Media Panic

A moral panic is a fear spreading across many people of some sort of evil threatening society. Since the media began broadcasting and becoming more popular, society began to blame it for the amount of time kids were watching TV. Many were concerned if their studies would be affected by it and others began blaming it for the changes in childhood and social problems. Society blames other sources about the problems happening around us, we always try to find the blame for everything without actually assessing the real problem. No one likes being wrong or taking the blame, this is why moral panics exist and affect so many individuals throughout society. As a matter of fact, the crisis that's mostly affecting American children is poverty.

As discussed in class, The "MOMO CHALLENGE" became a moral panic because so many parents were scared that their kids would be harmed. No kid was hurt by MOMO, but the same parents would transfer the fear to them and make them feel unsafe of their surroundings. Dungeons and Dragons is another great example, so many were playing this game that society started to associate it with the violence occurring around them. The game was being blamed for the violent acts of teenagers, who's acts were not related to the game at all. This are some examples of how media panic has affected society in more recent times, and they'll probably not be the last.