The Effects Of Violent Media On Youth - 1977 Words

The Effect of Violent Media on Youth How many hours did you spend watching TV last week? How many fighting scenes did you witness during one movie? Yeah, the Hulk and Spiderman might be super cool when they fight off the bad guys, and yeah, they are every kids hero, but, have you ever stopped to think what all of this violent media is doing to the minds of the younger generations? How it can affect them, not only now, but in the future? We may believe that what we see in movies, music videos, and video games is all fiction, and may never happen in real life, but that is not true. Children like to repeat what they see, not knowing whether it is good or bad. Examples like The Bobo Doll Study showed us that children who observed the†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Children who view media are more likely to have increased feelings of hostility, decreased emotional response to the portrayal of violence and injury that lead to violent behavior through imitation† (Tompkins, â€Å"The Psychological Effects of Viole nt Media on Children†). On April 20th 1999, Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17) went on a shooting spree in Columbine High School killing 32 people before turning the guns on themselves. This shooting was one of the most bloodiest, creepiest, most lifelike attacks anyone at that time could commemorate. Harris and Klebold, while gunning down the victims, laughed and cheered as if they were having the time of their lives. The two youth were allegedly members of the Trench Coat Mafia. Not only that, but both Harris and Klebold played violent â€Å"murder-simulation† video games, and were fans of the movie â€Å"Natural Born Killers†, which was about a husband and wife pair of mass murderers who received intense media coverage. Most entertainment disturbances are used for urgent innate thrills without emphasizing any human damage. Special effects and graphics make acts of violence in movies and video games look more believable. â€Å"Titillating violence in sexual contexts and comic violence are particularly dangerous, because they associate positive feelings with hurting others† (Stadler 117). By sensitizing pain, media has allowed many youth disbelieve how