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Violence And The Media

American television carries by far, the most violent content in the world compared to any other country, (Gentile, 2003). Not only is violence something that American's enjoy to watch on television but violence is also a form of entertainment around the world. Years ago, the Romans enjoyed watching the gladiators battle, today wrestling is enjoyed in the United States and many other countries and violence between animals such as cock fights that take place in Indonesia are just as popular, (Felson, 1996).
According to Gentile, estimates indicate that the average American child or teenager witnesses 10,000 murders, rapes or some type of assault per year; and by high school graduation that number increases to 200,000 throughout their life. These statistics seem to be a bit high because the amount of violence children and teens think they're watching, and the amount of violence they are actually watching varies greatly.
This concept may be due to the ideas of violence on television being frequently ‘glamorized' and frequently ‘sanitized.' The idea of glamorizing violence on television refers to violent incidents that are perpetrated by the ‘good' character in the conflict, who at the same time is portrayed as a role model for young viewers, (Gentile, 2003). The idea of sanitizing the violence seen on television refers to the idea that up to half of the violent incidents shown on television fails to show any physical harm or pain to the victim; or any long-term negative consequences to the victim or their family, (Gentile, 2003).
Because of these two concepts the violence on television seems to be filtered to a certain extent and to the eye, may not seem to be as bad as it really is. However, studies show that there is some sort of connection between violence in children and the media including, television, movies, the Internet and video games. According to mediafamily.org, children and teens ages 8-18 spend more time in front of the computer,...