Violent Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Violent Culture - Essay Example One major environmental factor that influences violent behavior in teens is the media, which includes television, Internet, music, and videogames. "The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that children between 2 and 18 years of age spend 6.5 to 8 hours a day watching television, videotapes, movies, and videogames. The average young person, by age 18, has seen 200,000 acts of violence on television alone (Lavers, 2002, 68)." Television has become a major part of our children's lives and violence from programming is becoming embossed into the psyche of children. Cartoon violence and fictitious movies with shoot-them-up antics are not the only problem. News reports also play a major role in brocading violence to our children by glamorizing school shootings and showing images of American soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq. These reports give children the idea that if you bring a gun to school then you will become famous and that it is all right to hurt people that hurt you because t he American government are killing the terrorist that hurt the country. Music lyrics have gotten more violent over the decades as well.