he role of media in the lives of children and the relationship between media violence and aggressive behaviour among children in different settings. The study found that 93% of students who live in electrified urban or rural areas have regular access to television and watch it for an average of three hours a day. This is at least So% more than the time spent on any other out-of-school activity, including homework, being with friends, or reading. There is little doubt that television is the most important medium in the lives of children almost everywhere in the world. Television, videos, and video games expose children to high levels of violent images on a daily basis. In many countries, there is an average of five to ten aggressive acts per hour of television. Does this violence affect children's behaviour? The study found evidence for a hypothesis called the "compass theory." Depending on a child's existing experiences, values, and the cultural environment, media content offers an orientation, a frame of reference which determines the direction of the child's own behaviour. The child does not necessarily adopt the behaviour portrayed, but the media images provide a model, a standard for what may be considered normal and acceptable. The study found that aggressive male heroes fascinated boys in all cultures. Arnold Schwarznegger's "Terminator" is known by 88% of the world's i2-year-olds, whether in India, Brazil, or Japan. Boys chose action heroes as their role models more frequently than any other category of media image. The trend was especially strong among boys in high-crime neighbourhoods and war zones. Girls, by contrast, tended to choose pop stars as their role models. The study found evidence that media images reinforce the experiences of children in their real-life environments. Almost half (44%) of both boys and girls reported a strong overlap between what they perceive as reality and what they see on the screen. Many ...
