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Media Violence Effect on Teens

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Submitted By snehamenon703
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Media being the largest agent of socialization plays a significant role in the society we live in today. It molds some of the values people accept. Media is all around us, from the shows on television to the books we read each day. However even with its perks, it has both positive and negative effects. Some people wonder if the negative effects dominate the positive effects. One might say it causes violent and harmful behaviour on our youth as many studies have attempted to show this link. Another might say, it leads to desensitization due to its gruesome effects on the teen brain. Some people are concerned with the negative connotations that media has, as they believe it might negatively shape one's perception of the world. Media violence can have disastrous effects on teens as this type of interaction can cause harmful behaviour, desensitize teens from other violent stimuli and lead them to perceive the world more negatively. The majority of youth retaining any form of violent stimuli via media can result in harmful behaviour shown and/or cultured in many forms. Many studies have proven that interaction with violent stimuli, especially in youth, can result in aggressive behaviour. Virginia Tech Research Division showed some students a number of non-violent movies preceded by an extremely violent one. The end result was an increase in the number of hostile behaviour among those who were exposed to the violent stimuli . This showcased that even with the majority of exposure being non-violent, the one that exhibited violence had a major impact as those students might have imitated that behaviour or might have been dramatically influenced. Additionally, humans as a species are exposed to violence by either watching it or experiencing it. In such instances, people might later be victims of it or even reproduce it. This is due to our instinct of imitation .

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