Desensitization and the Media
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Social media is such an important part of American culture and it would be very rare to find someone who doesn’t check their social media at least once per day. In many occasions it’s one of the first things that I check in the morning. Whether it’s talking to a friend, watching funny videos, or doing research for school work, it’s a part of my everyday life. It’s hard to believe a life without social media. But what if too much of it is actually unhealthy?
Recently, I’ve been reading the news and exploring different current events of various topics and realized that — half of the things I read had felt like it was insignificant. I was reading the New York Times: some events were religiously related and others were health related. I found these titles interesting and pondered the idea of the issues presented in those articles. However, when reading the titles of some articles such as: “Kansas City Shooting: 4 Killed and 5 Others Wounded In Bar” or “Sandeep Dhaliwal, Sikh Sheriff’s Deputy, Is Fatally Shot Near Houston”, I didn’t really think about them as much. I just felt as if it was normal because seeing articles like these are so common nowadays. Shootings are a major problem in the U.S., but I nonchalantly breezed through these article titles, and I don’t think this is a good thing at all.
Desensitization of the media effects many people, myself included. Being desensitized to so much violence, intolerance and hatred that is shown in the news and media can cause people to ignore them as problems, almost as if it numbs them from all the negativity. Seeing “Breaking News” on so many different current events in various news channels makes me feel like everything in the world is just filled with chaos.
Michael Pittaro, a criminal justice professor at East Stroudsburg University, pretty much sums up my opinion on the desensitization of media. He states: “I feel strongly that our children are witnessing the worst of what humankind is capable of doing and that should concern all of us” (Exposure to Media). He also explains how he told his students about a shooting at another campus, which didn’t seem to spark any interest in any of the students. I believe that news like this should be alarming to everyone and should be an issue that we all look at. Another consequence of all the violent media can be that people live more stressful lives. Seeing how shootings and other violent events happen so often, people could be more fearful and feel more vulnerable wherever they go. This stress can also be a factor in depression, anxiety and other emotional disorders in teenagers because like Pittaro states — children are witnessing the worst of what humankind is capable of doing and that should concern all of us. I agree with this statement because I don’t think we should be living with negative news surrounding us in every minute of our lives. However, do you think that it’s good to expose this much violence to children to show that the world isn’t perfect? Or is it exposing too much violence?
How desensitized do you think you are to the media? Do you think that it’s a problem that needs to be addressed? Or do you think that desensitization isn’t as bad as it seems?
Desensitization of the media effects many people, myself included. Being desensitized to so much violence, intolerance and hatred that is shown in the news and media can cause people to ignore them as problems, almost as if it numbs them from all the negativity. Seeing “Breaking News” on so many different current events in various news channels makes me feel like everything in the world is just filled with chaos.
Michael Pittaro, a criminal justice professor at East Stroudsburg University, pretty much sums up my opinion on the desensitization of media. He states: “I feel strongly that our children are witnessing the worst of what humankind is capable of doing and that should concern all of us” (Exposure to Media). He also explains how he told his students about a shooting at another campus, which didn’t seem to spark any interest in any of the students. I believe that news like this should be alarming to everyone and should be an issue that we all look at. Another consequence of all the violent media can be that people live more stressful lives. Seeing how shootings and other violent events happen so often, people could be more fearful and feel more vulnerable wherever they go. This stress can also be a factor in depression, anxiety and other emotional disorders in teenagers because like Pittaro states — children are witnessing the worst of what humankind is capable of doing and that should concern all of us. I agree with this statement because I don’t think we should be living with negative news surrounding us in every minute of our lives. However, do you think that it’s good to expose this much violence to children to show that the world isn’t perfect? Or is it exposing too much violence?
How desensitized do you think you are to the media? Do you think that it’s a problem that needs to be addressed? Or do you think that desensitization isn’t as bad as it seems?
