8). Apparently, the crime rates remained unchanged despite such measures.

Critique

While many critics assert that evidence to establish a correlation between violence media and aggression among children is irrefutable, it is important to highlight some of the arguments. In an article titled, ‘A Desensitized Society Drenched in Sleaze’, Jacoby asserts that the effect of violent and sexually explicit media makes people to be jaded. In other words, prolonged exposure to sexually explicit content makes the society numb leading moral degradation as well as decay (par. 9). In addition, Moraes says that some of the adult content relayed in popular culture mediums leads to sexual experimentation among children (par. 7). This is particularly so since majority of the films with sexually explicit content do not provide information on responsibilities surrounding sexual intercourse such as safe sex practices (Freedman 132). This implies they misinform the viewers who in this case are young children and teenagers.

Conclusion

In essence, there is no consensus on the debate about the correlation between violent media content and aggression in children and teens. Proponents say that the researchers have relied on flawed and sometimes shaky information to make such inferences. On the other hand, opponents of violent media say that it causes aggression and to some extents, it lead social and moral degradations.

Works Cited

Freedman, Jonathan. Media violence and its effect on aggression: Assessing the scientific evidence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. Print.

Jacoby, Jeff. "A Desensitized Society Drenched in Sleaze." The Boston Globe 8 June 1995: 1-3.

Krcmar, Mike and Kean Gyle. “Uses and gratifications of media violence: Personality correlates of viewing and liking violent genre”. Media Psychology, 7.4 (2005): 399-420.

Moraes, Lisa de. "Television More Oversexed Than Ever, Study Finds." The Washingto Post 8 November 2005: 1-2.

Rhodes, Richard. "Hollow Claims About Fantasy Violence." New York Times 17 September 2000: 1-3.