Does the media distort children's perceptions of reality or validate Essay

Does the media distort children's perceptions of reality or validate them - Essay Example Science-Fiction movies also contribute to distorting children’s perception of reality. Although they boost their imagination to think of the unachievable, they can make then day-dream and spend a large amount of time on thinking about a parallel world that does not even exist. The Star Wars mania left many children addicted to it back in the 70’s, however, the movies were anything but close to reality. They did, however, encourage a whole generation to become fans of something that did not even exist in reality, and even if it did not affect their perception of reality, the franchise left an impact that affected ‘reality’ itself. Horror movies also are another genre of movies that distort children’s perceptions of reality. Children often fear the presence of scary monsters lurking in dark corners and many of them are affected so badly that they are deterred from going anywhere, or even sleeping alone at night. Watching horror movies distorts children’s perception of reality so badly that many often commit violent acts. Current research agrees with the individuals who argue that violent media is associated with aggressive behavior. Risky behavior by children and young adults includes violence against others and even a lack of remorse for consequences. Such faulty thinking often creates stress in children which can lead to a large number of psychological conditions. Therefore, children who view media violence frequently are more likely to have increased feelings of hostility, reduced emotional response to violence exhibited in front of them., and injuries that result from the initiation of violent behavior. Cartoons too distort how children view reality, since they too, like fiction movies, make us believe that the impossible can be possible, and that a lot of characters many never die. However, since cartoons are depicted as animated colorful motion images, their effect is minimal, in fact even positive, since children never perceive them to be real, given their animated form. Daffy duck, for example, might fall from top of a building several times, and be squashed by a bus on the road, and still jump up, inflate itself and start