Media Violence
MEDIA VIOLENCE
Violence in the Media and its Exposure to Children
Eric Wetzel
Rutgers University
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Media Violence
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Abstract
This report outlines the use of different media forms in America and uses the results of
previous studies to show the violent nature of many of these outlets. Television, video
games, and the Internet are all widely used, and exposed to young children. Through
these media sources children become exposed to simulated violence that is becoming
increasingly more realistic. The violence is widely going unregulated and doesn’t seem
to be a concern of our society. As technology increases these trends are only going to do
the same, and it is important that we begin to regulate what the youth in our country are
exposed to in electronic media.
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Violence in the Media and its Exposure to Children
Introduction
In our world today, technology is advancing rapidly. Different forms of media
are forming and evolving on a daily basis, and exposure to these media outlets is
expanding as well. A debate that has been around for years is the content in these outlets
and the exposure of the content to the youth of America. Violence on television and in
film has always been something that censors have worked to lessen, but the exposure of
children to violence is expanding. In recent years children are becoming more exposed to
the internet. Perhaps an even larger debate is the role of a relatively new form of
technology in the development of children, which we all know as video games. Over
recent years studies have been done to trace the effects that violent forms of media have
on children to attempt to settle the debate. Some people, including myself, feel that the
effect of this violence on children is exaggerated, while others feel that this violence is
having negative effects on the development of youth, leading them to be violent. While
there are independent studies to suggest a relationship, they deal with un-measurable
findings. One thing that can be studied is the exposure of people to violence in America.
I believe that people are overly exposed to violence and that the further use of electronic
media forms will only increase that.
The form of media that has come under fire most recently is video games. There
has been a trend of violent video games with enormous popularity among young males.
While there is a rating system in place regarding these games, 53% of children in a study
published in the Journal of Adolescence said that their parents never checked the rating of
the games that they play (Gentile, 2003). Even worse, only 31% of children said that
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their parents understand the rating system. These children are playing 9 hours a week,
almost triple the amount of time spent reading (3.4 hours). While these statistics show
the clear exposure to violent games, the same study also says that the children become
more aggressive. There has been evidence of this in some studies, while other yield
none, however the majority believe that violence in video games increases aggressive
behavior. Clearly there is widely unregulated violence in video games, and it is having
an effect on children.
One of the key issues with exposing children to violence, as opposed to adults, is
the desensitization toward violence that can be enhanced in years of development (Funk,
2003). This happens because the children come to think of violence as normal. By the
age of 18, children will have witnessed 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of
violence (Osofsky, 1999). The more times that they see violence in movies, television, or
even real life, they become desensitized and react less to the stimuli as they grow older.
Another study of children and violence shows that there is a link between witnessing
violence and such things as immature behavior, emotional distress, and regression in
language (Osofsky, 1999). Clearly there is evidence to support the detrimental effects of
violence on children, but once again there is no solid statistics to support the claims.
Such statistics simply don’t exist.
Another way in which children are being exposed to violent content is on
the Internet. One study showed that 36.6% of households with children age 8 – 17 had
Internet access in 1999 (Subrahmanyam 2001). That number was more than twice the
percentage reported only three years earlier, demonstrating the rapid rise in Internet
access in America. Many parents, from the same report, said that they have Internet
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access to provide “educational opportunities for their children”(Subrahmanyam 2001).
However they admit that the children do not use their Internet access for those intended
reasons. This shows that children around the country are using the Internet in ways other
than what is intended by their parents. By being allowed to freely surf the web these
same children are being exposed to material that could be intended for older audiences,
such as violence and pornography.
In each form of media discussed, children are viewing violent content that is most
likely not regulated by their parents. Even many programs that serve to regulate
television and Internet viewing seek to mostly prevent sexual content, not violence. With
the results seen in these various studies it is clear that it is not a priority in our country to
avoid having children exposed to violence. While it is debatable what exactly the effect
of this exposure has on our children, it is clear that they are viewing material that could
possibly be detrimental to their development.
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Results
Trends in Television Viewing and
Violent Crime from 1975
200.0
150.0
100.0
50.0
0.0
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
Violent Crime
TV 3 hours +
This graph illustrates the relationship between trends in both crime and television
viewing since 1975. The results of this survey show no signs of a relationship between
the two trends. Television viewing has remained very steady over the time period, while
crime has seen trends in both directions. From 1975 to about 1981 crime was rising. It
fell in the following 3-4 years, only to rise substantially until around 1992. Since 1992,
crime has been on a steady decline. On the other hand, the number of people who watch
three or more hours of television in a day has not seen any substantial rise or decline in
the same time period. While this graph does not show the type of television being
viewed, whether it is violent in nature or not, it proves that as an overall trend, crime and
television viewing are unrelated.
Media Violence
Age
Time watching
television
Time
with child
Time watching television and Time with child by Age
Age
<30
TV hours Too Much
About Right
Too Little
0-1
1-2
0.0% 11.1%
52.4% 44.4%
47.6% 44.4%
100%
00%
P=0.409
30-49
4-up
17.2%
44.8%
37.9%
100%
0-1
1-2
4.2% 7.2%
47.2% 50.7%
48.6% 42.2%
100% 100%
P=0.203
50 +
4-up
3.6%
59.1%
37.3%
100%
0-1
1-2
11.8%
4.0%
64.7% 36.0%
23.5% 60.0%
100% 100%
P= 0.059
4-up
0.0%
68.4%
31.6%
100%
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This multivariate cross-tabulation shows the relationship between the time that
someone spends watching television, the time that they spend with their child, and their
age. I used age as a control, assuming that younger people will have younger children
and therefore should be spending more time with them, whereas older people may have
adult children. Also, because the general social survey does not have information for the
children themselves, I thought that perhaps the parent’s television habits could be a
reflection of the child’s viewing habits. A parent that thinks that they do not spend
enough time with a child probably does not regulate what the child does, or watches as
much either. A parent like this isn’t around their child as much as they feel they should
be and there may be things about the child’s behavior that is unknown to them. The
statistics show that a large amount of the respondents feel that they do not spend enough
time with their children. However, for those under the age of 30, who probably have the
youngest children on average, the more time that they spent watching television, the more
likely they were to say that they spend too much time with their child. Perhaps this is a
good sign, showing that when the parents are spending so much time watching television,
part of that time is probably also spent with the child. If the parent and child view
programs together than they will be able to monitor what the child is exposed to more
easily.
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Web hours
1-2 hours
3-5 hours
6-up
Total
Education
No HS Grad
HS Grad
Coll Ed
36.9%
41.2%
34.8%
20.9%
26.2%
26.3%
42.2%
32.6%
38.9%
100%
100%
100%
Watch TV
0-1 Hrs
2-3 Hrs
4+ Hrs
39.4%
37.5%
31.4%
27.7%
24.0%
25.3%
32.8%
38.5%
43.3%
100%
100%
100%
Age
<30
30-49
50+
34.4%
35.7%
39.0%
25.8%
26.4%
25.1%
39.8%
37.8%
35.9%
100%
100%
100%
Income
Low
Middle
High
34.3%
37.0%
36.9%
27.4%
24.5%
25.8%
38.3%
38.5%
37.2%
100%
100%
100%
Newspaper
Daily
Weekly
<Weekly
35.7%
38.2%
37.2%
25.6%
25.9%
24.7%
38.8%
35.9%
38.2%
100%
100%
100%
This table demonstrates the popularity of an ever-growing form of media that we
all know as the Internet. I used independent variables that represent people in all
different walks of life, such as income, education, and age, as well as those that represent
exposure to other forms of media, television and newspapers. In looking at every single
variable, it is plain to see that Internet usage is high among all people. This proves that
everyone, even those in low income families, have access to the internet and are exposed
to online media. While this does not examine the content being viewed, or the habits of
children, its overall demonstration of Internet exposure is clear.
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Interpretation and Conclusion
While there is a lack of general social survey results regarding children’s
exposure to violent media, there is an abundance of information that shows the increasing
use of electronic media in America. Those statistics, in combination with the literature
reviewed earlier, demonstrate the abundance of violent media that children experience.
There is a clear overexposure of children to violence in our culture that could possibly
have a detrimental effect on the development of the youth in America. The extensive use
of media outlets that are difficult to regulate and have been seen to show excessively
violent content is only going to continue to increase in the years to come. Not only are
we all exposed to violence, but also no one is doing anything about it.
In the future I believe that children will become more and more exposed to violent
media at younger ages. As technology advances, it seems that younger children are
learning to use such media as the Internet at an earlier age. Another trend that could be
an issue with increasing technology is the realism of violence in the media. Computer
graphics are becoming more and more advanced nearly every day, while special effects
capabilities in film are also ever increasing. With that in mined, the 200,000 acts of
violence that a child will witness before turning 18 will be more realistic. Whether or not
children will have a more difficult time distinguishing fantasy from reality is impossible
to determine, but it is clear that they will be exposed to more realistic violence in various
forms of media in the years to come.
In a society that trembles at the thought of a female’s bare breast being exposed
on television, there seems to be a lack of interest in preventing children from viewing
violence in their everyday lives. In the recent craze of violent video games, none has
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seen more exposure than the Grand Theft Auto series. The strange thing, however, is that
it received its largest outcry about a sexual scene in the game, not about violence. While
determining what a child should and shouldn’t view is the decision of their parents, it
seems that violence is taking a back seat to other concerns. It is very important that in the
future we, as a country, become more concerned with the violence that we are exposing
our youth to, and make some sort of change to regulate that. There is no reason that
anyone should view 16,000 simulated murders in their lifetime, especially when they may
be too young to understand.
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References
Funk, Jeanne B. (2003). Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies,
and the Internet: Is there desensitization? Journal of Adolescence, 24.
Gentile, Douglas A. (2003). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent
hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence,
8.
Osofsky, Joy D. (1999). The Impact of Violence on Children. The Future of Children,
34-36.
Subrahmanyam, Kaveri. (2001). The Impact of Computer Use on Chilren’s and
Adolescent’s Development. Applied Developmental Psychology, 8.