Violent Media Influence
N***** L******
English Comp I
Professor Rupp
Cause and Effect
06 May 2014
Violent Media Influence
With technology growing at a rapid pace, giving more and more teen’s access to the mass media outlets, teens are easily exposed to the violence of media. With all this access parental guidance is becoming more difficult to control. Video games, music, television and movies, to name a few, are displaying more violence each year. Video games are becoming increasingly graphic and more demanding of violent actions to win or achieve reward. The lyrics in music lately, particularly in the “drill” genre, are horrific. Many drill artists being teens themselves encourage violence in other teens that look up to them. Ratings of movies are becoming more tolerant of the content allowed in PG-13 and below ratings. “A film can get a PG or PG-13 with violence if it’s cartoon-based; so we’re teaching kids violence is funny and has no real-world impact”(Qtd. in Rollins, Ron). Leading us to believe that the increase in media violence has influenced an increase in teen violence.
“We’ve become a society addicted to violence. Anyone who knows about addiction knows there’s a progression that happens. So therefore, we want more violence, more realistic violence”(Rollins, Ron). Teen violence is at an all time high with one reported case of an Oklahoma teen, James Edwards, accused of the murder of an Australian baseball player who was jogging through Edwards’ city of residence. Edwards and the other accused teens said, “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody”(Qtd. In Guarino, Mark). It seems media has to contain violence anymore to keep us entertained. “…Popular entertainment is an ever-escalating series of stunts, destruction and violence”(Rollins, Ron).
“Video games are fascinating because the player is forced to respond as quickly as possible to be effective, and that obliterates the kind of critical thinking that makes you consider the
English Comp I
Professor Rupp
Cause and Effect
06 May 2014
Violent Media Influence
With technology growing at a rapid pace, giving more and more teen’s access to the mass media outlets, teens are easily exposed to the violence of media. With all this access parental guidance is becoming more difficult to control. Video games, music, television and movies, to name a few, are displaying more violence each year. Video games are becoming increasingly graphic and more demanding of violent actions to win or achieve reward. The lyrics in music lately, particularly in the “drill” genre, are horrific. Many drill artists being teens themselves encourage violence in other teens that look up to them. Ratings of movies are becoming more tolerant of the content allowed in PG-13 and below ratings. “A film can get a PG or PG-13 with violence if it’s cartoon-based; so we’re teaching kids violence is funny and has no real-world impact”(Qtd. in Rollins, Ron). Leading us to believe that the increase in media violence has influenced an increase in teen violence.
“We’ve become a society addicted to violence. Anyone who knows about addiction knows there’s a progression that happens. So therefore, we want more violence, more realistic violence”(Rollins, Ron). Teen violence is at an all time high with one reported case of an Oklahoma teen, James Edwards, accused of the murder of an Australian baseball player who was jogging through Edwards’ city of residence. Edwards and the other accused teens said, “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody”(Qtd. In Guarino, Mark). It seems media has to contain violence anymore to keep us entertained. “…Popular entertainment is an ever-escalating series of stunts, destruction and violence”(Rollins, Ron).
“Video games are fascinating because the player is forced to respond as quickly as possible to be effective, and that obliterates the kind of critical thinking that makes you consider the