Violence on Televison and its Effect on Children

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“Bang- Bang!! You’re dead,” Charlie says to Andrew as they are watching Cops on the television. “NO! That is not fair, we didn’t get into a fight, and we have to get into a fight before we shot each other!” Andrew announced to Charlie as he starts to stand up! “Well, then steal something and I will come after you just like in the show!” According to one researcher, “Before children reach the age of 18, they spend approximately 22,000 hours watching television, and about 200,000 violent acts” (Gunter 23). Violence can come in many forms, but out of all the violence in the media, the television plays a large role in child development. There is plenty of evidence that the viewing of violent programs on television contributes to aggressive behavior in children.

The words “aggression and violence” are used interchangeably and mean the same thing. Aggression is, “regarded as human behavior which deliberately attempts to cause injury to other people or things that are not one’s one. According to Van der Voort, aggression can be direct or indirect or physical or non-physical (20). There are many definitions which describe aggression and they all focus on the fact that one is doing harm to themselves or to others. “Violence on television may not affect all children the same way, but it has an effect on everyone” (Honig 66). Children will respond to violence in any situation, it is how much they respond to that is important. In the magazine Young Children, a researcher named Gouze reports that child fell into “high or low aggressive groups,” depending on their ideas of how they would solve the problem socially with other (68). Aggression/violence is present in the world. Violence on television influences childr...

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...of horrible act when in a bad situation!” Andrew’s mom announced after she saw what they playing. “OK fine, but I get to pick out what book to read” “NO I get to pick it out” “No I do!” Charlie and Andrew from there after, never played Cops again, instead they read a book or played with Andrew’s little sister Amber. The negative effects of violence on television influence the way children act in a social environment. If parents knew exactly how the television influences their loved ones, maybe they would take more of an effort to try to stop this aggressive behavior before it starts. Violence comes in many forms that almost every child will either possess or witness. Violence in children is inevitable; in some sort of instance aggression will be apart of a child’s life. Dealing with violence and aggression is the most important objective in child development.

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