How Can a Student Resist the Influence of Violence in the Media?
Media shapes our life and behaviors far more than we are sometimes aware. Images and commercials we've seen over 40,000 times don't have the same impact as the first time---they form normative assumptions within our subconscious about the way life is or should be. Children are more susceptible to this influence since they have less discerning understanding about what they see. However, studies by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association demonstrate that the violence and attitudes we see in movies, TV shows, cartoons, video games and music videos has a profound affect on behavior.
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Instructions
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Sit down with students as parents, teachers and concerned adults to discuss the problem. Ask the students to relate what they think when they see a violent scene in a movie, TV show or video game.
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Listen to the students' responses. Then, without lecturing, offer your own thoughts on what you think when you see a violent media scene, even during the news.
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Do an experiment to encourage students to think critically about what images, scenes and graphics they see on a daily basis: Ask students to guess how many violent scenes they see in a one-hour TV show. Write the guesses down. Have them give examples.
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Show a five minute clip of a popular show and see how many violent acts or words show up in that span. Have the students count together to identify them all. Multiply that effect times 12 to compare to their guesses from a one-hour show.
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Take a poll to see how many students missed a more subtle action to get at the idea of how repeatedly viewing violence desensitizes us to noticing it clearly.
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Break the students into pairs for peer discussion. Direct them to propose solutions they recommend to help themselves and their fellow students resist the barrage of violence in the media.
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Have each pair share their top two ideas with the whole group.
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Offer recommended solutions from professionals and researchers who study the effects of violence on academic performance, social behavior and peer relationships.
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Give the students a chance to critique or modify the professional recommendations into what they see as really do-able solutions for their families or peer groups. Make commitments as a group to try a week-long violence reduction experiment at home.
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Form a support group for students who wish to reduce their violence viewing. Offer media-alternative activities such as interactive games, team building activities and creative competitions. Also offer media-revising activities---like having students rewrite song lyrics or film a new movie scene to replace a violence-promoting scene in a popular movie.
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Have the support group host a school-wide "peace promotion" as a show of encouragement to the wider student body that violence isn't always necessary in media.
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Tips & Warnings
Teaching interactive problem solving and discussing what is present in today's media is more effective in developing a students' discernment than simply imposing "don't watch" bans.
Not all parents, caregivers or teachers have the same standards about exposing children to violent media. Discuss your position with others rather than assuming that everyone agrees with your viewpoint.
