So, apparently young children are influenced by the media to do violent things? At first I would’ve partly agreed with this statement, I mean the media affects everything we do, buy and consume, therefore making me wonder “maybe we behave like the media shows us to”. Having grown up in a time of technology, I had always been sat in front of the TV so I wasn’t nuisance to my parents. All of that TV watching must have had some behavioural affects on me. Obviously I wasn’t walking around pretending I was a Power Puff Girl (actually I probably was) but maybe I learnt to be a brat by watching Angelica on The Rugrats, monkey see monkey do, a like to Alfred Bandura and his Bobo Doll experiment (Turnbull 2014). After taking a look at Gauntlett’s “Ten Things Wrong with the ‘Effects Model'”(1998) it actually got me thinking. Maybe the issue isn’t with the media but to do with the genetics and psychological capability of a person. I found researching teenage offenders vs. ‘ordinary’ teens to be particularly interesting considering that the offenders hardly had watched any TV as they had hardly any exposure to technology in the first place (Gauntlette 1998). It’s like saying that because the shooters of the Columbine massacre were supposedly influenced by Marilyn Manson (Bowling For Columbine 2002) therefore every violent act caused by children/teens is because of media influences. I think that is totally bogus to be honest.
Then we have issues, once again, said to be caused by social media, a new and even more brutal and psychological way of violence. We are all aware of the late Charlotte Dawson’s passing due to being cyber bullied via Twitter. This new extension of social media makes it ever more easy to contact people 24/7. It allows ordinary people to contact celebrities and gives them access to say whatever they please no matter how brutal. Many people a blame Twitter for her suicide but as the majority of her close friends had reported she had battled with serious mental issues for a very long time (Harris and Banshan 2014). She had them before she was abused and bullied on Twitter. So yes, Twitter was only just one contributing factor to her death but I believe it is not be blamed as much as it has been. I believe the way someone acts is very dependent on the persons upbringing (not television but parental nurture), their genetics and their life experiences not always the by the media.
Sources:
Gauntlett, D 1998, ‘Ten Things Wrong with the ‘Effects Model”, Approaches to Audiences- A Reader, viewed on 15th March 2014, http://www.theory.org.uk/effects.htm
Bowling For Columbine 2002, film, Momentum, America, directed by Michael Moore
Turnbull, S 2014, Week 2 Lecture
Harris, A and Bashan Y 2014, Charlotte Dawson found dead at her Sydney home, police say her death is not suspicious, The Daily Telegraph, viewed on 15th March 2014, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/charlotte-dawson-found-dead-at-her-sydney-home-police-say-her-death-is-not-suspicious/story-fni0cvc9-1226834547331
Oh Madeline 