Rogerian: Desensitization and the Media
There is an average of six violent acts every hour on television, and that is just on the kid’s channels (Hansen, 2003). Children are being less and less affected by it as well. This is due to the amount of violence that the media shows to the children of this country, and how it possibly dulls our emotions and feelings towards graphic content through desensitization. Desensitization means “to make insensitive or nonreactive to a sensitizing agent.” Through the internet, television, videogames, movies, and even music, we see and hear material that can desensitize us to violence and even make us think that these acts are okay. There are age restrictions for these violent movies and television shows, but many kids still have access to them via parents or older siblings and friends, and are watching them regularly. Is the violence we see in the media causing us to be desensitized to violence in real life, and is it causing a raise in fears for our own personal safety?
Many people argue that most humans are very capable of differentiating between reality and fiction, and those people would be correct. It is also true that many of history’s violent sociopaths did not have access to violent media and that there are pacifists around the world who consume this violence on a daily basis, without any lasting effects. These are valid points and are very true. However, it is not the majority that we should be worried about, but the few people that are negatively affected by the graphic content we see every day. If just one child is scarred for life and develop a phobia because of something the saw on television, then it should be removed and no longer viewed.
Another view on the matter is that the children of our country do not properly understand violence, therefore thinking they might be able to withstand more physical damage than they really can. In the article “TV Isn’t Violent Enough” by physician...