Summary of Wilson’s Article

The correlation of exposure to violence in childhood with aggression in adulthood is directly

related. In today’s world, children spend six hours a day surrounded by media with a
prominence in television. The shows that children are watching (with the exception of PBS
television) have prominent cartoon and action violence. These superhero and slapstick shows
are appealing to the younger ages because the characters are relatable in age and
characteristics. Since the shows are becoming more prominent in children’s lives and frequently
appear in their day to day activities, children today are exposed to 5,000 acts of violence a year.
This is the same for children’s movies because there is a greater desire to see these movies on
the big screen. These movies have similar characteristics to television shows, and therefore
have the same impact. With the increase of technology, movies are increasing in violence and
gore, and the older age group of teens are drawn to it after growing up seeing violence in
television. Additionally, teens are listening to the rap/ hip hop genre of music whose lyrics
discuss violence and gun use frequently. This negatively helps with a violence issue because kids
want to emulate the people they look up to which are frequently stars on the radio or
television. Unfortunately, these artists have a responsibility to be role models for the youth,
and their image of violence and gun violence will be replicated/ encouraged in the eyes of the
youth. Especially considering that kids 8-14 years old are playing violent video games such as
Call of Duty, they are already experiencing gun violence and are becoming too comfortable with
the weapon. These video games continue being produced because profits increase even though
there are multiple records showing they encourage violence in kids especially boys. The biggest
issue with these games is the desensitization that results. Because kids are not effected by
killing another with a weapon anymore, crime does increase as a result from that. I feel it is
almost like training for it.
Wilson follows this data with reasons for why adding media violence into children’s lives can
lead to aggression. First, there can be predisposed characteristics to aggression in the kids and
the media instigates those characteristics to rise. Secondly, as the brain develops it develops
with the violent images. Those images are linked to their childhood, and there is almost a need
to pursue it in adult life because the image of consequence is rarely shown in cartoons and
other kid’s shows. The images linked with childhood comes from television, movies, music,
video games, true. However, there are images that relate to the violence in media that the kids
make for themselves. Children blend the line between reality and fantasy they use their
imagination to “fight off crime and evil” which they get from their favorite shows. The use of
violent acts can begin there at five years old to twelve years old. Wilson writes this article with
a call for more research in this field, less produce of violent images and messages, and a better
understanding of desensitization because that is a main cause for the appeal to violent acts.