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Mayer Kim
Professor Palmer
English 100
27 February 2009
Media Violence In Children
Honey, Im home! Its a phrase you may often hear in many normal American families.
But there is one other place that one may hear this phrase used repeatedly; its the playground.
Children like to imitate their parents. Children like to imitate anything that they see. And
unfortunately, children may even imitate the things that many may consider unhealthy for
children. In the world today, censorship in the media has gotten progressively looser. Even
though measures have been taken to resist childrens viewing of inappropriate or adult orientated
materials, children areby naturequick learners. And in order to protect the susceptible hearts
of these children, parents need closely monitor and protect their children from violence in the
media.
Censorship on public television is a questionable topic. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) implemented the V-Chip as a means to provide parents with more control
over what their children were watching. The FCC states, Pursuant to the Commissions rules
all sets 13 inches or larger manufactured after January 1, 2000 must have V-Chip technology.
The proposal of implanting a chip that allows parents to censor what their children can watch on
television sounds like a great idea. But what good is this V-Chip if the parents are not familiar
enough with the technology to use this device? People have to remember that learning a new
technology does not receive number one priority on a mothers to do list. Recently in a study
regarding the V- Chip technology, 33 of the 110 families attempted to use the V-Chip over the

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course of the study. Nine of these families had it successfully engaged when we visited the
families homes at the conclusion of the study. Another 14 families engaged the V-Chip but opted
to turn it off. And 10 families attempted to use the V-Chip but were thwarted by the technology.
Even if every single television set placed on the market required the implementation of the VChip (which it actually does), one can clearly see that technology alone cannot be our foothold
against keeping children away from media violence.
With the emergence of the next generation gaming systems such as the Sony Playstation
3, the Ninento Wii, and the Microsoft XBOX 360, animations and computer generated imageries
(CGI for short) have gotten increasingly more realistic. And with these new developments, the
line between fiction and reality is even more distorted. For children, what they see on the video
game screen may very well translate into real life happenings. In an article about video games,
Sarah Glazer states, Recent studies indicate that the younger a player is, the more likely he is to
be negatively affected by video violence and the longer lasting the effect. This statement can
only bring attention to the tragedy known to so many people: the Columbine High School
Massacre. On April 20, 1999, two students by the names of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot
and wounded 36 people. Of the 36 casualties, 12 students died and a teacher died. One may
wonder about how two high school students can cause such a catastrophe. Well, it turns out the
Columbine killers were big fans of Doom [A popular first person shooter video game]. The
shootersfueled by aggression and training from the video gamewere able to ruthlessly
execute their plan. The whole incident, from beginning to the end, probably didnt seem real to
the shooters. Its all just a game.
Its the job of the parent to make sure his or her children are protected from the violent
culture. No matter how much the government steps in and preventative measures are taken,

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ultimately, it is the parents role to raise his or her children in the right manner. Parents need to
teach their children that in life, there are no second chances; there are no mulligans; and there
definitely arent any reset buttons. The morality and value of a single life is too great for it to be
taken lightly and if parents do not take more affirmative action against violence in the media. the
world may well be prepared for Columbine Massacre Part II. Children arent stupid. Just as
everyone learns by watching and doing, children can easily learn by watching and doing.

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Works Cited
Glazer, Sarah. "Video Games." CQ Researcher 16.40 (2006): 937-960. CQ Researcher Online.
CQ Press. Fullerton Coll. Lib., Fullerton, CA. 26 Feb. 2009
<http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2006111000>.
Reichhardt, Tony. "Video violence: Playing with fire?." Nature 424.6947 (24 July 2003): 367.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Fullerton Coll. Lib., Fullerton, CA. 26 Feb. 2009
<http://www.ebscohost.com>.
United States Federal Communications Commission. V-Chip: Viewing Television Responsibly. 8
July 2003. 26 February 2008. <http://www.fcc.gov/vchip>.
Woodard, Emory. "Do families use the V-Chip? A field investigation of the V-Chip mandate"
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association.
New Orleans Sheraton, New Orleans, LA. 27 May 2004. 26 February 2009.
<http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p113044_index.html>.