Violence in Media leads to violence in Society

Khamlianlal Zou-Khams Zotal *

A Scene from a Manipuri film 'Chayetpaa Tomnao Gee Nungshi Lamjel' :: Pix - Green Chillies films Production

SOME of us may think that violence in Social Media has no causes to violence in the society. Let's see how media plays both negative and positive impact in our society. Social Media has made a very special place for itself in our lives. Media has become as important as food and clothing and there is no denial that media is playing a very significant role in making the world smaller. Through various mediums of media whether it is radio, television, newspaper or internet like Facebook, we are able to connect with large number of people far and around us.

Especially information is quite fast and easy access to Facebook, printed newspaper, etc. has truly become the need of every individual both for our work and to connect with our friends and well-wishers. We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, travelling and anything else that we have to do.

Media occupied such special place in our lives that if we are not a part of it, then there is something really important that we are missing. Media is like a mirror of the society which reflects each and everything about the society to us. Media is such a powerful tool that it literally governs the direction of our society today. It is the propeller as well as the direction provider of the society.

Media can adversely affect the thinking capability of individuals and install negative or destructive thinking patterns in the society as a whole. Media glorifies violence and contains graphic descriptions or images. When viewed by the vulnerable portion of the society, i.e., the children, it can have grave effects on their upcoming and thinking patterns.

The relationship between media violence and violent behaviour in the society has been extensively increasing. Media is important to the society but media also can bring bad impact to the society through the movies, violence news, etc.

In fact, majority of family have televisions and sometime children watch television without their parental supervision and this gives a greater opportunity for children to view programs such as violent movies, news, TV etc. that very young children will imitate aggressive acts on TV in their play with peers. Because children are unable to distinguish between fact and fantasy and may view violence as an ordinary occurrence. When we watch TV or a movie we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others.

The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in the children as we see it more and more. Children are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of reality and fiction of what they are seeing.

Parents should know that children have always learned how to behave in the world from the stories of their time, and the mass media are today's story-tellers. If the stories our children see routinely involve violence as a solution to problems, or simply as a random omnipresence, what kind of personal value system and cultural worldview are we passing on to our children? Even if we dont become more aggressive ourselves, we or our neighbours, or the kids at school may become overly fearful of others or desensitized to the seriousness of violence to others.

The use of violence is media is becoming more and more visible in today's society. We see in our television programming, the movies we watch, the video games we play, and we even hear it in our music lyrics. As the death toll and violent situation count rises, a debate arises. What does this say about our society? Some people believe that the escalating violence in the media has led to escalating violence in real life. People are taking their cues from what they see and hear.

Most of us try to re-enact stupid things they see on social media, or they put the blame on violent song lyrics. If a person goes on a shooting in a video game, they will be more apt to try it in real life. It maintains that these media bring out the worst in our human nature. Basically the media breeds a more violent society. Society perpetuates the violence it sees. It does not put all the blame sole on the media outlets. This theory maintains that media is a reflection of the society that created it.

Our strong virtues are not compromised by what we see and hear in our media artefacts. The media perpetuates the violence it sees in society. Never say you gona ignore any kind of social media, you may be missing something in this generation, be flexible and we must learn to choose the items, everything, anything is available on social media. We must learn to choose the right information, the choice is yours. Non-Violence!