The effects of submission and exposure to real-world and virtual violence during childhood and adolescence

OBJECTIVE: This text proposes a discussion and analysis of the effects of exposure to real-world and virtual violence in childhood and adolescence, and its repercussions on development. DATA SOURCES: literature review on the topic of children's and adolescents' exposure to real-world and virtual violence, and observations from case studies of children and adolescents who were victims of serious and very serious violence, assisted by the DEDICA Program - Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Curitiba in the first semester of 2025. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: It is observed that a significant number of children and adolescents, regardless of their origins, ethnicities, beliefs, cultures, and the sociocultural condition of their guardians, are being exposed to various forms of violence, whether intrafamilial, domestic, institutional, or from their surroundings, through what they observe, witness, and experience in the real or virtual world. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that exposure to situations of violence through direct aggression, witnessing, cohabitation, and/or participation can promote desensitization and the normalization of causing harm to others. Without protection or contestation of violent acts, whatever their source, those who are learning their own value and the value of others, and how to fight for life, come to accept them as an inevitable part of life, either suffering them or perpetrating them. The need for pediatric consultations to include guidance for caregivers and patients on preventing exposure to any form of violence, as well as the adoption of protective measures, including legal ones, against the harm to which they may be subjected, is evident.