Carter Reid

Ms. Eaker
English 1102
4/8/14





Media Violence in Todays Society and How it Affects Us

By: Carter Reid











Take a moment and imagine a world without media, it may be difficult, but
just try it. Now that youve thought about it, you may be thinking of a world that is
lost, a world that is healthier and better to live in, or you may think of its no big
deal. Media: The means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and
magazines that reach or influence people widely. To some individuals, media is very
dangerous to our society, and like in the definition, it can influence people widely, I
ask myself, how exactly does media affect our society? Does it have a negative or
positive impact? Should our lives thrive through media? Through extensive
research, I will explain facts and display statistics that show us how violent media
can be, and how exactly it affects our Children, Society and Teens.
Its almost impossible to avoid media and its adverse impact. We all know
that evil and crime have existed in our society for a very long time. In the beginning
pages of 11 Myths of Media Violence, we discover that violence has been involved
with media since mass media was first produced. We further read that not only is
violence in our media, but it is glorified to escalate and grow. Our civilization thrives
off violence, we enjoying being involved in it, which is very sad that we have
adapted to a violent lifestyle. We love violence so much that we will go pay $60.00
for a video game that allows us to kill anyone in anyway that we can possibly
imagine. Video games, movies, television, and news have all been corrupted by
violence in some way shape or form.
Psychologists from the APA (American Psychologist Association) have
discovered from a yearly research that has been conducted since 1970 that students
and children tend to imitate what they see when they experience violence in the
media like, video games, TV, news and movies. Take football for example, from the
past few seasons of football I have seen players illegally tackle one another, most
likely injuring their opponent, yet they still celebrate after a gruesome, concussion
giving, hit. Not only do we get to see the horrific action take place in real time, we
get to experience the broadcasting company replay the hit over and over and in slow
motion. Last season it was recorded that 64% of Americans watched NFL football
according to the Adweek/ Harris Poll. America sees this type of behavior in pro-
athletes and so does our younger generation.
Pediatricians of the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) have conducted
research that shows the effects of how students and adolescents have been affected
from these forms of media. Scientist have conducted research that shows
adolescents and children in our present time are experiencing drastic behavioral
issues, then from the past. (APA Pg.2) Students and adolescents are developing
aggressive behaviors, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being
harmed. Pediatricians believe that they should intervene with patients and
persuade them to limit the media violence that they are exposing themselves to, as
this could help provide a safer environment. But who is really to blame for our
younger generation? I could blame it on the media, but I see it more of Parental
issue. Parents should be monitoring what their children are watching and doing, at
all times. Every parent should be involved deeply with his or her child. If parents
were to take a stand and actually take the time to be a responsible parent, and teach
their child right from wrong, and what they should and shouldnt be influenced by,
then I believe that we would see a radical change in the behaviors of children and
adolescents.
Does media glorify violence? On April 15, 2013, Boston MA society
experienced a tragic event that stunned America. On that day the Boston Marathon
was set to take place. There were 15,233 males and 11,606 females totaling 26,839
participants in the Boston Marathon, according to the BAA (Boston Athletics
Association). On that Monday of November 15, Jahar Tsarnev, also known as the
Boston Bomber, planted bombs to take place nearing the finish line of the Boston
Marathon. However, four participants were murdered on this day. Four innocent
civilians including a 8 year old Martin Richard, 23 year old Lingzi Lu, 26 year old
Sean Collier, and 29 year old Krystle Campbell. There were many more civilians that
were severely injured even some losing limbs. What concerns me more than
anything is why the Rolling Stones magazine hosts Jahar Tsarnev on the cover of
their magazine. When I first saw the cover I was speechless and blown away. To me
this is just one of the many examples of how todays media glorifies violence, what
justice does it give to remind the families of lost ones to see the murderer of their
child glorified on the cover of a pop culture magazine? A magazine that usually posts
celebrities and political leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama on their
covers. How will we as American citizens help end the violence and start a
movement against these types of media that negatively affect our society? How hard
will we strive to change our real world to the one that we imagined in the first
paragraph? Whats stopping us? Nothing.


Works Cited
Boston.com. "Marathon Bombing Victims." Boston.com. The New York Times, n.d.
Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/specials/boston_marathon_bombing_
victim_list/>.

Gorman, Bill. "No Surprise: 64% Of Americans Watch NFL Football; 73% of Men, 55%
of Women." TVbytheNumbers. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
<http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/10/14/no-surprise-64-americans-watch-nfl-
football-73-of-men-55-of-women/107308/>.

Reitman, Janet. "Five Revelations From Rolling Stone's Boston Bomber Cover
Story." Rolling Stone. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/five-revelations-from-rolling-stones-boston-
bomber-cover-story-20130716>.

Potter, W. James. The 11 myths of media violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, 2003. Print.

Violence for Potential Harmful Effects." http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 20
Mar. 2014. <http://www.apa.org/research/action/protect.aspx>.

Academy of Pediatrics. "Media Violence." Media Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 27
Mar. 2014. <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/5/1495.full>.