preview

Regulate The Amount Of Violence In The Media

Decent Essays

Violence in the media negatively affects society by promoting violent behavior, and leaving long lasting impacts in adulthood and children such as desensitization and aggression and should be regulated by the United States to be prevented. These effects are caused by viewing an excessive amount of violent media throughout childhood. Typically, the long lasting effects are most noticeable early into adulthood but can be present in children and teens. To prevent these negative impacts that violence in the media is having on American society, the United States should regulate the amount of violence that can be put into the media.

Violence in the media has been proven to leave notable lasting impacts that negatively affect society. Not only that …show more content…

The media is currently regulated according to voluntary industry established rating systems. Many critics state that these systems that are in place do not effectively inform guardians or prevent children from accessing violent content. In 2007, the United States government addressed that some regulations might be placed in order to protect children. Such regulations have yet to be seen but are being pushed (Gerdes81). Violent media is protected by the first amendment, which is why society is fine without the regulations. They would rather place the possible effects on children growing up rather than feel like their freedom of speech is being tampered with. As stated, “Naturally, debate over media violence stirs up strong emotions because it raises concern about the balance between public safety and freedom of speech” (Matter 1). In order to keep hold of our rights, society is not willing to regulate the amount of violent content that is presented in the media. Professionals such as doctors should also be more aware of the role that media is playing on the lives of their patients. It is crucial for them to be asking what devices that patients have at home and what they watch and play. The government realizes that they should place regulations, but it is a difficult situation for them due to the courts protecting violent speech under the first amendment. This is in order to help place some regulations and maintain a healthy amount of violence in the media that they are intaking (Beresein 1). Eighty-two percent of parents that allow their children to watch between two to four hours on a daily basis believe that violence in children's programming is concerning, and nine out of ten says that they are seeing a negative impact taking place in their children (Gerdes 82). Many counter this by saying that it is the parent's

Get Access