The media is an indispensable part of our life now, and the media industry is rapidly developing, and what kind of impact will reflect on adolescent? Adolescent, as a particular group, they have most developed plasticity in the social operating system, the weakest identification ability, most sensitive perception and the most lack of self-control. When they are receiving media transmission information process, they do not have absolute control, judgment and critical power, which is put them in a disadvantaged position.
The media has a positive impact and a negative impact, especially the adolescent can easily access to the new generation of media for the contents, so violent media might be very harmful to adolescent, the purpose of this article is to prove that violent media affects the behavior and thought of adolescents; when they are negatively affected, they will in a difficult situation to reject dangerous content, and it might eventually become a social problem. Research on violent television and films, video games, and some harmful online content obviously evidence that media violence higher the possibility of adolescent’s aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. (Anderson, 2003) Therefore, the adolescent should be more concerned about the research on the influence of violent media.
The violence and pornographic scenes on TV screen become the target of some teenagers ‘ imitation, which is one of the important inducement of juvenile delinquency. According to the theory of behavioral science, and of people’s behavior is governed by their thoughts, and their thoughts will inevitably be affected by the external information. As a result, young people who are overwhelmed by violent footage are more or less likely to breed violent awareness and violent tendencies. The emergence of a large number of violent scenes in television has become the object of imitation for teenagers, which induces them to commit crimes. According to the research, a television viewing habits sample of 707 people over 17 years were assessed. In the USA, an average of 20–25 violent scenes are presented in children’s television programs for every hour, and there are three to five violent scenes during prime-time television viewing. The high level of television exposure is likely to cause the seriousness of television violence. It is reported that there is a significant relationship between the length of television viewing during adolescence and early adulthood (with the potential for violence) and the likelihood of the subsequent antisocial behavior, such as threats of aggression, attacks or personal injuries and robberies. (Browne, 2015) Besides, according to the research, adolescent drinking problem is also affected by the media, such as alcohol use in television and film; teenagers are more likely to have started drinking at younger when they watch the alcohol scenes in the TV shows.
Due to advances in science and technology, teenagers can easily access violent online games and movies, which also psychologically imply them to make crime personally and emotionally, to Imitate violence circumstances. The Columbine High School massacre was a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine. The searcher analysis these two teenagers’ behaviors, and they believed the possible reason could the violent imagery in film and video game, and their lives are established in the violent video games and movies. (Kaplan, 2012)
(Photo by Bob Elbert, http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2014/03/24/violentgamesbehavior)
The negative influence of online dangerous content on the young people is also a problem. The spread of information on the Internet may result in the disappearance of youth belief or right values, affect the young people’s correct outlook on life, format negative values; The concealment of information reception and communication on the Internet can cause the weakening of young people’s moral consciousness and the decline of social responsibility; the concealment and non-binding nature of network communication makes it easy for teenagers to make some unconventional things and even embark on the road of crime. For example, there is a breaking news recently, some of the teenagers are found that they were asked to complete and upload more than 50 days of a series of videos, including the blue whale designs carved on the arm. This game is known as the “blue whale”, in the last step of the game, the gamer requires the players to commit suicide, and this game has killed more than 100 people in the world, the police department confirmed that they were exposed to blue whale games online content. (Ghosh, 2017) It proved that harmful network information is unimaginable to adolescent, and teenagers do not form correct values and judgment, which is easily misled by the content of Internet.
Since the birth of the media, it has the outstanding performance in social early warning, group communication, cultural inheritance, knowledge popularization and recreation, it has proved its irrefutable tool value. The interaction between the media and the young is becoming increasingly close. We know the media plays the different role in different audiences, its functional sequence is different. In this kind of television, film and music-dominated media environment, the influence of the media on the youth audience is getting deeper. However, we need to be vigilant at all times, the violent content of media has become a potential cause of juvenile delinquency or injury and it can cause a series of serious irreversible consequences if we continually ignore this phenomenon.
Reference:
Anderson, Craig A. The influence of media violence on youth. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2003. Print.
Browne, K., and C. Hamiltongiachritsis. “The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach.” The Lancet 365.9460 (2005): 702-10. Web.
Moreno, Megan A. “Media Influence on Adolescent Alcohol Use.” Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 165.7 (2011): 680. Web.
Kaplan, Arline . “Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior?” Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior? | Psychiatric Times. N.p., 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Aug. 2017.
Ghosh, Deepshikha. “A Teen Dead, 2 Rescued In Last 24 Hours: Blue Whale Danger.” NDTV.com. N.p., 11 Aug. 2017. Web. 12 Aug. 2017.
BISMCS 333 SUMMER 2017 