Monkey See, Monkey Do

The media today has grown since then and more of it sparks violence than any other subject. The generations of children of this modern time have been exposed to an excess amount of media violence. From personal experiences, I have noticed children with exposure to violence to exhibit aggressive behavior.

When children play violent video games such as “Call of Duty” or “Halo”, they tend to get a little excited. Sometimes they get a bit angry if they are playing poorly. Today, people have come up with the term, “raging”. Raging occurs when a video game player starts to get mentally unsatisfied with the game, usually by verbally expressing their extreme anger and annoyance.

Parents are unaware of many things that children have been exposed to through the media. This is becoming an issue because it is affecting their child’s mental health, as well as social relationships with other people. Becoming more aggressive would only spike their interest of causing more violence. According to scientists, media violence is one of the main leading sources of childhood aggression. Because of mirror neurons in the brain, people can imitate actions that they have seen.

Observational learning enables children to learn anything that they see on television and other media outlets quickly. Children are unable to decipher whether the action they have witnesses is good or bad, virtual or real. This confusion can cause children to commit dangerous crimes or acts without understanding the consequences of their action. Media Violence can cause abnormal behavior, which damages the mental health of children; therefore, parents need to educate themselves on the negative impact of media violence in order to provide a safer, more nurturing environment for their children.

Next time, Parents should think twice before buying their child another shooter game!

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Kevin is a community reporter with the Village Connector Community News. He is a high school student and lives in Howard County, Maryland. He enjoys being a leader in his youth group at church as well as playing sports.