Antisocial Behavior: Violence

It is very understandable that young children in today’s society love to take some time out of there day to relax and watch television or play video games. In this first blog post I will discuss how antisocial behavior encourages violence.

There have been many studies of television violence and aggression, partly due because of the increasing amount of violence being shown on TV, and partly because of the increasing importance of television in our day to day living. “Antisocial behavior is contrary to prevailing norms for social conduct. That includes unlawful actions, such as murder, hate crimes, rape, and drug abuse, as well as behaviors that many members of society find objectionable even if that are not illegal, such as drunkenness and sexual promiscuity” (Davenport, Straubhaar, and LaRose 2008). When flipping through the channels on television i'm never surprised to see any type of violence, sexual content or foul language. Whether is be a movie, television series, or even a cartoon. Violence is all over the media whether we want to beleive it or not.

“I think children especially are affected by violence that is seen on TV because they have trouble distinguishing between the real world and what’s on TV” (Davenport 2008). For example, many cartoons that children watch on the television deal with ugly actions and scenes that kids should not be viewing at such a young age. Children will reenact what they see on television without realizing the serious consequences at such a young age. While children watch television cartoons that deal with hitting,shooting and vandalizing other cartoon charachters the chances of them doing the same are very high. While kids are growing older they look up to the older generation so everyone needs to set the best examples for our younger generations.

Video games and computer games are also a form of media that has encouraged antisocial behaviors over the past years. Games that involve crashing luxurious cars, shooting innocent citizens and robbing different buildings is no surprise that these are games that are very popular today. I know it is tough for parents to prevent their college kids from playing videogames but, parents of younger children can encourage their kids to find other relaxation activities such as playing outdoors or getting involved in the community at a young age.

As you can see there is a lot of violence portrayed in today’s media. However, some people look at it from another point of view, the positive point of view. This is where people look at the media as an educational experience. Where if there kid sees something bad happen on television the parents assume that the kids will know not do this in real life. It shows the kid what could happen if a serious event were to occur and to stay away from any signs of this. Like most issues there are two sides to the story but, with antisocial behaviors there is a line that needs to be drawn so we don’t have numerous acts of violence with our young adults.

Tell me what you think!

Sources:
Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology. 6th edition By Straubharr, LaRose and Davenport