Children are vulnerable and easily swayed by everything around them. Parents try to do everything in their power to protect their children from unhealthy environments. They child-proof everything, but they don’t realize that thousands of strangers enter the home everyday...through the television. Television is in 98% of North American homes and the average Canadian child watches four hours of television every day. Most parents do not realize that their children are watching violence-ridden television programs and that by the age of 18 the average North American child will have viewed over 200,000 acts of television violence. Children should not be allowed to watch violent television programs because children are easily desensitized to violence, they are unable to distinguish reality and fantasy and they copy what they see on television.
Children are very impressionable and are easily desensitized to the violence they see on television. Research has shown that young children are aroused by aggressive scenes on television and show higher levels of emotion when watching aggressive programs than when watching passive programs. The arousal diminishes with repeated exposure to television and the violence no longer affects children. When people are no longer aroused by violence they become less responsive to human suffering and may not be as quick to help or may not intervene during an emergency. When there is a problem, arousal levels are high and quick action is taken but when arousal levels do no increase then people are not as concerned about the problem and may not jump in to solve it. Because society is becoming more aggressive, there will be more violent sociatal situations and if people do not take swift action and help because they are desenstiaed to the violence, many lives could be lost.
Young children have trouble distinguishing between reality and fantasy. They cannot make objective evaluations, cannot form logical conclusions and cannot sort out relevant data about the things they see on television. They don’t understand the difference between what is possible and what is actually probable. If a young child see someone on TV jumping off a mountain and landing on their feet, they believe that it is real becausw they saw it happen with their own eyes and do not have the capacity to believe otherwise. Children do not develop the capacity to dis...
... middle of paper ...
...eir children are watching in addition to the type of programs. In the formative years, they should also explain to their children the difference between "pretend" and "reality." For example, if the child sees someone getting shot on a TV program, the parent should point out that these are just actors pretending to get shot with a pretend gun. Frank discussions about the repercussions of real violence should also be discussed, with the focus on "right" and "wrong" behavior. This will help develop a sense of morality within the child which will allow him or her to make more informed decisions. The hue and cry about reducing the amount of violence on TV has had little affect on programmers or producers. The best defense parents can mount against the cumulative affects of television violence is to clearly explain to their children what is acceptable behavior. If parents explain their expectations to their children, they will be better able to formulate their own opinion regarding violence within a strong moral framework rather than within a blurred and confused sense of television reality which glorifies violence and makes is seen acceptable.
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?
Children have an easy access to violence on television from violent programs through movie channels. The public’s concern has been reflected in congressional hearings and massive studies on the effect of TV violence, especially on children. Dr. James C. Dobson from the Focus on the Family Newsletter says:
Drive-by shootings and school massacres are just two of the many violent past-times of today’s youth. Is television a contributor to this insidious erosion of children's respect for life? Much research that has been done in an attempt to answer this question. The majority of the findings are very similar in content, and the results are grim. Television violence has been shown to cause four major changes in children's behavior: "Increasing aggressiveness and anti-social behavior, increasing their fear of becoming victims, making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence, and increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life." (AAP Committee) Television is causing a change in America's children, and it is not a change for the better.
Violence and explicit themes on television have been a main benefactor in behavioral problems in children, causing educational issues as well. Studies have shown that “excessive TV viewing can lead to poor grades in school” (Boyse Online). TV has even been shown to affect the mood of the child, usually “TV doesn’t improve their disposition. They’re grouchy and irritable right after they watch” (Winn 19). When violence is included in speech or an action a child’s favorite show or movie it wouldn’t be uncommon if that youth would try to imitate it. “Many shows glamorize violence. TV often promotes violent acts as a fun and effective way to get what you want, without consequences, Even in G rated movies violence is common” (Boyse Online). As children are growing it’s important what parents put in the stomach’s of their child so it’s also important what being fed to their brain. This makes them vulnerable and susce...
Everyone’s seen the classic cartoons. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around a bend, only the Roadrunner turns, but our comedic--and usually stupid--villain doesn’t. So, he falls from a height of what looks like about 500,000 feet, only to become a small puff of smoke at the bottom of the canyon. After all, if what happens to you when you fall from that height were to have happened to Mr. Coyote, that would have been a very short lived cartoon series. Maybe this example is an exaggeration, but the idea is the same: violence comes streaming into our homes every single day through our TVs not to be viewed, but to be devoured. It’s been proven that sex and violence sell. For those of us who can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, the effect of TV violence is miniscule. But for our children--who think when the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers come to the local shopping mall, that it’s the biggest event since Bert told Ernie he snores too loud--the violence seen on TV seems like a logical reaction to life’s problems. And that’s a problem within itself. The impact of televised violence on children is only a slice of the pie that is the problem with the endless stream of violent acts on TV.
Studies reveal that children watch approximately twenty-eight hours of television a week, more time than they spend in school. The typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including more than 16,000 murders before age 18. Television programs display 812 violent acts
Children are like sponges they repeat and act of everything they see. Especially if they see it every day in their lives. Studies have shown over sixty percent of television shows being shown contain some form of violence. Sadly the media who markets these shows don’t see the problem that they are causing in today’s society. The media corrupts these innocent lives, and leads them to make hasty decisions that end up hurting themselves and others. Not knowing what they’re doing. For example the television shows Ridiculousness and Jackass. Although, they have a parental control censorship, a parent won’t always be around to see what their children are watching. These shows are so violent and children often follow what they do. There are people working hard to fight this though. For example on Xfinity on demand they have a parental control button where you can lock everything with violence and to control what your child watches. This is a big step and shows that there is some positivity in this massive
Television violence linked to bad behavior in young children has been going on for years. Some claim that parents are using it as an excuse to blame the media and I agree in some cases that is true but not in all cases. We cannot ignore the fact that television does feature a lot of violence and aggressive behavior and in young fresh minds these type of behaviors stick. Children begin mimicking behaviors as soon as they are born and as they get older they continue to do so. A two year old learning how to speak hears a curse word and repeats it, sure they don’t know or understand what it means but just because they don’t understand the meaning of the word doesn’t take away the fact that it is a bad word and should not be coming out of a young child’s mouth. The same ...
Violence is on the news and on everyday action shows. Theses everyday shows are targeted for the kids of the world who are in the stages which are important for their lives. At this point in their lives the kids can make life changing decisions the violence on TV has some effects on that decision. One might watch a scene from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” which may show them betting up a bad guy for trying to hurt someone. “The consequences of killing, especially by the "good guys," are seldom shown.” It doesn’t show the turtles getting in trouble for hurting someone it shows them as being the good guys. In real life you won’t be going around betting people up with out getting into trouble as well. It’s not like the kids won’t see so act of violence on TV for there is 50-60 times more violent commercial TV for the children then for the adult’s prime-time programs. Do you try to stop that by putting up parental controls on your TV? If you do that you have the protection on your TV but what about the TVs at their friend’s houses?
television has gradually become the most influential media in the development of different patterns of behavior of the viewers, children and adolescents worldwide have grown together with the evolution of the television market. Various studies indicate that the relationship between television and behavior exists, but it has been difficult to identify any causal link. the effects are many and mostly negative. Much of the research has been conducted to test the relationship between television and aggressive behavior, because in some studies on social learning summits conducted by Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963) found that when children were exposed to aggressive models, imitate this kind of behavior in later game situations, especially when involving toys similar to those that were in the televised scenes. Most agree that further research there is a high correlation between exposure to the environment and the aggressive and violent behavior, so does the acceptance of violence of others (Bandura, 2002). Laboratory studies also indicate that when children are exposed to violent programs later act more aggressively (Paik & Comstock, 1994), it raises blood pressure (Huesmann et al., 1994) and fight more with playmates . In this direction, a study by Boyatzis and Matilla (1995) focused on the effects of a popul...
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.
As early as 1958 investigations were being conducted of the effects of television on children. During this time, the researchers found that most of the television content was extremely violent. In almost half of the television hours monitored, the programs main focus contained violence. The common theme that was seen throughout the programs were crime, shooting, fighting, and murder. The universal definition of violence used was, "Any overt depiction of the use of physical force, or the credible threat of such force, to intend to physically harm an animated being or group of beings." In this investigation, Wilbur Schramm concluded that under some conditions, some violent television could effect some children. For the most part, most television is neither helpful or harmful to most kids under most circumstances. As you can see this conclusion is quiet vague, and does not give a lot of crucial information for us to correct and improve. Schramm and his colleagues came up with a solution for parents to provide a warm, loving, secure family environment for their children, and they would have little to worry about.
Television violence causes destructive behavior in children, however; television can be a powerful influence to young viewers in our society. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming are very violent. Many researchers like scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries have studied to find out what it is about television violence that makes it such a big affect on the way kids act and behave. Sometimes, children think that is a normal thing in our real life, by watching only a single violent program, which can increase aggressiveness on children and become violent, aggressive, and vicious.
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.
One of the culprits of criminal behavior is T.V. violence. Violent programs may have a negative influence on those individuals who are already violence-prone, or children who are living through vulnerable periods of their development. Adult violent offenders tend to have shown certain personality features as children, "one being they tended to have viewed violence on television" (Congressional Digest). Furthermore, the amounts of violence on television continues to grow. A typical child watched eight thousand murders and one hundred thousand acts of violence before finishing elementary school. When displayed this often, how can people not become desensitized to criminal acts? By allowing this type of material to be openly exposed to the public we are endangering safety and society's values. Without control of what material is delivered to the masses, we cannot expect people to have a proper sense of right and wrong as they will constantly see the horrific things that happen in the false reality of the media and become immune to feelings of disgust toward such atrocious deeds. Controlling what is viewed on television is the responsibility of the government in order to decrease violence in the real world.