My View

Effects of media violence on modern society is a severe issue in the twenty-first century. Both short-term and long-term effects of media violence have a contradictory nature; however, the negative impact of the problem overweigh the positive aspects.  Understanding the difference between short-term and long-term effects is essential for this issue. Priming process, arousal process, and mimicry are related to the short-term effects whereas observational learning of behaviors and cognitions and desensitization and activation of emotional processes are referred to long-term effects(Hausmann, 2007). Also, it is essential to pay attention to the children, as this social group is the most exposure to the media.

At first sight, short-term effects seem to be painless, and some people assume that they are not able to harm others. Nevertheless, the primary objective of these effects is to "prepare" an individual both physically and mentally to the long-term effects. For instance, priming is a perceptual instrument that brings good and bad memories back; arousal affects peoples mind that way, so they start thinking about the same thing again and again; mimicry influence people to project the behavior they saw in the media to real life.  Without any doubt, most of the people were somehow influenced by short-time effects in a moderate proportion, and this is the point where media takes control over minds and bodies of humankind. 

After a person come through the short-term effect of media violence, more severe and more drastic effects, take place. For example, the short term effect, mimicry,  was preparing an individual for observational learning. With the help of mimicry, an individual began to apply some behaviors to himself or herself. However, when it comes to the concept of observational learning, an individual is becoming an exact copy of his or her favorite character in media by adjusting the habits and lifestyle of the precise person. The same situation happens with other effects as well; for instance, priming and arousal processes help to trigger desensitization and enactive learning. If a person thinks about some product all the time daily but cannot achieve it due to some reasons, desensitization and enactive learning help him or her with that. To obtain the desired product that was triggered by priming and arousal processes, desensitization will start as it will adjust aggressive behavior from media to a person's habit, and enactive learning will transfer such behavior to the real life with all consequence that a person cannot stop anymore.

Both short-term and long-term effects are hazardous for society, especially for children and adolescents, as they spent a lot of time not only watching TV but also playing video and computer games. That is why plenty of various studies and researchers have been conducted in recent years. For instance, C.A. Anderson and B.J. Bushman came up with the fact that the most vulnerable to violence group in modern civilization is children and adolescents, as media develops its channels, more and more young adults start to use it without any concern. Other studies that were mentioned in the article by P.K. Pozios, Kambam V.K.,  and Bender H. E., also suggests the most open to attack group are teenagers.

What is more, Charlie S. not only compares two social groups, adults and children but also gives statistics of adverse effects of media violence towards these two social groups. In the research article which was published in" Violence and Censorship on Social Media" Website, the author mentions how both short-term and long-term effects of media violence are linked with social media platforms and what should be done to balance freedom of speech and violent content on the media(S., 2015).

Current events such as penalizing social media platforms for violent content in Australia and an Irvine Study by UCI researchers which determined that media exposure can trigger the cycle of distress show that people are highly concerned about the issue of media violence in today's world.This problem needs more attention from the government side, but what is more important it needs proactive actions not only from scientists but from authorities as well. Nobody is fully protected and safe from the violent content in the media. 


Understanding the issue of effects media violence can cause harm to society, helped me to reconsider and to rethink some things and facts that are happening in the modern world. Media content for children should be less violent and more inoffensive (according to the statistics the most intense media in today's world is cartoons). Parents should choose media content exceptionally carefully to prevent terrible catastrophes such as school shootings, killing their siblings, committing crimes, etc.


References:

Retrieved from: http://library.ship.edu/media-violence


Anderson C.A., Bushman B.J. (2002, March 29). The effects of media violence on society. Science, vol. 295, pp. 2377-2379. doi:10.1126/science.1070765

Pozios V.K., Kambam P. R., Bender H.E. (2018, October 19). Does media violence lead to the real thing? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/opinion/sunday/does-media-violence-lead-to-the-real-thing.html

Huesmann L.R. (2007). The impact of electronic media violence: sceintific theory and research.The Journal of adolescent health: official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 41(6 Suppl. 1), S6-S13. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.09.005

Harriman, P. (2019, April 17). Media exposure to mass violence can fuel a cycle of distress, 3-year longitudinal study shows. Retrieved from: https://news.uci.edu/2019/04/17/media-exposure-to-mass-violence-can-fuel-cycle-of-distress-3-year-longitudinal-study-shows/

Karp, P. (2019, April 4). Australia passes social media law penalising platforms for violent content. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/04/australia-passes-social-media-law-penalising-platforms-for-violent-content

S, C. (n.d.). Effects of Media Violence on Society. Retrieved from: https://opinionfront.com/effects-of-media-violence-on-society

Effects of Media Violence. (2015, December 17). Retrieved from: https://j676group1.wordpress.com/effects-of-media-violence/