How does violence in the media affect society, and in particular, children.
Mark-Anthony Heslop
Mark-Anthony Heslop
GCSE Media Assignment
How does violence in the media affect society, and in particular, children.
Violence today affects society in a dramatic way. Children, in particular, are affected the most by violent attacks and other types of violence. Violence is mostly shown in the media which is viewed or read by many people, of any age. We say that children in particular are affected by violence, but how? Well, in this modern world most children have televisions in their room. Most children have access to the internet, where websites can promote violence.
As Christmas nears the demand from children for the latest game consoles like PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo Game Cube is getting higher. But, the games consoles are not very good without games to play on them; however some games contain high levels of violence. Games can be advertised in magazines or on the television during primetime. Take my young cousin as an example, he got a PlayStation last Christmas with ten games and two of the games were recommended for people over the age of eighteen. One of the games was Grand Theft Auto. Now this game clearly showed that it was only suitable for people over the age of eighteen. When my aunt bought the game, she thought it was a pleasant car game. But on Christmas day when my cousin played Grand Theft Auto she was horrified to see that the object of the game was to steal cars, kill people for money, bomb buildings, and much more. Whereas my aunt was horrified, my cousin loved it; he thought it was “cool” that when he shot people, blood oozed out of the wound. Although the game had an age suitability recommendation, clearly shown on it, my aunt never paid any attention to it, just like many other parents. That is just one example, but many people today are faced with that example. Violent computer games can be seen by children because an older member of family plays it, thus it must have an affect on them. Many game shops have demonstrations which you can play on to see what the latest game is like. None of the shops have age limits on the demonstrations so anyone can play on them or watch them. With no control over who plays them, children are getting unlimited access to violent games.
