Data Analysis and Early Findings

Today, mass media have a considerable impact on the audience, especially children, because mass media have a constant impact on the audience and people can hardly avoid the impact of mass media. In fact, the audience receives messages from mass media on the regular basis. Willingly or not, people receive and process this information. However, often the information sent by mass media may have a negative impact on the audience, especially children. In this respect, it is possible to the example of the impact of violence in media on children. In fact, this problem has to be studied in details because children cannot distinguish the message they receive from media from the real life, which may differ consistently from what they see in movies, for instance, or video games. As a result, children may be vulnerable to the negative impact of violence in media on their behavior and cognitive development as well as socialization.
In terms of the current study, interviews were conducted to find out the impact of the violence in media on children. The study involved three groups of subjects, including children at the age of 10 to 15 of both genders, their parents, and teachers. Children were involved in interviews to obtain information from them as subjects to the impact of the violence in mass media. It was important for the study to find out how children perceive the impact of the violence on their behavior and psychology as well as socialization. Parents were involved to find out whether they can control the impact of the violence in media on their children and what changes they observe in their children under the impact of violence in media. Educators helped to reveal possible changes in the social behavior of children under the impact of the violence in media.
Interviews of children involved the following questions:
1. Are you exposed to the impact of violence in media?
2. Do you play violent video games?
3. Do you like them?
4. Do you watch violent movies or TV shows?
5. Do you like them?
6. Would you like to behave as your favorite character in a violent video game or movie?
7. Do you think violence is good or bad?
Interviews of parents involved the following questions:
1. Are your children exposed to the impact of violence?
2. Do they watch violent movies or shows?
3. Do they play violent video games?
4. How can you control what your children play or watch?
5. Do you consider violence in media has a negative impact on your children?
6. What changes have you noticed in your children’s behavior under the impact of violence in media?
7. Do you consider your children grow more aggressive, if they play violent video games or watch a violent movie?
8. How does violence in media influence their relations with their peers, with you, or their friends?
9. Do you believe violence in media has a negative impact on your children?
Interviews of teachers involved the following questions:
1. Do you know whether children in your classroom are exposed to the impact of violence in media or not?
2. How do you think the behavior of children changes under the impact of violence in media?
3. How does violence in media affect relationships of children with each other?
4. How does their behavior change under the impact of violence in media?
5. How could you change their behavior?
6. Would you recommend limitation of access of children to violence in media?
7. How does violence in media affect socialization of children?
8. How does violence in media affect academic performance of your students?
In fact, all three groups responded to interviews. The information was collected and processed to find out whether the violence in media has a negative impact on children or not. In the result of the first information collected and processed the following figure was created to show the opinion of each group of subjects in relation to the impact of the violence in media on children, their behavior and socialization:
The figure shows that parents and educators are conscious of the negative impact of violence in media on children. Many parents and educators pointed out that their children grew more aggressive under the impact of violence in media. As for children, they apparently underestimated the impact of violence in media on their behavior because a considerable part of children did not find the impact of violence in media being negative. For instance, some children responded that they would like to be like their favorite character, even if he or she was extremely violent.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the violence in media is likely to have a negative impact on children.

Works Cited
Bagdikian, Ben H. The Media Monopoly, Sixth Edition, Beacon Press, 2000.
Barker, C. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. 3rd edn., London, Sage, 2008, pp.57-73.