Is the media to blame for the increasing involvement of the youth in violence?

Is the media to blame for the increasing involvement of the youth in violence?
Student Name
Course Title
Course Instructor
Date
Introduction
In the contemporary society, violence among the youth has increased tremendously resulting into debates and controversy on the likely cause of violent behavior among the youth. It has become common to hear news on the media about brutal killings caused by high school students and robberies committed by young people. It is argued that there must be a driving force that has led to the increased valence among young people. The mass media has been accused of being the sole contributor in promoting violence among teenagers through its programs which glorify violence such as thriller and horror films, games and some advertisements which promote goods and services using violent images. The question as to whether the mass media is to blame for the increased rate of violence among the youth leads to the need for critical analysis and reasoning on the contribution of the media to violence as opposed to other factors such as the social environment and psychosocial determinants of aggression.
There are many forms of violence that has been observed among the youth today including bullying of fellow students in school and even robbery of the local shops by teenagers. Many scientific studies have been conducted on the impact of mass media on the violent behavior of the youth with conclusions which assert that the consumption of mass media contribute to the increasing rates of violence among young people (Brocato, Gentile, Laczniak, Maier & Ji-Song, 2010). However some other studies have opposed the media theory on youth violence. This illustrates that the issue of media and violence is obviously a contentious issue in the modern society. Some parents deny their children the privileges of watching media programs because they fear that it would have a negative impact on their behavior. However, it is not logical to conclude that the mass media is the sole contributor to the violent acts caused by the young people in the modern day society. This is because there are some social, legal, political and economic factors which would be blamed for the increased violent behavior among young people (Krahé, Möller, Huesmann, Kirwil, Felber & Berger, 2011).
The fact that environmental factors such as witnessing a violent activity by a young person would lead to aggressive behavior of the individual rules out the media as the sole influencing factor on aggression among teenagers (Jones, Cunningham & Gallagher, 2010). Some children are brought up in aggressive environments where violent acts seem to be part of the normal daily events. Even if such children are not exposed to media programs such as action films, they are likely to be violent either in the current period or later in life. However a violent environment could be catalyzed by consumption of violent media leading to the participation of a youn...