Question

Examine whether violence in media promotes the normalization of aggression, the desensitization to violence, the committing of violent acts, or a lack of empathy in children and perhaps even adults. Why or why not?

Answer 1

Aggression is an intentional act which is directed at an individual to physically or emotionally harm them. Aggression can be exhibited at two levels; active aggression and passive aggression. Active aggression is causing physical harm to another person, whereas passive aggression is verbal.

Nowadays, with the developing technologies and with an easy access to the internet, children as young as three year olds know how to operate certain applications on their tablets or parent's phone and computers. Almost everything is available online, ranging from productive to non-productive information. Internet has both pros and cons attached to it. While everything is easily accesscible on the internet which is a great advantage, the increasing number of cyber crimes are the biggest disadvantage.

Everbody has Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and various other applications which are a click away on their phones. Most people do not realize but these applications could be life-threatening to them. People constantly post their minute to minute, day to day activities, including their location. This could be a disadvantage to an individual who have stalkers out there, tracking their every move and have intentions of harming them in some way.

Aggressive behaviour could be exhibited by a person online both physically and verbally. Stalkers either track down their target's location, and inflict them with physical harm or could verbally abuse them online by making a fake profile. Aggression in general fosters dehumanization, as the person exhibiting an agressive behaviour does not think the other person to be human.

Frustration is often implied to be the cause of aggression and there are various factors that lead to aggression. Aggression could be caused by situational factors like being under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It could also be due to personal factors like, personality factors, an individual could be sensation seeking, Type A behaviour pattern or ego threat.

The best way to prevent one's aggressive behaviour is to channelize their energy in the right direction and also through catharsis.