Negative Effects of Television on Children

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Television is a big part of today’s society. Everybody watches television, including the children. There is a potential problem with letting children watch television. Ask this question, would someone let their own child watch some of the programming that they watch, too? Some of these programs are intended for the adult generation, not young children. Violence has a major role in television these days. Letting children watch this violence could corrupt their minds and eventually lead to bad behavior. There needs to be a limitation on the types of television programming that parents let their children watch, because violence in television can negatively affect children.

Throughout the years, violence has become more common in television shows over the years. Today’s television programming, found also in cartoons, portrays quite a bit of violence. Cartoons, such as Loony Toons, show violence in a comical stance and the violence is rather easygoing. Adult programming, such as Family Guy and The Simpsons, represent violence in an adult manner that is not suitable for children. According to Norman Herr (2007), children view 200,000 acts of violence by the age of 18 (Herr, 2007). This from the same resource shows that children watch television about 1500 hours per year (Herr, 2007). Children today watch many hours of television a day, and most shows have some type of violence.

Parents that allow their children to watch programs with a stronger violence may not be aware of the impact that these kinds of television shows may have on children. Parents should be more aware of these television shows and limit the viewing from the children. Children and adolescents that have watched television shows containing violence are more likely to ...

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Herr, N. (2007). Television & Health . Retrieved from California State Univeristy, Northridge: http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html

Kid, R. S. (2011, January 15). The Good and Bad Effects of TV on Your Kid. Retrieved from http://www.raisesmartkid.com/all-ages/1-articles/13-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-tv-on-your-kid

Strasburger, V., Jordan, A., & Donnerstein, E. (2010, April). Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolscents. Pediatrics, 125(4), p. 756. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=2009781891&sid=6&Fmt=2&clientId=74379&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Wilson, B. J. (2008). Media and Children's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism. Children and Electronic Media, 18(1). Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=32&articleid=58§ionid=271&submit

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