Sensationalism and violence featured big in the media last year. One story that caught public attention was the soap-opera style scandal involving a certain elected official. Add to this the recently revealed sexual harassment case at Taipei Municipal Women's and Children's Hospital, and we can't help but wonder whether it is only negative and shocking news that is able to win media attention.
In today's deteriorating social order, it seems that to cheat and steal has become stereotypical behavior. The media misses nothing in their reporting of the methods of criminals, which makes us worry that their reports will have a negative impact on our children.
According to US statistics, a child in the US watches two to four hours of television every day, and it is estimated that when it reaches the age of 18, it will have seen 100,000 acts of TV violence, including 8,000 murders.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and five other well-known medical groups and academic associations have therefore issued a joint warning alerting us to five negative influences of media violence on children.
Firstly, anti-social or aggressive behavior in children will increase.
Secondly, children may become less sensitive and indifferent towards violent incidents and victims of violence.
Thirdly, children may view the world as violent and mean, and become more fearful of being victims.
Fourthly, children will want to see more violence in entertainment and real life. And lastly, children will view violence as an acceptable way to settle conflict.
In addition, the results of a sample survey I recently conducted on fifth and sixth-grade students in Taipei's 103 primary schools show that about 96.7 percent of the children watch television and that 46.8 percent of them do so every day.
Further analysis of effects of various media on children finds that 96.4 percent of school children watch TV news, that 61.4 percent of them have watched sensationalist news reports or read sensationalist magazines, that 45.6 percent have read violent comic books or watched violent DVDs or video tapes and that 6.4 percent have read pornographic comic books or publications or watched pornographic DVDs or video tapes. This shows us that the media wields a lot of influence over children in Taiwan.
The World Federation for Mental Health made "The Effects of Trauma and Violence on Children and Adolescents" the theme for last year's World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10 in the hope that countries around the world will see the importance of the influence of media violence. Looking at Taiwan's domestic problems, however, the effects of media sensationalism on children should be emphasized alongside with the effects of violence.
One New Year's wish is that the Media Sanitation Movement, launched by religious circles in September last year, gradually will gain steam and bring a new vision to everyone during the new year, regardless of age.
Lyu Shu-Yu is an associate professor in the College of Public Health at Taipei Medical University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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