Sex, Drugs, TV, Video Games and Murder: A Teenagers New Pastime?

An article I wrote in reference to the increase in violence.

When I was a child, Atari had just come out with a game system and games. My brother and I would play “Donkey Kong” for a couple hours, but mom was always sure to make us put it away and go outside for the majority of the day. Video game playing was mostly for rainy days or evenings to keep us out of her hair. Back then the games consisted of good, clean fun such as race games or “saving a princess”.

But as technology has industrialized, so have game systems, television, movies and most other forms of media. Along with that, the types of shows or video games have changed as well. No longer is finding the “key” or “treasure chest” challenging enough or exciting enough to keep the attention of today’s teens. Nor are shows like the Brady Bunch or Gilligan’s Island. So the question is, is there too much sex and violence injected in today’s forms of media such as movies, television or video games?

I used to think Fantasy Island was sexual and “bad” to watch as a child. I would peek around the sofa when mom and dad would watch it late at night. But today, not only can children and teens see more sexual exposure than back then, they can even watch it during prime time, between 6 pm and 9 pm. An example of this would be “Family Guy” with characters who are openly gay, a ton of sexual innuendos and degradation of women. Family Guy packs a power punch within each 30-minute episode and laid right out during dinner time for all the young children to see and hear.

The effect that violence, sex, and language have on our younger generations has been apparent for quite some time. In an *article written by Craig A. Anderson University of Missouri, Columbia, and Karen E. Dill, Lenoir-Rhyne College, they discuss how the effects of violence in video games not only played a role in lower academic scores in children and teens, but also in violent, aggressive behavior. The article states that on April 20, 1999, two boys, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold acted out their fantasy from their favorite video game, Doom and murdered 13 people and injured 23 more before killing themselves. This horrific event has been named after the school where it occurred, Columbine. You can check out more about the effects of violence and video games on this website: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games.aspx .

So with all the sex and violence occurring more and more in today’s media, can the sex and violence in our media be controlled? Yes. But in essence, who is more responsible for making sure our youth are protected? The parents. It is our responsibility as parents to watch our children and teens carefully, to screen what things are being “input” into their young, expanding and eager to learn minds and to make sure we lead by example. The FCC, FTC and other media institutions cannot filter and do our jobs for us. It has to start at home with the parents. If all of us were to take more responsibility for our families, watch our children and spend more time teaching them morals (right and wrong) perhaps things like Columbine wouldn’t happen or at least less frequently.

There will always be sexual and violent influences surrounding our everyday lives but with some attention to it, perhaps we can lessen its blow and filter it from our youth.

*Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

2000, Vol. 78, No. 4, 772-790

Copyright 2000 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

0022-3514/00/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//O022-3514.78.4.772

Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in

the Laboratory and in Life

Reviews

[Chris]

Unplug from the world... put the Jinn back in the bottle... teach the unresponsible there really is responsibility? But how? Innocence is a concept anymore - not often a reality... sigh

[Rassoul]

Well, that's who we are nowadays.

When we were young everything was so much better than now, wish we could back in time.