JakeLesInterview

Jake Leschinsky November 10th Personal Interview Media Violence and its Impact on Children

__**Interview Subject -**__ Name: Elizabeth Leschinsky Relationship: Mother Occupation: Elementary School Teacher Location: Bryn Mawr, PA

__**Elizabeth Leschinsky's Perspective on Children and Media Violence -**__

For this piece, I chose to interview my mother, Elizabeth Leschinsky. Among my parents and relatives, I felt that my mother would be the best choice for several reasons. My mom has taught elementary school for the last 20 years in the suburbs just outside Philadelphia. Obviously, this is in addition to raising me and my sister during that time period. I also felt like my mother would present an interesting perspective because she did not allow me or my sister to play videogames at home as children. In fact, I have never owned a videogame console. So, I began by discussing why they chose to do this with me. We then moved to my mother’s direct observations of children in school. After this, I asked her for some general opinions about children and violent media use.

As mentioned, I was not allowed to own a videogame console during my childhood. This was not the result of a bad experience or previous game use. My parents simply made this decision before we were old enough to ask for a game console. I began by asking if this was at all related to the violent aspects of videogames. My mother said that the violent aspect of videogames was a not a major part of their decision. However, she noted that when I was younger, videogames were not nearly as graphic and violent as they are now. I am personally sensitive to violence, though, and I remember some fairly graphic games from when I was a kid. Either way, the main point was that they did not want me to sit in front of a screen, passively playing a game for extended periods. In addition, they had already seen children becoming addicted to videogames. My mother and I both agreed that I might have a more violent nature if I had played more violent videogames as a kid.
 * __Personal Experience Raising Children__**

I remember one specific experience where I began developing an interest in videogame consoles. Although I only wanted to play NHL games. Christmas happened to be coming up, and I felt like this season I should finally own my own console. My mom did not directly deny buying the system for Christmas. However, she used to take me to a children's store called Zany Brainy. I haven't seen the store open for a couple a years, but, at the time, it was a store that focused on educational toys for children. After one particular visit, I found a program called, "Geo Safari." I immediatley thought it was amazing and had to have it. The "Geo Safari" was an interactive system that quizzed children on basic school topics including math, languages, english, etc. I ended up recieving the Geo Safari for Christmas that year. So, rather than arguing, my mother would routinely take me to a toy store with a focus on educational products. In fact, I do not remember going into a video game store until later in my teens. As far as I knew, Zany Brainy had the only toys available for children.

__**Direct Observations in the Classroom**__ Moving to the present day, my mother says that the children she works with are completely immersed in and obsessed with certain videogames. Specifically, she said that the children argue the most, raise their voices, become the most competitive and physically fight when they are playing violent videogames on school computers. She mentioned the goal of “reaching the next level” as something that kids are constantly referring to. Whether it is on school computers, or a videogame at home, current violent games bring out the natural competitiveness in kids. My mother and I agreed that this competitiveness is healthy. However, when you play a violent, competitive game indoors and stare at a screen, you naturally build up quite a bit of aggressive energy. In fact, the school that my mother works at had to lay out strict rules on computer game use for kids because of this. It is important to note, however, that my mother only sees the children playing games that are allowed at school. That is, she does not directly see them play some of the more violent games currently on the market. Because of this, I asked her a couple general questions about the affect of violent media use on children. __**General Observations and Opinions**__ It is clear that children are exposed to the highest level of violent media at home, rather than at school. Because of this, it was hard to ask my mother about children’s behavior directly after playing an extremely violent game. However, she noted that children still had similar mental and physical reactions to those discussed in the Sonya Brady article. As mentioned, children became extremely competitive and aggressive with each other during and after game play. Outside of the school, my mother believes that heavy exposure to violent media has immediate effects, as well as long term. Specifically, she mentioned that kids get a misinformed picture of the world. The biggest point that my mother referred was that fact that young children will feel like violence is the way that problems are solved. These games and other violent media desensitize children to violence. Therefore, they can feel that violence is not only normal, but essential to working out problems. I conducted this interview while I was at my parent’s home. It seemed particularly ironic because our neighbor’s children were running around and playing outside the whole time I was giving the interview. My mother said that my sister and I used to be playing outside constantly. She also noted that we were constantly coming up with our own games to play. It is unfortunate that a group of children playing outside in today’s world is worth noting, but I feel that it was much more common in the past. My mother and I both agreed that children should be actively encouraged to play outside with their friends, rather than play videogames. This is especially true for violent videogames. Through sports and physical activity, children can release their competitive and aggressive energy. In contrast, heavy violent media exposure will lead children to build up extremely violent and irritable attitudes that they will carry with them through their everyday lives.
 * __Conclusion__**

__Works Cited__ Brady, S., & Matthews, K. (2006). Effects of media violence on health-related outcomes among young men. //Arch Pediatrics Adolescent Medical Journal,// //160//, 341-346. Leschinsky, Elizabeth. Personal Interview. 08 Nov. 2009.