Effects of media violence on youth

The effects of media violence and the ultimate desensitization of today's youth are causing mounting worries over children's development in such a technological world. The average child of today watches 5-6 hours of television, in which they are subsequently exposed to 100,000 violent acts in their mere childhood years (Gazziniga & Heatherton, 2003). It is undeniable that a child learns and therefore reacts accordingly to the stimulus they are exposed to. Such significant exposure has hence …

…an effect on our children. In fact, it is having a significant effect, with our children displaying much greater levels of aggression in thoughts, behaviour and emotions in everyday life. It is known that aggressive children grow up to be aggressive and violent adults and as cited in Anderson et al (2003), Huesmann and Moise (1998) state that the most accurate predictor of violent behaviour in young adults and older adolescents is aggressive behaviour as a child.