Media, Violence and the Culture of Victimization: A Sociological Analysis of the Socio-cultural and Psychological Impacts of Media on Youth

Arab Naz, Asghar Khan, Waseem Khan, Gauhar Saeed & Nasim Khan

Abstract
Exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music and video games,
represents a significant risk to children and adolescent’s personality and growth. Extensive
research evidences indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior,
desensitization to violence, nightmares and fear of being harmed. The present research
analyses the socio-cultural and psychological impacts of media on youth studying at
Secondary Level education in Tehsil Batkhela, Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
th th Pakistan. The data was collected from 100 students of Class 9 and 10 of four selected
schools using simple random sampling technique. The study reflects that apart from the
positive role of media; it is also responsible for creating numerous socio-cultural and
psychological impacts among youth. These impacts predominantly include tension, fear,
anxiety, frustration, aggression, and deviance that lead to victimization of the viewers. The
research recommends that an initiative is inevitable in such circumstances to overcome the
hastily-spreading consequences of media, where the primary responsibility must be
shouldered by PEMRA in terms of policy implementation.

Keywords: Media, Culture of Violence, Impacts, Social, Cultural, and Psychological