Does violence and other inapropriate stuff really corrupt kids?

[Vault101]

Now I'm not a psychologist and I'm not saying it dosn't

but I mean if youre a kid and you watch somthing violent, sexy drugs swear murder ect ect is it really going to turn you into a phsychopath?

ok of corse watching somthing violent wil make the kid copy what ever happens because he thinks its cool and probably hit his sister or swear at his parents but is it going to turn said kid crazy?

I guess mabye it dosn't help people who have the disposition in the first place (as in are susepitble to mental illness)

and mabye theres the whole thing about desensitizing poeple to horrible things ect ect

As for me when I was a kid I usually avoided anythign violent or scary, because it scared the crap out of me (I mean I was like that more than the average kid) other kids would play mortal kombat on the 64 and I was to frightend to watch, but now In my late teens I love stuff like quinten tarantino and Violent games ect

 

[RatRace123]

If it's all a kid has, then maybe. It depends on the kid, but it's really more dependent on the kid's parents than anything.
If you have crappy parents who choose to blame the media for their kid's behavior, instead of actually doing their god damn job as parents and straightening their kids out then, yeah I guess it could do some harm.

It's sort of a mixed bag, based on tons of factors.

 

[Gigano]

There will always be those to whom even a flickering street light is a sign from god that they should go snuff someone out.

Shaping the world based on such infinitely small but inevitable risks is both cowardly and destroy the ability for the many to live free lives with plenty of usually harmless choices available. Censorship can suck it.

 

[CCountZero]

Well, it largely depends.

Kids are definetely affected by virtual or prerecorded violence, but most of the time to a very manageable degree.

It's not uncommon to see a kid incorporate something into the guns 'n' robbers routine if they saw it in an action flick, or maybe even try their hand at some martial arts move.

It seems obvious that a vast majority of kids are exposed to degrees of violence that are above average on a regular basis though, and at the same time a very, tiny, miminal percentage of kids actually do anything seriously bad because of it.

Now, if you couple it with hard drugs or alcohol, you're much more likely to get kids doing something stupid, but even then the only ones getting hurt are usually themselves when they eventually fall.

Bottom line, yes, kids are affected by violence, but that alone is not enough to cause a serious violent outburts. In every case I've seen, there has been other factors involved, on the level of mental inless or prolonged depression.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

Only if you shelter them from it. If they suddenly discover it later on, they're gonna go apeshit, but at the same time, if you don't put it into proper context, they'll do the same.

 

[TPiddy]

Only if you shelter them from it. If they suddenly discover it later on, they're gonna go apeshit, but at the same time, if you don't put it into proper context, they'll do the same.

This. It's all about context. It's about understanding the difference between right and wrong and making sure they understand it too. Since TV and now Video games have essentially become babysitters for our kids, the lazy parents want to yell at the providers of the babysitting service for destroying their child's minds.

 

[Jodah]

No, and if you disagree with me I'll stab you!

But seriously, if they are raised by the television then it could. The problem is that often the parents of these "corrupted" kids are useless.

Edit : Story time children!

If a parent teaches a kid right from wrong then they have nothing to worry about. When I was five years old my dad took one of his hand guns and put it in my toy box. He had it unloaded, partially dismantled, and was watching me carefully of course. It was a test though. As I was digging through my toys, I found it. I instantly knew it wasn't right. I knew it shouldn't be there and went over to my dad. I didn't touch it or anything. My point is its up to the parents to teach their children.

 

[verdanthat]

this is a really beaten to death topic.
anyone with a brain knows that vidya games don't corrupt kids.
the internet already does a good job of that.

 

[viranimus]

NO.

Disney holds the patent on corrupting youth!

In all seriousness, Legislation of freedom is never a substitute for parenting.

 

[gigastar]

Seems to depend largely on the individual. I started a thread a few weeks ago asking about the peoples first M rated games, most of what i got back on it were what could be called the defeiners of violent games (Doom, Duke Nukem, GTA, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat etc.)

Guess it kind of depends on how far someone is pushed by something. Who knows someday you might shoryuken that one guy who always gets under your nose... or not, its not like im telling you to. In fact don't.

 

[Anachronism]

If they have existing mental health problems, then it's possible. Otherwise, absolutely not. As long as the parents are halfway competent there's no chance of it happening.

I was playing Quake II at the age of seven and watching Arnold Schwarzenegger films not long after that, and have been playing violent videogames, watching violent movies, and reading violent books ever since. I'm not a rampaging psychopath. I'm perfectly mentally healthy, aside from mild OCD. Violent media, on its own, will not corrupt anybody.

Interesting sidenote: I'd love to see how the moral guardians would react if they actually sat down and read something like the Iliad. If they saw a child reading it, they'd probably be very pleased; however, it's one of the bloodiest, goriest pieces of literature I've read. I'm talking about Gears of War levels of violence here. The look on their faces would be priceless.

 

[velcrokidneyz]

There is no evidence of a correlation, if something happens like columbine, there usually is an underlying factor other than the game/music/movie/violent media.

 

[Space Spoons]

I don't know about corruption, but I do think that sort of thing can be mentally scarring, or at the very least nightmare inducing. My parents never let me play Mortal Kombat Trilogy when I was little. The one time I watched my two older brothers play, I learned the was a good reason for that. The sorta-real graphics and extreme violence gave me nightmares for weeks.

Now I'm old enough to recognize that much of Mortal Kombat is done with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, and the violence is meant to be more goofy than it is serious, but at the age of 7, it's the kind of thing that can be very frightening.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

It is all dependent on how you are raised from childhood. I played violent video games - Mortal Combat specifically - from the age of five, when my older cousins thought it hilarious to destroy me in it. I have played legions since, albeit mostly after double digits and mom always took the time to watch the games, if only for an hour or two just to better understand what it was I was occupying my time on. I knew right from wrong and reality from fiction, therefore I did not confuse the two. This is not exclusive to video games, if all a child witnesses is graphic movies or televisions showed and is informed such is how we live life. They will emulate those actions.

Why the media and etc cannot fathom this observation is baffling.

 

[Lilani]

I think whether or not a kid turns "psychopath" depends more on their real-life examples from authority figures. If the kid plays games where they can bash a hooker's head into a wall, and then they're in an environment where they see authority figures bashing hooker's heads into walls, they'll learn by example that that's acceptable behavior.

But if they play violent games and are raised in a civil environment, then they'll most likely make the connection that isn't acceptable behavior in real-life. If they don't, then those authority figures will correct them.

However, if a kid lacks authority figures that will correct their behavior, then a downward spiral is possible. So really, it's just like anything else: raise your kid right and they'll be just fine.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and there have been lots of instances where kids emulate what they see on TV. But those kids that got hurt or killed doing these things also were not being properly supervised. Kids WILL get hurt or killed doing something stupid if adults aren't around. It's just a fact of life.

But if a parent hasn't instilled it in their child that jumping from high places is unsafe and they weren't paying close enough attention to know if their child was in their room or on the roof, you can't just blame Superman cartoons. There is another person at fault.

 

[TaboriHK]

Corrupt is a dramatic word, but it does have an effect on what they consider "normal."

 

[xmbts]

It depends on the kid, no media violence ever bothered me but to me it doesn't compare to how it works in real life.

With the right guidance I wouldn't say they could be corrupted, but on the other hand some people are just disconnected from reality. There is no right answer but I wouldn't say we should get rid of the stuff.

 

[black_omega2]

Corrupt-"Cause to become morally depraved."
I don't think corrupt would be the word, more like desensitize. Nothing good parenting can't solve.

 

[vanthebaron]

in short: not
in length: fuck no. corruption is an excuse of the weak willed.