About Astrid van Woerkom Expertise Kids - if you have heard or seen something on the news you don`t understand, or if you would like to know more about a certain current affair, you can ask me about it and I`ll try to explain things in a way you`ll hopefully understnad.
Experience I, now a highschool student, have been watching and hearing the news from the time I was four years old on, and I remember hearing of affairs (Gulf War I in 1991, for instance), while not understanding what was Iraq and why there was war. Fortunately, my Dad's always been extremely good at explaining things to me. I hope I can answer other children's questions and explain what's happening around *smile*.
Expert: Astrid van Woerkom Date: 8/9/2005 Subject: Children and Media Violence
Question Does Violence In The Media have a negative impact on children?
Answer Hi,
Violence in the media may have a negative influence on children on several grounds. Many people believe that when children see lots of violence, they believe it's normal and go and act violently themselves, but I don't think it's proven that this really occurs. However, a few years, ago, Michael Moore (a famous, very critical, American filmmaker) was researching gun violence for his film Bowling for Columbine, and he did find that the way violence was portrayed on American TV did have an influence on the incidence of violence, in that there was far more focusa on the offender and the extent of the violence and less exphasis on the victim than in other countries (he compared it to Canada).
Also, often, people recommend that children don't wathc violent movies or the like, cause they may be shocked by the violence.
