Television Violence Negatively Impacts Children

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Littleton, Colorado; Springfield, Oregon; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Pearl, Mississippi. These previously unknown suburban cities will forever be branded into our minds. These cities are linked by one devastating factor: young students firing upon fellow students and educators. What causes these young people to "snap" causing the violent shooting sprees? Although the events are too recent to fully understand their causes, we can try to understand what led to the disastrous situations.

The impact of television violence on youth behavior has been an issue for many years. Television stations and their executives tend to deny television's contribution to youth violence. In the following paragraphs, I will use various examples to demonstrate the impact television has had on youth violence. This will be accomplished by: discussing the problems associated with television viewing, identifying violence on television, portraying the effects of television violence on younger people, and revealing ways to reduce violence on television. This paper explores these topics by using multiple statistics, by incorporating the views of several public officials and authors, and through my own views as well.

In 1939, at the World's Fair, television first came into our lives. In 1938, author E. B. White told Harpers Magazine: "I believe that television is going to be the test of the modern world, and in this new opportunity to see beyond the range of our own vision, we shall discover either a new and unbearable disturbance of the general peace or a saving radiance in the sky. We shall stand or fall by television, of that I am sure." ( Murray, 1) E. B. White foresaw the problems associated with television when TV first arrived, but I do not ...

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...ww.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/violence.htm

DeMoss, Jr. Robert G. Learn to Discern. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.

Goodwin, William. Teen Violence San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1998.

Gore, Tipper. Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society: What Parents can do to Protect Their Children From Sex and Violence in the Media. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1987.

Landau, Elaine. Teenage Violence. Englewood Cliffs, CO: Julian Messner, 1990.

Margolis, Jeffrey A. Teen Crime Wave: A Growing Problem. Issues In Focus Series. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1997

Miller, Maryann. Coping With Weapons and Violence in Your Schools and on Your Streets. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 1993.

Murray, John P. Children and Television Violence. Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy, 1993. Volume 4, Number 3, pp 7-14

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