Content vs Cause: By Brett Bauman
According to FBI figures the number of juveniles arrested for serious and violent crimes increased 1600% between 1952 and 1972. The television’s introduction to society in 1952 marked the start of a new generation: a generation that spends more than 30% of their conscious life in front of the machine. As psychologists study the profound effects of the infiltration of mass media on the human brain, the effects continue to change our lives dramatically.
Teachers witness the new technology-occupied generation failing to visualize and use their imaginations. The children are always “bored” and need constant motivation. The effects on the family are the worst. Television comes between family rituals, conversation time, and communication. Heavy television viewing is strongly linked with poor educational performance, ADD, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Many people develop addictive personalities, and impulse disorders. Some viewers seem to have difficulty with reality. Identity and attention span problems become common, as well.
An increase in criminal behavior is parallel with the television’s popularity, also. As the television generation came of age, drugs became a major problem. The content of the shows and the amount of time spent watching manipulated people, and forced society into materialism. The television generation produced millions of criminals. They seemed to have a different sense of reality, and identity, and many were chemically dependent.
After researching the psychological effects of television and mass media, I questioned the content of a game called Grand Theft Auto. It is a game in which you are an escaped convict on the streets in a virtual city. The graphics are realistic and the quality is stunning. Its popularity perceived by today’s youth is profound. In the game you commit crimes for and against gangs and rivalries. Many actual street gangs such as the Yakuza, Mafia, Triads, and Colombian Cartel are operating in town. With an arsenal of automatics weapons, explosives, Molotov cocktails, bats, and a flamethrower you wreck havoc.
This game is so realistic it makes some people sick. For the audience who enjoys virtual drive by shootings, prostitution, and executions, they’re in heaven. But what are the implications and effects of such an evil and explosive game on our young generation?
Hours of committing crimes in virtual reality have a numbing effect on the conscience. As the viewer develops a no-consequence-applied type attitude, they gain the confidence to commit these adrenaline-pumping crimes in real life. Thus with a staggeringly high criminal per capita environment already, America seems to sponsor its own problems. You can virtually get high and get in heart pumping chases with the police. This game represents terrorism, gang behavior, drug use, and a crime life that simply doesn’t exist. It portrays a “thug life” that is simply a figment of popular culture backed by materialistic gangster rap artists living the life and giving kids two-thumbs-up for drugs, crime, and evil.
As kids grow up these days they spend a lot of time watching television and playing video games. The false sense of reality and occupation provided by the machine seem to create a void in the participant. Many people play Grand Theft Auto and similar realistic games for more then six hours a day. Should something be done about the content and material in video games and television? Yes, but Americans fail to understand and react to the problems associated with their precious boob tube.