The Negative Effects of Media on Society

Most people believe media in society is a benefit rather than a harmful consequence. Social media, television and video games are activities kids, teens, adults, and even elders do, but ignore the harmful and damaging consequences. This is an unfortunate truth, because the research says otherwise. Media and social networking pose a great threat to our society because of the results it has on children, the violence is triggers, and the overall effects of stereotyping.

To start off, overexposure to media and society negatively affects and starts very early in young children. The loss of creativity can start with electronic gadgets and TV shows taking over a child’s life. For example, the internet encourages people to copy work of others. Children

In addition, “television can take over a child's life, causing obesity, social development issues, and even aggressive behavior.” (Pantley 1). Social media can easily take you from one site to another and three hours later you’ve already eaten four bags of chips, and have not left your room to communicate with parents and friends. Social media and Television can easily expose young kids to adult films, which can have many negative effects.“Many children's shows are animated versions of adult action films. Research shows that exposure to this type of programming increases the risk of aggressive behavior and desensitizes children to violence”(Pantley 1). The next negative effect on children, and media, which is parent detachment. Parent detachment can be caused when children simply doesn't want to spend time with a parent, and would rather be playing video games, and watching television. Don't misunderstand, video games are not bad as a whole, but when your child is spending 75% of his day playing, when he could be watching a family movie needs to be stopped. “Studies

Violence is a negative effect on media and society because of the learning effect, the desensitized effect, and the fear effect. For example, the violence on television and video games can teach people the actions of the fictional characters in the show or game, and in turn, learn violent behaviors. “Viewers learn the aggressive attitudes and behaviors depicted in the programs they see”(Wartella 3). Considering the fear effect, the next effect violence can create is the desensitization effect. Violence is a negative effect on society and media because violence can cause real emotion, and change the attitudes of many civilians when put in a serious situation where people need help.“Prolonged viewing of media violence can lead to emotional desensitization toward real violence and real victims which may result in callous attitudes and a decreased likelihood that desensitized individuals will take action to help victims when real violence occurs”(Wartella 3). To compare, violence is a bad side of media and social networking because it creates the fear effect. Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous. Violence on TV and video games promote the violent behavior and can lead to the fear effect. “Viewing violence may increase your fear of being victimized, leading toward self-protective behavior and an increased mistrust of others”