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I went to pick up my daughter from preschool today only to find out that she punched a little girl. She also kicked the teacher. I sat down with her and asked her why she hurt them. She said, "I didn't hurt them I was using my powers." I wondered where she might be getting the idea that she had powers, and that it didn't hurt anyone when she used those powers. I thought back to the last few nights. The only different thing in her life was the new show Power Puff Girls. It was then I realized that this new cartoon show she had been watching at home just might be the cause.
Children learn behavior through examples. Television is a major influence. One area of concern is the violent content in children's television and their access to other inappropriate programming. The government has the ability to rule and regulate stations both nationally and locally. Exposure to violence on television can affect the way children behave toward their environment. This creates an additional responsibility for parents and teachers to not only protect children from violence but to also teach children to resist violence. Because of the negative influence of violent television programming for children, and their easy access to other violent programs; the government, teachers, and parents need to educate and protect children against violence.
Thanks to technology, we have many more opportunities available to us. This expands the world of education to many who would otherwise not have it. However, this advance of technology has also allowed our children to be exposed to inappropriate programming on television. The violent content is not only on regular programs that children are allowed to view, but it is also a main theme in shows geared to young children, especially in cartoons. I asked Jean Cobb, a Child Care Provider at The Children's Center, "What type of programming has the most violent influence and why?" She said, "Cartoons have always been around but the violence hasn't been brought to our attention until recently. There aren't many cartoons that don't have violence."
Children learn a lot of their behavior through the examples set on television. These behaviors appear while interacting with other children. I have observed children fight, hit, bite, spit and use many mean words to other children. The same behavior is commonplace on children's programming. This can...
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...side affects of the violent behavior. Parents must be wary of the programming that children are viewing. In combining our efforts government, teachers, and parents can teach children to act and react appropriately and responsibly. Cobb said, "I think everyone in their daily lives and all of society have stressful times. Adults need to learn to handle their emotions so that we can be role models for the children. We need peers to use as a sounding board to keep our frustrations in tact." In order to teach, we need to be teachable. In order to protect, we need to be informed of dangers. Protecting, educating, and teaching resistance to violence are some ways to help improve children's behavior.
Works Cited
"Child and Family Canada" Television Violence: A Review of the Effects on Children of Different Ages http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/00001068.htm
Cobb, Jean. Child Care Provider USI. Personal Interview. 17 Nov. 2011.
"Factsheet" Chronology of Main Events & Initiatives Undertaken Related To The Issue Of Television Violence 2010 http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/tvle.htm
"A Family Guide to TV Ratings" A Family Guide to TV Ratings http://www.ncta.com/guidelines.html
Hepburn, Mary A. "TV Violence! A Medium’s Effects Under Scrutiny." Social Education. Sept 1997: pp244-249. SIRS Researcher. Available <http://researcher.sirs.com/>
For a long time now the debate has been, and continues to be, as to whether or not violence on television makes children more violent. As with all contentious issues there are both proponents and detractors. This argument has been resurrected in the wake of school shootings, most notably Columbine and Erfurt, Germany; and acts of random violence by teenagers, the murders of two Dartmouth professors. Parents, teachers, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and FCC Chairmen William Kennard and former Vice President Al Gore say violent TV programming contribute in large part to in violence in young people today. However, broadcasters and major cable TV providers like Cox Communication say that it is the parent’s fault for not making it clear to their kids as what they may or may not watch on TV. The major TV networks and cable providers also state it is the TV industry’s fault as well for not regulating what is shown on TV. So who is the guilty party in this argument of whether or not TV violence influences of the behavior young people in today’s society?
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.
Television with its far reaching influence spreads across the globe. Its most important role is that of reporting the news and maintaining communication between people around the world. Television's most influential, yet most serious aspect is its shows for entertainment. Violent children's shows like Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and adult shows like NYPD Blue and Homicide almost always fail to show human beings being able to resolve their differences in a non-violent manner; instead they show a reckless attitude that promotes violent action first with reflection on the consequences later. Contemporary television creates a seemingly insatiable appetite for amusement of all kinds without regard for social or moral benefits (Schultze 41). Findings over the past twenty years by three Surgeon Generals, the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence, the American Medical Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other medical authorities indicate that televised violence is harmful to all of us, but particularly to the mental health of children (Medved 70-71).
The government should not control the content of television shows and limit the amount of weekly violence shown. The responsibility of controlling the viewing of television shows expressing acts of violence should specifically be in the hands of parents. Parents are becoming too reliant upon governmental provisions with respect to raising their children and television violence is becoming an excuse for criminal acts. Children, especially younger children, are impressionable, but with proper guidance from a parental source in regards to television viewing, kids are not likely to act out violent television images.
American Psychological Association. "Violence on Television. What Do Children Learn? What Can Parents Do?" APA Online. www.apa.org/publicinfo/violence.html. Accessed October 23, 2001.
Most American's would agree that children watch a lot of TV. It's common to see a child sitting in front of the TV on a Saturday morning with their Coco Pebbles watching their favorite superhero. This sounds harmless enough. However, many parents and teachers across the country are worried about the cartoons their children are watching. They feel that the cartoons have become too violent and are having negative long-term effects on children. It is common to see young boys pretending to shoot one another, while jumping on the couch and hiding in closets as a sort of make-believe fort. But parents say that children are learning these behaviors from cartoons and imitating them. Others however, disagree, they say that violence in cartoons does not effect children and that children need this world of fantasy in their lives. They say that children would show these same behaviors regardless of the content of the cartoons they watch.
(Violence in television programs and movies and its impact on children and families is not a new topic. Almost 30 years ago the U.S. Surgeon General warned Americans about the negative effect of television have on the emotions and behaviours of children.)
Society has been bombarded with violence from the beginning of time. These concerns about violence in the media have been around way before television was even introduced. Nevertheless, there have been numerous studies, research, and conferences done over the years on television, but the issue still remains. Researchers do acknowledge that violence portrayed on television is a potential danger. One issue is clear though, our focus on television violence should not take attention away from other significant causes of violence in our country such as: drugs, inadequate parenting, availability of weapons, unemployment, etc. It is hard to report on how violent television effects society, since television affects different people in different ways. There is a significant problem with violence on television that we as a society are going to have to acknowledge and face.
“In the school I went to, they asked a kid to prove the law of gravity and he threw the teacher out of the window" says Rodney Dangerfield who was an American comedian and an actor. The quote shows the metaphorical side of a violence which kids have been through because they usually watch cartoons and basically most of the cartoons include violence. According to Clark’s article, especially kids’ programs comprise violence more than general programs (“Cartoon violence 'makes children more aggressive '”). So, should parents worry? What is the role of TV executes? Nowadays, these questions are very common because they are related to kids and they are precious. Brain development is significant for kids because their brains are open
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=true&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010377253&mode=view>. Freedman, Jonathan. The. "Television Violence Does Not Contribute to Aggressive Behavior in Young People." April 2007.
Kalin, Carla. Television, Violence, and Children. Media Literacy Review. University of Oregon College of Education, 10 May 2003. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
depict a fantasy world are a lot more interesting to watch. People don't want to
By the time a child reaches the age of one, they see about 200,000 acts of violence on television. (Nakaya, 3). The Media has been becoming more and more violent over the years. A poll in an issue of Times Magazine, from 2005, showed that 66 percent of Americans think that there is an abundant amount of graphic acts of violence on televisions (Nakaya, 18). People are exposed to thousands of acts of violence through video games, television, and movies. Many studies show that media violence increases violent behavior in in humans. Studies show, violent video games, and graphic television have physiological effects on children. The government has very few regulations on media violence. Some people believe the government shouldn’t limit content because others might be insulted by its material. Media violence is such a broad topic and has such a large presence in daily lives, so we cannot simple get rid of it. The Federal Communications Commission stipulates, “By the time most children begin the third grade, they will have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a television set.” Even though the government shouldn’t censor the media, Media violence is becoming a serious issue because it is becoming more violent, it makes people behave violently, and it has little regulations.
Furthermore, television violence causes aggressive behavior in children. Many people believe that children who watch violent television programs exhibit more aggressive behavior than that exhibited by children who do not (Kinnear 23). According to the results of many studies and reports, violence on television can lead to aggressive behavior in children (Langone 50). Also, when television was introduced into a community of children for the first time, researchers observed a rise in the level of physical and verbal aggression among these children (Langone 51). The more television violence viewed by a child, the more aggressive the child is (“Children” 1).