In a society that is conquered by television, movies, billboards, commercials, video games and the Internet, the influence media has on today's youth is substantial. Along with the convenient accessibility of technology, media violence is universal. Consequently, children nowadays are exposed to violent acts on a daily basis. "The average child who watches 2 hours of cartoons per day may see more than 10,000 violent acts a year" ("Violence and Aggression"). The early years of child growth is a critical time of brain development. Children are significantly influenced by what they see and hear in Television and other forms of media. In the news there is a growing amount of serious crimes committed by youths who are barely sixteen or seventeen years old. Hence, media violence harms youth by initiating children to act aggressively, glamorizing violence, and leading to desensitization.
Children are more likely to imitate or act aggressively from violence they observe in media. According to the modeling theory, children can recall what they hear and see, and imitate the behavior (Mwema 6). Continuously watching violent media, influences children to behave aggressively and they may grow up with violent tendencies. On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold initiated an attack on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 and injuring 23. Harris and Klebold took pleasure in playing the bloody, mass murder video game "Doom", a game meant to teach soldiers to successfully kill (Mortal Combat). Violent video games train kids to react aggressively to conflict. A study done on second grade boys to compare the effects of non-aggressive and aggressive video games, indicated the aggressive video game players, displayed more physical and verbal aggression to objects and playmates ("Video Games"). Thus, as teens and kids continue to watch and play these violent images depicted in film and videogames, destruction is done to their judgment, attitudes, and behaviors.
