Response to online Violent Media Consumption in Adolescents

A heated discussion on teen violence issues has been raised in recent years. In terms of this topic, Patarapongsant and Woraphiphat (2016) state in the article “Online Violent Media Consumption in Adolescents” that violent media can have serious negative impacts on teenagers as they can access it and can be influenced easily. It is true that violent media is everywhere nowadays, and even in cartoons intended for children, the characters are doing violent behaviors. However, since the situation is here to stay due to the development of the Internet, more emphasis should be put on how to decrease the negative effects caused by the abundant sources of violent media.

As a matter of fact, governments have already been aware of the problem and have taken actions, for example, passing laws to isolate violent movies sources from young teenagers. Many countries, such as America, have published complete movie rating systems so that adolescents would not be able to watch those movies which include violent or erotic scenes, or are required to watch such movies with the company of their parents. Even in those countries where the rating system is not put into use, strict rules are made for the publication of media products. In China, the Administration of Press, Publication, Film and Television tends to demand the publishers to delete the scenes that can cause negative effects or uncomfortable feelings in order to make the media products fit for all age groups.

Furthermore, efforts should be made by both the government and the public to appropriately help teenagers form a correct attitude about violent behaviors. As the authors suggest, adolescence is a special period when teenagers develop their views of the world and explore who they are. Adolescents may seek for exposure to violent media out of curiosity and a misunderstanding of being cool. Additionally, they tend to behave rebelliously and differently from what they are told to do to show