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The Disturbing Role of Television in Accidents and Deaths Involving Children
Imagine being a mother or a father standing in the kitchen doing dishes when out of nowhere a familiar scream hits your ears. The first thing you do is ask yourself “Where are my kids?” The phone rings and your next-door neighbor informs you that he/she has called 911 and you should come right away. You slam down the phone and in a panic you run down your walk across the street, arriving just as the ambulance backs into the drive. Next thing you know your 11-year-old son Billy, broken and bleeding, is being sped to the hospital. Far-fetched, as this story may seem it is happening more and more everyday. Billy got hurt because he and his friends were re-enacting a move they had seen on WWF the night before.
Does television really influence good kids to do bad things? The answer is yes depending on the type of program and its content. At a young age children absorb everything they see and hear including things that adults see as minor, or non-influential. Television can do several things, create ideas in a child’s mind, pacify physical energy that could be used productively, tell children that unacceptable behavior is ok, and that humans are invincible. All of these ideas are false and can lead to destructive behavior and circumstances, and in some cases death.
“The statistical correlation between childhood exposure to violence in media and aggressive behavior is about the same as that between smoking and lung cancer” (Atkinson, Michael. 59) (put a period after the parenthetical citation, and only include the author’s last name and page number in parentheses) We all know that for anyone who smokes a great deal lung cancer is almost inevitable, this causes great concern because most children spend much of their spare time in front of the television or playing video games. (make more explicit the connection between the effects of smoking and the effects of watching too much TV) Many childhood accidents related to television are in the form of copycat crimes says Michael Atkinson in his article “The movies made me do it”, “Copycat crimes have attained front-burner notoriety, and some day soon Hollywood’s liberty will be pitted against the perceived welfare of American children” (58). Many children’s cartoons such as “X Men” and “PokeMon” tend to be very violent and anger oriented, (semicolon) therefore when children copycat what they see often times they end up hurting themselves or someone else, possibly even causing death.
The film focuses on one orca, commonly referred to as a killer whale, in particular by the name of Tilikum. The documentary begins as a group of contract fishermen hunt a family of killer whales off the coast of Iceland. The hunters are attempting to capture the whales so that they can be put on display for entertainment purposes at various aquatic parks around the world. They succeed in catching Tilikum, a large male orca, along with two other females, and almost immediately, an important question is raised in the viewer’s mind: What gives humanity the right to incarcerate and separate these animals from their natural environment and their families? As the documentary progresses, Tilikum begins to exhibit frustration and aggressive behavior at the amusement park due to the fact that he is being kept in a small underwater storage container when not on display. Eventually, this treatment leads Tilikum to kill his trainer by dragging her to the bottom of the performance tank and forcing her to drown. At this point, another question is presented: Is Tilikum’s aggressive behavior a product of nature, and the nature of orcas as a species, or is it due to his coerced captivity? Over the course of the documentary, a...
An orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, is currently one of the largest marine animals held in captivity. Countless arguments are being made, supporting and opposing captivity of orcas to be exploited as circus animals in theme parks around the world. Throughout recent history, Sea World trainers have been injured and killed by the orcas and the whales, and the whales themselves have been observed as severely depressed. If Sea World releases the whales, they would undergo an immense economic downfall and the whales would be too weak to survive in the wild if they were freed. Since the first Sea World park opened in San Diego, California in 1964, common questions have arose concerning the well-being of orcas in captivity, the dangers of humans training them, the physical capability of whales theoretically being released, and the psychological differences between whales living in the wild versus whales living in Sea World's confinement.
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary with six major tributaries, the James, the Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Patuxent, the York, and the Rappahannock Rivers, feeding into the bay from various locations in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia (Chemical Contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay – Workshop Discussion 1). These areas depend on the Bay as both an environmental and an economic resource. Throughout the last 15 years the Chesapeake Bay has suffered from elevated levels of pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater treatment plants, farmland, air pollution, and development all lead to reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, which harm fish, crabs, oysters and underwater grasses (Key Commission Issues 1). There are other types of pollution in the bay such as toxic chemicals, but because nutrient pollution is the most significant and most widespread in the Bay its effects are the most harmful to fisheries. Nitrogen and phosphorous fuel algal blooms which cloud the water and block sunlight from reaching underwater grass beds that provide food and habitat for waterfowl, juvenile fish, blue crabs, and other species (Blankenship 11-12). Algae plays a vital role in the food chain by providing food for small fish and oysters. However, when there is an overabundance of algae it dies, sinks to the bottom of the Bay, and decomposes in such a manner that depletes the oxygen levels of the Bay (11). The reduced oxygen levels in the Bay reduce the carrying capacity of the environment and these “dead areas” sometimes kill off species that can not migrate to other areas of the Bay, such as oysters (11). Increased abundance of algal blooms also led to the overabundance of harmful and toxic algae species and microbes such as the microbe Pfiesteria, which was responsible in 1997 for eating fish alive and making dozens of people sick (12). The heightened awareness of diseases that can be contracted through consumption of contaminated fish also has an economic impact. Therefore, the excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorous have fueled an overabundance of algal blooms, which has reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, affecting many species within the bay and ultimately the industries that rely on these species.
The Chesapeake Bay is a large bay that stretches from Maryland to Virginia, fed by many rivers and streams that run from as far north as New York to Virginia and West Virginia.5 It is home to a plethora of plants and fish species, many of which the people of the area fish for food and supplies. The pollution present in the Chesapeake Bay is affecting the livelihood of both the fishermen and the fish – the less the fishermen haul due to the death of the species they catch, the less they get paid – and as consumers of these fish, we are consuming the toxins as well.
Excessive nutrients from agriculture, development, and industry are harming the Chesapeake Bay. These excessive nutrients harm the habitat for many of the bays species. On top of the habitat being depleated, overfishing and diseases are also hurting the bays species. Nutrient loads can be reduced with the help of lawmakers to put a cap on the emissions allowed in the environment. If this is done the dead zone will start to recede, but the time and money need to be spent in order to save the bay.
Many of the Chesapeake Bay’s inhabitants are unaware of the destruction they are triggering. The Chesapeake Bay is a local estuary in the watershed near our home in Loudoun County Virginia. With its monumental size, various problems occurring are anticipated. Pollution is the leading factor in this great body of water’s downfall. Without proper control being taken, this neighboring site of leisure, food resource, and tourist income will suffer and continue to decline. The cleanliness of the Chesapeake Bay is declining over time causing harm to many species that call the Bay their home.
One of the major problems affecting, not only oceans around the world, but also many local bodies of water right now is the problem of ocean acidification. You may have heard of ocean acidification, which you may have just disregarded as a problem that affects the large oceans as a whole. However, this acidification also affects the Chesapeake Bay itself. I have come to realize that the acidification of the Chesapeake is a major problem that will affect the diverse ecosystem that all the wildlife is located in, but also the many businesses locally and throughout the state that depend on the health of the ocean and the wildlife located in the
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay holds eighteen hundred trillion gallons of water and stretches over 200 miles in length between its most northern point, the Susquehanna River to the Bay’s most southern tip, the Atlantic Ocean. Home to more than seventeen million people, the Chesapeake Bay is the primary water source for over 150 rivers and streams. Because of the vast amount of rivers and streams the bay feeds, this watershed impacts the lives of citizens on the eastern shore spanning a total of six U.S. states. The importance of the Chesapeake Bay is incredible; two of the United States’ five major North Atlantic ports – Baltimore and Hampton Roads – are on the Bay. (Chesapeake Bay Program, n/d). The highly productive ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay provides food and shelter for a wide variety of plant and animal life in and surrounding the Bay. The critical natural resources the bay provides stimulates economic growth and has for centuries.
The Chesapeake Bay Program is doing many things to help with prevention of water quality. Extreme amounts of nutrients and sedimentation are entering the water and causing major pollution issues (Chesapeake Bay Program). One of the things they have been focusing on is erosion prevention. “In 2003, Bay Program partners agreed to cap sediment loads coming from watershed sources so that no more than 4.15 million tons of sediment are delivered to the Bay per year by 2010” (Chesapeake Bay Program). According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, “As of 2006, 62 percent of the sediment reduction goal had been achieved” (Chesapeake Bay Program). Another thing they are working on is improving the quality of wastewater treatment. Many wastewater treatment facilities throughout the Chesapeake Bay region are being upgraded with new technology to reduce the amount of nutrients that are being put into the bay (Chesapeake Bay Program).
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
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.
According to experts, children who watch too much TV tend to be less interested in physical activity, often develop verbal skills more slowly and tend to be less confident in social situations.
There are many facts that show how children are affected by television. The most obvious is the effects that television has on the brain. 'Television interferes with the development of intelligence, thinking skill and imagination.';(LimiTv) A huge element of thinking is taking from what you already know and deciding how it applies in different situation. School makes you do this, but television does not. Michael and Sheila Cole, sociologist, say that 'Children socialized to learn from television had lower than normal expectations about the amount of mental effort required to learn from written texts, and tended to read less and perform relatively poorly in school.';(Development of Children 24) Which means that it takes very little effort to follow a television show and kids are raised on television believe that it takes less effort to learn from television rather than books because they have been 'spoon-fed'; information by television. 'Opportunities for a child's imagination to develop are also denied by habitual viewing.'; (Neural Activity and the Growth of the Brain) Children need some unstructured time to allow imagination skills to form by thinking about a book or story, a conversation, or an event.
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).
The first effect of mass media on teenagers is violence. Aggressive behavior is the first example of violence in the media. Aldridge argues that, teens who watch violent movies may behave in an aggressive way towards others for example bullying and fighting in school. This is important because there are high risks of teenage developing into aggressive behavior that may last into adulthood if they are not being supervised on what they see on TV (2010). Fearful of the world may also occur for those who watch violence television programs. According to children and television violence, teens that are being over exposed to violent on television may worry about becoming a target of violence. The relevance of this idea is that teenagers will more likely grow up thinking that the world is a scary place and that something bad will happen to them (2008). Imitative behavior is another major effect of seeing violence in the media. According to Weldon, two teens from Johnstown, Colorado, killed a 7 year old girl by beating her to death. The teens claimed that they were imitating moves from a video game called “Mortal Combat.” This is an example case which shows that violence in the video game may lead to an imitating behavior (2007).