Going back to the late 1960s and all through the 1970s, I used to read all that I could get my hands on regarding violence in television and movies. In many newspaper and magazine article and also in books, I would bump into a term, a subject: passive viewing. A passive television viewer was said to be susceptible to the violent sight and sound information of a television program (and, by extension, a movie in a theater); i.e., this category of viewers was most likely to act out as a consequence to a violent television program or movie in theater..... My memory is hazy, but I think I'm right about this... I never read anything about what the opposite of a passive viewer was. I'm being serious -- I am not trying to be facetious, here. So I'll ask a question: what is an active television or movie viewer? If you read my pieces at tumblr, I use the English language to convey the act of watching a movie (I haven't written about a teleivision program, yet). So...what is an active television or movie viewer?
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Hey, Jennie! Thank you for the work that you do. The key word for me in your response to my 'ask' is 'interacting.' I'm saving the articles that you offer to me in the links. I have to add that I've been writing about movies and television, starting in my junior year of high school and eventually made it a priority for me in 1978 before I moved to NYC. This question about 'passive' viewing and 'active' viewing was the starting point for something I call an 'experience outline.' Thank you for getting back to me...
Hey there,
This is an interesting topic because I read a research article that analyzed aggression in children when they watch or play violent video games. The results show that there was a difference between boys actively playing violent video games versus those who passively watch violent video games but the results were not significant. To learn more about this research, you can read the study called Experimental Study of the Differential Effects of Playing Versus Watching Video Games on Children’s Aggressive Behavior (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18161877/).
A passive viewer is when the individual simply watches what is on their screen. They may simultaneously do their chores, be on their phones, etc. On the other hand, an active viewer is paying full attention to what’s in front of them and is interacting with it. This means that the viewer could be watching a game show and following along, trying to guess the questions, etc. There’s typically a correlation between those who are actively watching a violent television program to have violent tendencies rather than someone who is passively watching.
Here are some additional resources that can help or interest you:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001872678904201001
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/socioemotional-success/201910/learning-passive-versus-active-pretense
Hope this helps,
Jennie
Hi, @Drew Simels ! This is Jude. Thank you for submitting such an intriguing question. One of our team members, Jennie, will be getting back to you shortly.