Violence on film has gone up in the last 40 years as more and more are now showing the access to this film has gone up and is easier for children to see. Certain ratings and guidelines for films are now very open and especially with streaming services children are getting to see these films with ease.

“Research by psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann, Leonard Eron, and others starting in the 1980s found that children who watched many hours of violence on television when they were in elementary school tended to show higher levels of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers.” From the 80s on there have been studies showing that certain children who take in more from entertainment there are more likely to exhibit violent and destructive tendencies. Recently, the access and accessibility with more and more aggressive media has just made the issue with children and entertainment is not good.

“One of the notable changes in our social environment in the 20th and 21st centuries has been the saturation of our culture and daily lives by the mass media. In this new environment, radio, television, movies, videos, video games, cell phones, and computer networks have assumed central roles in our children’s daily lives.” It doesn’t truly just stop at film. Some of the best shows out there promote and show excessive use of violence that just embiggen what we see in movies. It’s starting to now feel like a normal of kids being shown to these early signs of violence quicker than usual.

“Media violence gives children the message that aggression and violence are acceptable solutions to conflicts and problems. In many homes, children identify with TV, movie and video game characters and look to them as heroes, role models and parent figures.”

Children do tend to look past their parents as their role models and instead follow a possible violent path seen from violent content that they think is acceptable to follow. This adds to a child’s development that seeing this from a young age will follow it from they’re on.