Over the centuries, mankind has developed into a fully functional, civilized society that has learned to mostly behave in a peaceful manner. During the past few decades, however, mankind has slowly been introducing new technologies and media that has presented violence in an uncensored format, leaving many children to be negatively impacted by this unsafe practice. Man’s inherently violent genetics are more prevalent than ever due to man's hazardous exposure to violence at a young age with the advent of media sources.
Violent video games desensitize children and cause them to need an ever-increasing amount of violent stimulation in order to be entertained. By presenting violence in video games today, children playing these games quickly see that violence in games is harmless, and easily become bored when their violent video games no longer seem as violent and graphic as they once were. This desensitization process is what is causing children, in particular, teens, to need an increase in violence in their video games. According to the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University, “Playing violent video games accounts for a 13 to 22% increase in teenagers’ violent behavior. Now we know about 92% of children and teenagers play some form of video game. And we know that nine out of ten of the top selling video games contain violence” (Espejo). This study is one of many that illustrates how mentally harmful the video game is to children, but also the entire industry itself. These game development companies then increase the violence in their video games to further increase their profits in the endless cycle causing an increase in aggression in society (Espejo). Video games have currently been playing the major role of instilling an increased amount of violence in youth, which will later translate to future generations, and the future of mankind.
By watching violence and aggression on news channels, children today are perceiving the world as a violent place and acting as such. When watching the news, there are many factors that go into why children might perceive the news as extremely negative. When watching the news there are usually many unfavorable occurrences that are documented and continually reported throughout the day. By reporting these same violent acts repeatedly, children are obtaining the idea that the world is a violent and harmful place, being that children understand the news to be reporting everything that goes on in the world. As stated by Mary Muscari, “By the time your child reaches age 7 or 8, television news can seem all too real. The vividness of a sensational news story may be internalized and transformed into a belief that something [like] that can happen to her. TV news sometimes promotes a ‘nasty-world’ picture by concentrating on violence, giving your child a false impression of what society is really like.” By piecing together different information from these media sources like the news channels, children develop this “nasty-world” idea, and coupled with violence, are prone to be more violent like the perceived world around them.
Media violence promotes aggressive behavior because many children cannot distinguish between real violence and fake violence in film. When children try to understand and interpret movies and television shows, they take the ideas and events happening in these films as reality. Consequently, when a child sees violence in television shows or movies, they believe that event to be entirely real in occurrence, unlike what adults can understand is false. This leads children to gain further evidence in painting the picture that the world is a violent and aggressive place, and should be treated as such. When understanding media violence, “Adults are capable of realizing that media violence is make-believe. But children, even teenagers, are more vulnerable. Children under 6 cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy, between news or documentary programs and fantasy programs” (Muscari). This inability to distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy is what makes young children and teens particularly susceptible to accepting violence in media and making it a reality in daily life. Their philosophy is, if it can be done on television and movies without consequences, it can be done in real life with just the same end results. This new philosophy instilled into children and teens is causing the next generation of mankind to be increasingly violent and aggressive than their predecessors.
Throughout the course of the informational revolution, mankind has been developing many different kinds of media formats that have been available to all. Consequently, a lack of censorship is what is driving mankind towards its inherently violent nature. By instilling these ideas of violence in youth through the use of different media types, aggression and desensitization have increased over the past few years in children and teens. If mankind continues to brainwash its youth into violent behavior through the use of media sources, man will soon become more violent and dangerous than ever before.