Kate Moody, author of Growing Up On Television: The TV Effect, explains that a nine-year-old’s effort to slip his teacher a box of poisoned chocolates, a seven-year-old’s use of ground glass in the family stew, a seventeen-year-old’s re-enactment of a televised rape and murder by bludgeoning the victim’s head and slashing her throat, and a fifteen-year-old’s real-life rerun of a rape with a broomstick televised in the movie Born Innocent are all examples of crimes copied from TV (86). Many children are introduced to the world of television before they enter school and grow up committing crimes because they were under the influence of television. In Mary L. Gavin’s article, “How TV Affects Your Child,” found on KidsHealth.org, which is the most visited website for information about health, behavior, and development from before birth through the teen years, Mary reported that two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch television an average of two hours a day, kids under the age of six watch an average of about two hours of television a day, and children between the ages of eight and eighteen years old spend nearly four hours a day in front of a television screen (Gavin). The article found on the Media Awareness Network website, “Television’s Impact on Kids,” reports that television is one of the most prevalent media influences in kids’ lives (Media Awareness Network). Lately, reality shows like Bad Girls’ Club and Jersey Shore are being aired because they are full of drama that catches the viewers’ attention. Children are more receptive of what they see on TV than adults are and are more likely to mimic those actions. The negative influence of television causes children to absorb and retaliate what they see on TV, which in part cause...
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...use. And often, there's no discussion about the consequences of drinking alcohol, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes, and having premarital sex (Gavin). Children who view TV become involved in three processes: (1) they are exposed to new behaviors and characters, (2) they learn to do or acquire those behaviors, and (3) they eventually accept them as their own (Moody 86-87). Children are attracted to violence, and violence on TV is portrayed as tolerable. As a result, kids show aggressive behavior and learn to handle their problems with violence, which leads to an increase in crime. Also, children that watch shows that contain sexual content are more likely to become involved in sexual activities. Children assimilate everything they see on TV, and they assume behaviors like violence and sex are appropriate, which guides them to actually undertake in such activities.
During the first two years of an infant’s life, their sensorimotor attributes are significant in cognitive developments (Berk, 2011). While still adapting to the world itself, the exposure of television might be too difficult for babies to digest all at once as each scene goes from five to eight seconds (Pantley, 2004). Ironically, it was noted that in the United States, approximately 74 percent of children under the age of twenty four months watch television (Rideout, Vandewater, & Wartella, 2003). Many of the learning programs available to the youth, such as Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues are intended for children between the ages of two and six, coincidentally the same age frame of the preoperational stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. This stage emphasizes the use of symbols to represent their earlier sensorimotor skills, which is why nonverbal communication is critical and consistently used in these learning television programs (Berk, 2011).
... much while watching television. It’s important for children to play, read, do homework and talk to other children and adults for healthy development. Most parents believe children are imitators and those who watch violent shows are more likely to display aggressive behavior and violence in the media, television programming, video games and movies are a growing concern.
It seems like everywhere we as a society look today, violence rears its repulsive head. We see violence in the streets, back alleys, and even our schools. Violence can now be seen in many people's living rooms while they are sitting down watching television. Children and teenagers seem to be the most effected by violence on television.
When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.
In “Television Harms Children”, Ann Vorisek White claims that the intellectual and cognitive development of children who frequently watch television is threatened. To support this claim, she points to the findings that “the more television children watch, the weaker their language skills and imaginations” (White, 2006). Before the brain fully matures around age 12, it is in the stage of rapid development. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “recommends that children under the age of two not watch TV or videos, and that older children watch only one to two hours per day of nonviolent, educational TV” (White, 2006). A study from the AAP (as cited in White, 2006) found that the average American child watches four hours of television every day. Considering "expression and reasoning are not automatic" abilities, young children who routinely watch television eventually become "passive and nonverbal" to stimuli in their environment (White, 2006). Since the normality of curiosity and imaginations of young children are the foundation of how they learn, remaining passive for extended periods of time affects their intellectual and moral development.
... for children. Children are exposed to 20,000 advertisements a year. The average child watches 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. By the time children graduate from high school, those numbers more than doubles. Furthermore, television is shown to influence attitudes about race and gender. Pro-social and anti-social behaviors are influenced by television.
According to the article, Violence in the Media, written by the APA, it provides information on how ferocious television episodes can affect a child’s senses, feelings, and attitude. To be more specific, it can make them become numb, frightened, and more pugnacious due to the amount of violent TV they watch. Furthermore, according to the same article, the APA also wrote, “By observing these participants into adulthood, Huesmann and Eron found that the ones who'd watched a lot of TV violence when they were 8 years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.” Psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann and Leonard Eron held a study that concluded that the result of watching violent television can lead to jail and criminal actions. This will also cause a child to become more aggressive and therefore will become a nefarious person. All in all, the American Psychological Association decided that violent television can shape a child’s disposition. In fact, it can also encourage a child to execute bad deeds and crimes when they become
Without a doubt, television is the central and principal form of communication in many people’s lives. This form is most often exposed to a child who instantly becomes accustomed to its presence. Children are televisions largest audience, as Morris shows, “Children aged two to five look at the TV tube on an average of 28.4 hours a week; those between the ages of six and eleven average 23.6 hours a week”. Television has played an important role in many children’s lives and its viewing has been a favorite activity for many of them. The effects of television on children have been disputed. Some people have said that viewing time has a negative impact on children. Other people, however, feel that the early educational television productions for children help tehm learn.
In a book about child psychology titled Infants, Children, and Adolescents, fifth edition, written by Laura E. Berk, several strategies are stated to regulate children’s television viewing and computer use that would fair beneficial in turning children away from committing violent acts depicted by the media. They are limit television viewing and computer use, refrain from using television or computer time to reward or punish children, encourage child-appropriate television and computer experiences, view television with children, helping them understand what they see, link televised content to everyday learning experiences, model good television and computer practices, and use a warm, rational approach to child rearing. These approaches should help children be able to understand the differences between what is right and wrong in regards to what they are viewing.
Our generation has been raised in a technological advanced world and there has been definite controversy over many of these innovations that this new culture has brought. An innovation that has troubled the youth of America for many years is television. Although there is no certainty to eliminate this 'plug-in drug,'; there are many ways to control and monitor your television as a parent.
As early as 1958 investigations were being conducted of the effects of television on children. During this time, the researchers found that most of the television content was extremely violent. In almost half of the television hours monitored, the programs main focus contained violence. The common theme that was seen throughout the programs were crime, shooting, fighting, and murder. The universal definition of violence used was, "Any overt depiction of the use of physical force, or the credible threat of such force, to intend to physically harm an animated being or group of beings." In this investigation, Wilbur Schramm concluded that under some conditions, some violent television could effect some children. For the most part, most television is neither helpful or harmful to most kids under most circumstances. As you can see this conclusion is quiet vague, and does not give a lot of crucial information for us to correct and improve. Schramm and his colleagues came up with a solution for parents to provide a warm, loving, secure family environment for their children, and they would have little to worry about.
Summary #1 Television violence, and media violence in general, has been a controversial topic for several years. The argument is whether young children are brainwashed into committing violent real-world crimes because of violent and pugnacious behavior exposed in mass media. In his article “No Real Evidence for TV Violence Causing Real Violence”, Jonathan Freedman, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and author of “Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence”, discusses how television violence, claimed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), does not cause real-world aggression among adolescents. The FCC determined to restrict violent television programming to late night hours only because their “scientific research” proves of increasing aggression among young viewers (Freedman Par. 2).
A widely accepted cause of the murders committed by children is violence in the media. The parents of three students killed at a high school in Padukah, Kentucky filed a $130 million lawsuit against the entertainment industry because they believe that violence in the media inspired the boy, Michael Carneal, who killed their children ("Media"). To some extent, these parents are correct in their assumption. On average, children watch television 16 to 17 hours per week, beginning as early as age 2 (Strasburger 129). Furthermore, when video games are added, some teenagers may spend as many as 35 to 55 hours per week in front of the television set (Straburger 129). Within these many hours of television viewing, there are many violent scenes. The National Television Viole...
Television violence is also a cause of both violent and aggressive behavior in teenage boys. According to the evidence in a study done by Turner, Hesse, and Peterson-Lewis, it was concluded that watching television violence had a long-term increase in aggression in boys (Hough 1). In addition to this study, Dr. William A. Belson evaluated fifteen hundred boys, aged thirteen to sixteen years, and he determined that boys with heavy television exposure are more likely to commit violent acts than other boys (Langone 51). In Belson’s study, he discovered that the effect of each violent act on television was collective, and over time, Belson discovered that the boys engaged in many aggressive acts, including painting graffiti, breaking windows, aggressive play, swearing, and threatening other boys with violence (Kinnear 26).
The Effects of Television Violence on Children's Behavior. Television violence causes destructive behavior in children, however television can be a powerful influence on young viewers in our society. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is very violent. Many researchers, like scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries, have studied to find out what it is about television violence that makes it such a big affect on the way kids act and behave.