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Youth violence is problem that is very apparent in society today and too often the media is blamed as the source of that problem. Whether it is in schools, playgrounds, or living rooms across America children are displaying violent tendencies while interacting with their peers. In some cases the violence reaches extreme levels of tragedy and destruction. Senseless tragedies, such as the Columbine High School shooting, as well as many other school shootings that have occurred across the nation have been said to be the result of over-exposure to violent media. Many believe that these recent horrific displays of violence have been a result of the increasing amount of hostility that the media portrays to children through television, movies, music, and video games. It would be a mistake not to believe that outlets such as these do have an effect on children, but it would be a greater mistake to lay the blame for child violence on the media alone. The blame should not fall on the media when it is society itself that is portrayed through its outlets. When the emphasis lies heavily on one aspect of a larger problem, other contributing aspects are ignored. The motivation for violence by youth in society does not stem primarily from media but from the environment the children grow up in. American society must take a strong look at the problem of youth violence and truly see that the problem is not the television in the living room, but possibly the environment of that living room. Over the last decade the effects of media violence have been scrutinized and numerous case studies have been done to pinpoint these effects. However, no concrete evidence has been concluded from these scores of studies that have been able to do so. Author Richard Rhodes examined studies done by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Mental Health only to find that, “[…] no direct, casual link between exposure to mock violence has ever been demonstrated, and the few claims of modest correlation have been contradicted by other findings, sometimes in the same studies” (181). Rhodes is not alone in his deductions. The problem with the research studies done is the approach the researchers take in their studies. Many researchers attempt to take on a biological approach towards a psychological problem. This weakens the validity of any findings because the human subjects involved are susceptible and are already the result of to too many variables. Race, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds are just a few of these variables.
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