Violence

Children and young people are growing up in a media-saturated culture where they encounter a vast array of images and ideas on a daily basis, some of which may be of a violent nature. Children and young people are potentially exposed to violence on the Internet, ranging from sites with cruel humour to disturbing depictions of torture and sadism. They may download music containing violent lyrics and access violent images, video clips and online games.

Helping children and young people to evaluate the images and ideas they encounter online and to clearly express their attitudes and feelings towards violence, in real life as well as on the screen is an important task for parents. Affording children and young people the opportunity to discuss these sorts of issues with you can help to equip them with the tools to respond thoughtfully and critically to media content. Dialogue with parents on this subject can help children and young people to put depictions of violence into perspective, and perhaps diffuse some of its power. 

Depending on the context differing degrees of violence may be portrayed and children and young people may simply view content, e.g., violent movie, or they may engage with content interactively, e.g., play an online game, or they may produce the content, e.g., happy slapping movie. The most frequently cited concerns with respect to the messages this content communicates relates to the role that violent content may play in justifying and reinforcing appetites for violence and encouraging violent behaviour in real life.
 
Encourage dialogue
Helping children and young people to evaluate critically the images and ideas they encounter online and to articulate their attitudes and feelings towards violence, in real life as well as on the screen is an important task for parents. Affording children and young people the opportunity to discuss these sorts of issues with you can help to equip them with the tools to respond thoughtfully and critically to media content. It can help children and young people to put depictions of violence into perspective, and perhaps diffuse some of its power.  Open discussion with children and young people provides an opportunity to teach that they have a voice and a role to play as active media consumers who can talk to the entertainment industry and present their opinions in public forums. The Internet has opened up important avenues for reaching producers and sharing views.

Reporting
If you stumble across hateful content on the Internet, report it to the appropriate Internet Service Provider (ISP). You can contact your own ISP and ask for help in locating the host of the offensive content. You should also report online hate to your local police department.
 
What are the risks associated with violent material?

There is some evidence that violent content may play a role in justifying and reinforcing appetites for violence and encourage violent behaviour in real life. However, other research findings suggest that exposure to and engagement with violent content is unlikely to have negative psychological and social consequences for those not predisposed to seek out violent content or behave violently. The majority of children and young people are most likely to experience shock, horror and fear as a result of exposure to violent content. Therefore, knowing that it is possible to speak to a parent or carer about these feelings is an extremely important aspect to minimising the risk of harm to a child who has viewed or may encounter material of a violent nature.

For those children and young people with a predisposition to seek out violent content, exposure to interactive content and associated forums may lead them to think that violence is acceptable, and may increase the risk of a child or young person engaging in violent behaviour in everyday life. Once again open lines of communication are a key element in reducing the risk of harm to a child who is predisposed to violent behaviour.