Generation Z has grown up alongside technology. As they grew, so did it. In the early 2000’s, BlackBerry’s were the phones taking the world by storm. Then, in 2007, the first Apple Iphone was released, and technology has continued to grow rapidly. 

With the burgeoning of modern technology has come the infinity of easy access internet, social media, and increasingly more sophisticated TV shows. These developments can be wonderful, but they have also led to a new danger. The desentization of the growing generation to violence. 

According to a study done by the National Library of Medicine, in one year the average 18 year-old will see about 6,000 depictions of violence in movies and television shows. That is about 16 depictions of violence in a single day. In another study they did, children between 8-12 who frequently watched television found that the violence scared them less. 

Some of the most popular TV shows reside on the more violent side of the chart. IMDB reports that the top five most watched shows ever are Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, 13 Reasons Why, and The 100. 3 are rated TV- mature and two are rated TV-14. 

With violent shows more consistently on TV, and extremely watched, it leads to the question of whether Gen Z is beginning to become desensitized to violence that occurs both in and out of a screen–and what that might mean for the future.