The Effects Of Television Violence On Children

* Fifty-five percent of children questioned usually watch television alone or with a friend, but not with their families. (13)

The media is generally seen by people as a way of conveying the truth. If something is seen on TV, has been heard on the radio or something has been read in the newspapers then it is perceived as being the truth. Throughout history the media has been used as a tool to convey different messages to people. The issue of the behavior of children when exposed to violence on media has been an issue to be debated upon and studied for a very long time. There are many devices that children have access to of late which include video games, iPods, iPads, DVDs, computers and so on. Children are often said to be impressionable, this means that they do not see the world in the same way as adults do. Children tend to see things the way they are. They take things literally as they do not posses the sensibilities that are sophisticated to make a distinction between reality and fiction (Limit TV, 2010).

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 purposes of this project were to examine TV violence and analyze how TV violence may influence children’s aggression. In Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment, results showed that children who observed aggressive models toward the Bobo doll were more likely to imitate that behavior than children who observed non-aggressive models. Male children were more likely to imitate the model if they were the same-sex compared to female children. Male children displayed more physical aggression compared to female children. The females were likely to show physical aggression when they witnessed an opposite-sex model perform in an aggressive model group. However, females were likely to show verbal aggression when they witnessed a same-sex model perform in

How innocent are those cartoons that children are watching from day to day? It is no secret that the violence seen in media is growing in popularity and it is effecting children more and more each day. When children are exposed to media violence from day to day it starts to have a negative influence on them. It effects them by making them less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, they become more fearful of the world, and they are more likely to behave in harmful or aggressive ways.

According to the Media Education Foundation, once a child reaches eighteen years of age, they have witnessed around 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders (jacksonkatz.com). Our society loves entertainment and a grand portion of this entertainment contains violence. Children constantly consume violent visuals, due to their prevalence. Majority of our society is uninterested in the effects of media violence since its effects do not show immediately. Misinformation is our greatest enemy in the battle against media violence. Children under the age of eight do not easily differentiate fiction and the real world (Media Education Foundation). Young children are vulnerable, and their inability to accurately distinguish reality from fiction is one of the main culprits in why fictionalized violence being shown to children is dangerous. As members of families and communities, we must make an impact ourselves through leadership. Violence is widespread and easily available through media outlets, causing our children mental harm. We are active caretakers and we can easily protect our youth by the usage of parental controls on television set, mobile devices, and computers.

Although violence is not new to our society, it is an increasing problem in the entrainment industries. The range and effectiveness of violence in the entertainment industries are having serious consequences on the youth. Children are labeled as impressionable, which means children do not see the world through the same understanding as adults do they see things more literally, children lack the mature sensibility of distinguishing fiction from reality. In addition, children tend to mimic what they see especially actions of their role models. And because, today’s society is based upon technology children are developing values and social behaviors based upon entertainment industries such as, television programs, music and video games.

The National Television Violence Study looked at violence on broadcast and cable television which showed that nearly 80% of premium cable channels contained violence and less than 20% of the public broadcasting channels contained violence. Another study done by the National Television Study showed that violence on television is frequently glamorized, meaning the violent acts were done by the “good” guys. Violence on television is frequently sanitized, meaning half of the violent crimes committed show no physical harm or pain to the victim. Violence on television is often

Media violence has a negative impact on children and adolescents. Younger and younger children our beginning to show increasingly violent behavior. There has been continuing speculation over the main cause of this. Not all media promotes violence, however all shows do involve violence and when children are exposed to it, it can easily lead to aggressive behavior. Children at younger ages often imitate the actions of characters or celebrities they see on television. Basically, before age four, children cannot distinguish fact from fantasy and their brains are something like a super-sponge. For example, Brotherson states that the ‘prime time’ for visual and auditory development, or a child 's capacity for learning to see and hear, is from birth to between 4 and 5 years old (2010). So when a child sees actors or actresses making certain gestures, s/he doesn’t know the exact reason for it. Flipping the finger, sticking one’s tongue out, and taunting are all common gestures on television that children will reenact in their lives.

It has been said that children are like sponges when it comes to attaining knowledge. This seems to be true whether they are learning to speak or how to show emotion. Feelings and emotions become more imminent once children begin to go through adolescents. Children acquire the ability to aggression, sadness, and happiness more readily. Males typically exhibit higher levels of aggression then females according to some research. Within the realm of learning children imitate what they see constantly, whether it be through TV, magazines ,movies, or radio. Media plays a strong role on how children act to different situations that they may have seen. Sometimes the

Nowadays, people have more ways to access many kinds of media, like Internet, video game, television and film. It is generally believed that some of the bad information such as violent content in the media can have a negative effect on people, and it can end up causing some social problem. It is clear that children are more likely to be influenced by media violence than other age groups because of their world outlook and personality are not formed. Furthermore is if media violence does have some profound influence on children, this will lead to more social problems in the next generation. If people do not want their children to be affected by media violence, each person should pay attention in how to solve this problem. The thesis will focus on discussing the effects on children caused by media violence, and social problems caused by these effects, then give solutions. Specifically, children are influenced by media violence because media are lack supervision, therefore It can be resolved through Legislative limit and family regulation.

Television programming in the United States is considered the most violent in advanced industrialized nations. Nearly two-thirds of all television programming contains violence. Dramas include realistic stories about crime, psychotic murderers, police cases, emergency services, internationalism, and war. As people view these shows, they themselves become more susceptible to commit violent actions (Hepburn).

“Children aged five to sixteen spend an average of six and a half hours a day in front of a screen… ”(Wakefield). But unfortunately, much of the television today is full of violence. Scientists believe that the effects of TV violence can cause children and teenagers to become immune to the consequence of violence, unable to handle their problems in a healthy form, and cause them to copy the violent behavior they see on the television. Therefore, there needs to be a removal of violence from cartoons such as the ones on Boomerang, as it is negatively affecting children.

            In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term “violent media” and  brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.

some adults), however, do not always realize this is not the way difficult situations are handled in