Violent Entertainment...Hmmmm...

Something that I really miss from back home, is the ability to go to a Mr.Video to rent the latest movies on DVD. It isn’t something that I thought I would ever miss but I do, as there are no such things around here.  Of course, we are able to download movies and to “rent” or buy on OSN, but it’s not the same as making an 'outing' out of it.  I used to choose Romantic Comedy and Horror movies, whereas my husband chose Action and we would end up disagreeing who's choice to watch first.  

Horror movies never bothered me until I had a nightmare while I was pregnant with my first baby.  It was a few months after I watched one of the SAW movies, and I had a dream that I was standing behind a door with a glass window.  I was peeping through the window when someone came running at the door, crushing me between the wall and the door and my tummy exploded, almost like what happened with the woman in SAW.   Sounds horrible, right? Well ever since then, I am unable to watch horror movies.   

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Just looking at that picture gives me goosebumps, yuck!

I have just completed my second last Psychology module last term, and I learned something that I never knew. One can imagine that watching horror movies must have a certain effect, especially for children, but I never actually knew exactly what that effect was.   

I will explain it as I understood it:   

Watching violent entertainment has the following effects:   

•  Sometimes children and adults become meaner, more violent and more aggressive due to the exposure to violence. This is called the AGGRESSOR EFFECT*. 
• The world may be seen as a scarier place, therefore people start initiating more self-protective measures, like buying firearms and start seeing strangers as threats. This is called the VICTIM EFFECT*. 
• When children and adults become less emotional or desensitized to violence, more callous and less sympathetic to victims of violence, it is called the BYSTANDER EFFECT*. 
• People may start developing an increased appetite for watching violent movies and wish to see more violence. This is called the APPETITE EFFECT*.   

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Is violent entertainment only Horror/Violent movies? 

It can be anything from violent music, the Internet, video games, arcade games, etc.  

What does the experts say?   

“According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, television programs display 812 violent acts per hour. Further, the typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including 16,000 murders, before they turn 18.”

  "The more violence they see in the media, the more violent video games they play, the more likely they are to be aggressive in their own lives"  

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Another related article here.

As for my house and because I can no longer stand horror movies because of a nightmare that still haunts me, I can say with all honesty that I am closely monitoring what my children watches on television and what they play.  I am, however, (probably overthinking things again), not quite comfortable with the idea that someday they will be old enough to decide for themselves and that I will no longer be able to protect them from the effects that such things may cause them.   

*Bibliography: Child & Adolescent development, 2nd Edition, Dap Louw&Anet Louw