I was once told in my Psychology-01 class that watching television for three hours or more increases my risk of being violent and aggressive. So I tried my best to avoid the tube; I counted the hours I spend watching my selected programs. It sort of worked like a superstitious practice for me. I just followed it without any basis or reason that it is real - that watching TV could turn one hostile. In this research I find out how and why watching violent media such as video games, TV, and music could make a person more aggressive as he/she gets addicted to these media.

According to the American Psychological Association, the effects of watching TV and/or playing violent videogames for kids - are that "children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, children may be more fearful of the world around them, and children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or hurtful ways toward others" (Tompkins para.1). Those that are already hooked up to these violent vices "put in less effort at school, have poorer reading skills, play less friendly with friends, have fewer hobbies and activities..." (ibid.). But how is this so?

The psychological explanation is that a person's previous experiences have some effect to his/her behavior in the future (Tompkins para.2). Hence, if a child has been recently and presently exposed to violence (whether real or only in virtual games and music entertainment), then he/she has more tendency of becoming more and more aggressive at present and in the future as he/she continue with these unhealthy habits. The kind of behavior that is developed is a "risky behavior" - "children and young adults... induce violence against others [and] lack of remorse for consequences" (Tompkins para.3). As kids become used to playing or watching violence [whether real or not], they become used to violent situations and feel no more empathy and only think that it is normal; so eventually they will [consciously or unconsciously] imitate those violent acts (ibid.).

Moreover, those who played violent video games are more aggressive than those who only passively watched violent TV programs. This is because those who played video games are already on the verge of acting out the violence they are accustomed to, as they play the game and carry the violent acts even in real life (Tompkins para.5). Also, children naturally are not yet fully developed to recognize what is real and what is not, so that they act out without remorse the violence in the video games or TV in real life as if they were also meant to be real (Tompkins para.6). And the cycle goes on as kids [or young adults] become more and more irresponsible [in their school or work] and anti-social -- only relying on playing more violent video games and TV program as a form of escape instead of going outside of their homes for healthier activities [such as sports and/or good music] (Tompkins para.7).

With comes to hearing music, children are also at risk of listening to hateful music contents just like violent video games and television. According to the American Psychological Association, "songs with violent lyrics increase aggression related thoughts and emotions... Violent songs increased feelings of hostility without provocation or threat... Even the humorous violent songs increased aggressive thoughts" (Partenheimer para.1-4). This only means that regardless of the artist or the style of the song, people who listen to aggressive song content or lyrics have more tendencies to become more and more hostile. Aggressive lyrics just feed feelings and thoughts of hate. This in turn, also as with violent video games and TV, causes an anti-social penchant as "Aggressive thoughts... influence perceptions of ongoing social interactions, coloring them with an aggressive tint...Repeated exposure to violent lyrics may contribute to the development of an aggressive personality and could indirectly create a more hostile social environment" (Partenheimer para.5-6).

So is it wrong to play video games, watch TV programs, and/or listen to music? - The answer is no. Yet if you ask if it is wrong to play violent video games, watch violent TV programs, and/or listen to violent music lyrics, the answer would be yes. Parents should be especially aware of this.

We all understand the need to leave our children to the care of entertaining media such as video games, TV, and music while we busily work or do other important tasks; however, the point is that we should expose our kids only to non-violent entertainment. We should be aware of the ratings associated with the content of a video game, TV program, or music. If we continue to become careless of what our kids are playing, watching, or listening to, it would get more and more problematic to handle our children whom we have allowed ourselves to become irresponsible, unfeeling, and aggressive.

There is nothing wrong with playing video games, watching TV, or listening to music, we only have to be aware of the length of time that our kids spend with these media as opposed to letting them do other healthy hobbies, and also be aware of the content of these media.

~Ae Dechavez

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