Has Exposure to Violence in the Media Affected Society?

Television shows, movies and video games often feature strong themes of violence. This leads to the question of whether or not such depictions of violence affect society by increasing aggressive and violent behavior among those who view such content.

Statistics

• According to the U.S. Surgeon General, kids watch TV or movies and play video games for an average of four hours per day. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that by the time kids turn 18, they have seen 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence on TV. Probe Ministries' Leadership U website states that more than half of kids polled said they fear becoming a victim of violent crime, which may be understandable considering violent crime increased 560 percent from 1960 to 2002 and 16 percent of teens have either seen someone get shot or know someone who was shot.

Effects

• The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation reports that children who watched episodes of a popular but violent cartoon were seven times more likely to hit, insult, shove or kick others as compared to children who had not viewed the episodes. The foundation also reports on a 20-year study that showed boys who preferred watching violent shows at age 8 were more likely as teens and adults to be arrested for assault, spousal or child abuse, and murder.

Expert Insight

• According to the U.S. Surgeon General, some studies do not accurately represent real-world situations. For instance, people also regularly view media that includes nonviolent content, yet a researcher may show only violent media to study subjects. Such a situation could skew the results of research by overstating violent media's influence. And a small but growing body of research shows that positive real-world influences, such as parents, can offset the negative influences of violence in media.