Violent Media is good for Kids
Jones wrote the article, Violent Media Is Good for Kids. In this article, Jones tries to support the notion that there can be positive impact of violent media when kids are allowed access to it. This is an interesting argument because it refutes other articles, publications and books in which other authors postulate that when kids are exposed to such media, they develop similar traits. As such, the aim of this article is to critique this article and appeal to teachers, guardians and teachers to expose kids to violent media because its influence on kids is good. In addition, on the basis of personal experience during childhood, Jones can relate to different guardians, teachers and parents who have had violence exposure during childhood and this helped them in overcoming shyness and fears. As such, the aim of this article is to address the entire nature of the impact of violent media’s exposure to kids that various parties including media critics, scholars and parents have.
The suggestion of Jones seems to be that action figures can be derived from violent media by the kids. These can guide kids during tumultuous times when the effect of life is demeaning. This is important because it acts as a guide for kids when it comes to managing emotional needs and stress levels. Jones argues that the relation of a child to violence can be a means of channeling emotions and maintaining sanity level in the society. For example, when a child feared climbing trees because of friends’ derision and fearing the crawling insects, he was read stories and books by Tarzan. These stories served as the means that the child used to develop his confidence in terms of mimicking Tarzan’s emotions and actions (Jones). Therefore, this shows that relating kids with the heroes in violent media gives them role models because they consider their lives as being the same as theirs which enables them to overcome fears as well as to excel in their endeavors in the society.
Nevertheless, Jones has a vehement belief that children overcome their emotions, fear and social awareness’ absence due to violence. Depicting isolated cases has helped in achieving this notion. In these cases, media violence has played an instrumental role in changing behaviors, attitudes, perceptions as well as peer integration. Jones does not consider that there are other factors that could have caused behavioral changes among the children enhancing their social confidence. For instance, there are studies that have indicated that although the idea that media violence’s exposure causes social delinquency, the percentage of kids that actually depict violent behavior after watching or playing violent media is below 5%. As such, this indicates that violent media’s exposure does not really cause delinquency. Instead, it shows that there exist pertinent issues which actually cause delinquency and misbehavior in kids. As such, Jones content that believing that exposure to violent media alone can make kids change behaviors or be more self-aware lacks sufficient merit and is misguided.
Insufficient materials and adequate research to support the notions of Jones appears to question his claims’ validity. Jones claims that there are positive impacts of kids’ exposure to media violence but he does not support the claims properly. For instance, on the basis of his experiences as a child and his son’s experiences, he assumes that there are positive impacts of violence on other children. Nevertheless, the sample size of his research is small without properly articulated considerations and limits to prove their accuracy. Additionally, he has engaged a scientist that is credible in his research on this thesis’ effect. However, the positive results were realized although their substantive use in proving this thesis is impossible because of the many assumptions that the study made. Apart from the sample size being small, the study did not provide a review of peer articles or even reliable statistical data for supporting the claims. The implication is that the provided evidence in supporting the claim is not sufficiently strong and that its basis is mainly beliefs instead of concrete science.
Nevertheless, Jones’ claims can be considered fundamental considering that despite performing a minimal research, the results showed that media violence can affect kids positively. According to statistics, 68 percent of the video games, 90 percent of all movies, 15 percent music videos and 60 percent of shows in TV have violence instances. In addition, research findings indicate that it is expected that children’s exposure to media last for about 7.5 hours. These hours are more than time that children spend at school or with families. As such, the recent statistics which indicated that media violence exposure to children cause violence implies that kids would already be extremely violent in the modern society. Thus, the increased exposure to violent media content would affect the children adversely. Nevertheless, similar research shows that media violence can have positive impact on kids. For example, gaming industry has made developments recently by introducing games that involve gamers in physical exercise rather than sitting and pressing buttons. Such games can influence kids positively by boosting their physical activity’s level.
There are profound effects of pictures’ use in highlighting pathos and ethos that the children experience and the way they overcome them. For example, the picture of dinosaur indicates the child’s persona power over other people as well as issues that the child could be facing. This power comes from Jones’ story as a child when he viewed himself as a dinosaur in order to overcome the problems. These depictions therefore have logical relation because people are able to relate with them as well as to comprehend the effect’s magnitude.
The depictions are violent in nature and this has emotional appeal in showing the extent of a person’s suffering. A second caption for instance shows a huge man who is violently pushing and fighting objects and people. This is a juxtaposition of life issues and problem that a person may be facing (Jones). As such, from this context bold claims are made by the author on the basis of beliefs and emotions in supporting his claims that kids’ exposure to media violence is good. He is able to connect with his audience by employing emotions in passing the message. However, insufficient evidential research makes his message lack credibility or merit.
Works Cited
Jones, Gerald. Violent Media Is Good For Kids. Mother Jones. 27 June 2000. Web.