The Decay Of Society.

I am astounded to see a rising number of our youth becoming more violent and sexually active at a younger age, it is simply amazing that I find 13 year olds propositioning 16-20 year olds for sexual encounters, threatening to murder people for talking "ill" of them and things that are so much worse. As much as I am sure everyone would like to blame the media, and I know there is a large crowd that blames video games and TV for the rise in these areas; it is not actually entirely the media's fault and the blame does not lye solely on their shoulders.

I would like to direct attention to the parents at this point in time, and say they are to blame. Media is clearly marked with ratings by the ESRB (Or local standard's for you.)  so how can any parent sit back and blame media for the way their children turn out when they aren't spending the time to monitor what their children take in. I know a lot of parents work, it is hard to watch your kids 24/7 and they will find a way to view these things somehow; these are all arguments I hear daily. If parents were to actually take a few moments and talk to their children, to actually take time and get to know them, get to know what they think about, all these things can be avoided. Girls in particular are subjected to the over-sexualization in the media, constantly exposed to skimpy clothes and objectification of women, now if a mother was to take a moment to sit her daughter down and explain to her how that is not how life works, it would save her from using her body when she gets older for attention (and I am in no way implying this refers to all younger women, nor am I saying that this always happens.) and getting exploited for such things. Men are also subjected to this, thinking that they must have a perfect chiseled, sculpted, Adonis form; children pick on the larger children simply because they don't fit this bill. I myself being a rather "larger" child suffered from this immensely and was constantly bullied and had to use violence to solve my issues.

This moves me on to my second thought for the day, I know that if my parents sat me down and told me "Violence is not always the answer." (Yes, I was a violent child and I never even had violent video games as a child.) I possibly wouldn't have always resorted to my fists when someone got in my way or troubled me. Now as an adult I see the world much clearer than I ever could and wish someone would have taken that time to tell me that diplomacy is always a better option. Now I realize that there is no point throwing fists at someone because it will simply cause more issues than it solves, I find now that any problems you have can be talked over and it is a great mindset to have. A lot of parents, protestors and people of like-mind say that video games are to blame for the violence in our youth, this is not the case at all. Now if we were to blame video games, the video games that feature violence are clearly marked with ESRB (Or your local standard.) ratings; so if by chance your child was to play these games that "make them violent" it is because you as the parent are not monitoring what your children are playing. TV; possibly the biggest media influencing our youth, is the same, now if you spend quality time with your children and watch shows with them, rather than leave them in their rooms secluded from the world, imagine how much better off they would be. Young women are becoming more violent too, I have seen videos of young women, no older than 13-14 beating the absolute snot out of each other over something as stupid as a boy they both like. People wonder why their children act out and aren't a "model of society", it is because they won't take the time to actually talk to their children, they have no guidance or direction in which to look towards.

So, I ask you this, if children can readily watch and play the games they want, and you as the parent do nothing to take interest in their lives or find out what they do in their time, can you honestly blame them for the way they are? Keep in mind I am not referring to all children, nor am I saying that this applies to all children in any way, shape or form. I would also like to say that, just talking to your children can make all the difference in the world, the world is scarey place and you can easily feel so lost and alone. If you notice a change in your child, or even someone close to you, ask them how they are doing and if things are alright, it can make all the difference in the world. YOU can make all the difference in the world.