Media Violence and Effects on the American Family Essay

Television is the mainstream of our culture. Violence on television has been a topic of conflict since before 1950. There have been repeated debates on how to protect children from the harmful effects of violence on television. Television is one form of modern media that influences the everyday lives of people. Televised violence has a major effect on how children perceive the world and how they behave. "American television has become the most violent in the world. It is for this reason why researchers have focused their attention toward television violence" (Cantor & Hoffner 424-4-25). Children enjoy watching television and now with the increased technology of cable and movie

The portrayal of violence on television is shown in cartoons, comedies, horrors, dramas, and many other genre television shows. Some cartoons as well as other television shows, endlessly display violence--that youth often view as a form of entertainment. However, the actions and behavior conveyed on the television do not make youth commit violent acts. It induces them to believe that violence is just the standard way of living life. On the television, the lawbreaker gets away with the crime and does not face disciplinary actions, and therefore they are not held responsible for the repercussions of their wrongdoings (Menhard 11).

In the United States children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily (Cantor & Wilson, 1984, p. 28). Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become insensitive to violence. Consequently, they tend to gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems by imitating the violence they observe on television; and they identify with certain characters, good or bad. Therefore, extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater

(1).The problem is that in the last four decades, the government and the public health amassed an impressive body of evidence identifying the impact of media violence on children. Since 1969, when President [Lyndon] Johnson formed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the body of data has effectively grown and grown and it leads to an unambiguous and virtually unanimous conclusion: media violence contributes to

Over the past two decades, hundreds of studies have examined how violent programming on TV affects children and young people. While a direct "cause and effect" link is difficult to establish, there is a growing consensus that some children may be vulnerable to violent images and messages.

The article “Violence As Fun” by Randall Sullivan brings up this issue, arguing that parents need to be educated on the dangers of allowing their children to watch violent TV programs. The author supports this with evidence from a report conducted by The American Psychological Association, where they concluded that early substance abuse, access to weapons, isolation, and widespread display of violence in media; the latter being greater, contributes to the violent behaviors in adolescents. He also points out that since the 1950s, aggravated assaults have increased seven times. The passage further emphasizes that many TV outlets know the damaging effects that violence in media has on juveniles, yet only a few acknowledge this fact. Sullivan’s

On the other hand, this study did show that in 1996 to 1997 there was a decrease in the number of series on the air that contained violence, but that in the third year of the study the number of shows containing violent content began increasing again, and the shows contained “real or re-created images of animals attacking or killing people.”

There is no question that television and films these days are filled with violence and antisocial behavior. Virtually every show, movie or news story nowadays has some sort of violent theme. Studies have shown that for every hour of television, there are 6 violent exchanges shown, and this number increases to 14 exchanges an hour

By the age of 18, the average American television viewer has witnessed over 32,000 murders and 40,000 attempted murders on television alone (American Psychological Association). These statistics do not include such violence seen in movies or heard in music. To witness such an amount of violence is clearly unrealistic and exploitative. Violence is being used by television programs as a superficial way of grabbing and holding an audience's attention. Producers of television programs that show violence must take the responsibility of showing a realistic amount of violence on their shows. That is, they must not use gratuitous violence to appeal to male viewers, or else the violent crime rate in the United States will rise.

Media violence is one of the most debated public issues society faces today. Television screens are loaded with the glamorization of weapon carrying. Violence constitute as amusing and trivialized. Needless portrayals of interpersonal violence spread across the television screens like wild fire. Televisions spew the disturbing events such as children being assaulted, husbands inflicting domestic abuse on their wives and children succumbing to abuse by their parents. Scenes of betrayal, anguish, infiltrate the television screen. Unfortunately, a child becomes subjected to media violence. Everything a child sees or hears in the media affects them in some way or another. The precise effects of media violence on children are

[“TV has even become known as "America's baby-sitter." (Krieg). Meaning that parents are now using the television as a way of entertaining their children while they attempt to accomplish other things such as cooking and cleaning.”] (PATHOS)

In the article, it examines how the behavior of minors are affected by violent movies and television shows. The article begins by explaining what effect television has on us. It explains how people who most likely watch violent television shows and movies, show a more aggressive behavior. To prove this, the source gathered a series of experiments that showed how households that often watch violent television show and movies normally report their children imitating what they saw on the television and usually more aggressive behavior. One of the most famous experiments that tested

With television violence more prevalent than ever before, parents and professionals have been concerned about this type of programming adversely affecting behavior in children. While thousands of studies have been completed on this subject, with most of them showing a direct connection between media violence and belligerent behavior, the ensuing information will show the inadequacies of such theories by further scrutinizing these points of interest:

Before Television, Americans followed simple laws, believed heavily in God, were honest, and never locked their doors because they felt safe and were happy to help someone in need. TV gradually turned us into

Children view violence in different ways when they watch it on television, whether it is cartoons or a type of drama and action programming. After children have watched these television shows, they may have interpreted the meaning into a negative behavior. It could influence them by becoming aggressive, afraid of the world that surrounds them, or it may lead to confusion. When it is said that children may become confused because their parents teach that violence is wrong. When they view someone in a “superhero” position participating in violence, they may see that as it is all right for the simple fact the good person does the action. According to the American Academy of Children and Adolescent Psychiatry, “the impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in the child's behavior or may surface years later (AACAP, 2011).”