Media. The world's biggest scapegoat

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Once again the media is believed to be the root of all evil and the reason as to why children are as aggressive as they are. A new study claims that children who browse the Internet typically view sites containing violence, and therefore are more prone to violent behavior. The study went so far as to claim that individuals who viewed these websites will be 50% more likely to have violent tendencies.

Children's online experiences are considered to be a major contributing factor as to how they will act out in the "real world." While there is no doubting that violence is more "in your face" now then ever, there has always been violence in the written and visual media. By no means does this imply that anyone with access to the Internet is going to be the next Charlie Manson.

Though researchers still have no way of determining how each child will react, the real question remains; where are the parents? Parents have become more lenient as to what they find acceptable for their children. It takes a lot of effort to stay on top of what your children are viewing and doing. Another problem is some parents simply don't care. The world needs to focus more on finding solutions rather than excuses and justifications as to why both children and adults do what they do.

#1 michael.dobrofsky on 07 Nov 2008 - 02:01

There's no question the media contribute towards children becoming more violent. Theme music for the Iraq War on CNN is merely one example of thousands. The media loves to glamorize violence and there are consequences to doing that.

(2 replies) #2 tch1005 on 07 Nov 2008 - 03:02

Also, they blamed the rise of teen pregnancies to the amount of sex shown in TV shows, whilst ignoring the fact that, hey, all the kids are being taught in the US is abstinence, and not birth control... You can't get pregnant if I pull out and you're out of cycle, right?!

#2.1 RAID 0 on 07 Nov 2008 - 03:28

tch1005 said,

You can't get pregnant if I pull out and you're out of cycle, right?!

I can't get pregnant because I'm a guy.

#2.2 Semental on 08 Nov 2008 - 17:59

When i was in high school, they taught both abstinence and pregnancy/disease protection. That is the way it should be, in my opinion.

However, when my parents and grandparents were young, the school system taught them nothing about sex. Their parents and church are the ones that taught them "abstinence only". And that was a time when teen pregnancies were supposedly lower.

Sleazy television shows glamorize sleaziness and ignorant children who have not been taught better by either their parents or their school system think that being sleazy is the way to be "cool".

#3 Airlink on 07 Nov 2008 - 03:31

Oh, sure, it's all the media's fault.

Teaching children personal responsibility couldn't possibly be a factor, could it?
The ****-poor US public school system isn't a factor either, right?
Nooooo.... let's all blame it in the nebulous "media" and our inability to push to "off" button.

:0

#4 Chook on 07 Nov 2008 - 07:39

what do you mean where are the parents. where do you think? watching over the shoulder of everyone under 18 (or 21)? no, duh, because the more the parents try and get involved the more the kid will shun them and tantrum. there is no restriction to the internet, and this is why you all like it. i was a kid with the internet and it has scarred me for life. ill readily admit that, i liked it at the time but now i see that a lack of guidance, whilst contributing a lot to how i grew and learned, grew me faster than i should have. and if you're trying to deny the connection between seeing and doing, you've got another thing coming. children learn by mimicking, the more crap they see, the more crap they do. the real problem isn't even the internet or tv when in comparison to child soldiers being forced to kill, rape, or even eat their own families in wartorn africa. but its not the right path. you can't find a solution without determining the problem, so your rhetoric is cutesy but lacks any basis or direction, or substance. sounding more and more like the media.

#5 TickleOnTheTum on 07 Nov 2008 - 16:04

Ultimately it's down to Genetics, and parental upbringing. I went through my formative years in the 70's and 80's and I was allowed to watch/listen/play any thing I wanted, BUT, my parents explained the right s and wrongs of all of it. They made sure I understood the good AND the bad of everything. I grew up to be well adjusted and have never been violent in my life. those who are likely to commit any type of crime are not going to be affected by watching the Media, it's just they tend to like that sort of media. So All violent criminals like violent TV, BUT not all violent TV viewers are criminals.

The scientists need to stop trying to find one definitive cause for Violent behaviour and realise that is is caused by a whole lot of factors and how they interact: genetics, parenting, schooling, society, media and many others.

The same is true in many other crimes as well such as sex crime. All rapists like porn but no all porn lovers are rapists. All serial killers suffer from OCD but not all OCD sufferers are serial killers.

Murder, rape, paedophilia, etc. have been comitted since the dawn of the human race (and before) so yo can't blame a modern technology for them.

Wake up scientists!

It doesn't help that most psychology/psychiatry professors go into the field because they themselves have problems!

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