preview

Essay on Children and Violence on TV

Decent Essays

Children and Violence on TV

In the past twenty years, violence on TV has become more common and more acceptable in society. This generation is growing up in an increasingly cruel world – where children are exposed to violence, murders and bullying on TV. Guidelines have been put in place – but are they really enough? In this essay I shall be discussing the positive and negative effects of violence on TV and ask if legislation is the way forward for TV.

Violence is shown in all types of children’s programmes, from cartoons like “Tom and Jerry”, to children’s dramas such as “Byker Grove”. Violence can take place in different forms – bullying and mugging are just some of them. Today it is …show more content…

family, friends and pets.

Real life violence such as CCTV footage and reconstructions of violent events may upset and disturb children if they are not old enough to understand it. It may also frighten them if they are viewing the television alone, without a parent to answer their questions.

However, violence on TV does not always have a negative effect on children. Watching real life TV shows such as “Grange Hill” may help them deal with violence in a positive way, should they be faced with a similar situation like that shown in the programme. For example, the child could learn better ways of reacting (rather than using violence) should they be confronted in an argument. Violence on TV also helps children learn about the real world and current affairs. Personally, I think that while children should not be exposed to violence which is unnecessary to their learning, they also should not be completely sheltered from real life events in an attempt to protect them from the outside world.

There are guidelines to make TV violence more acceptable to a young audience. The guidelines are there for two main reasons: To stop children being influenced by violence, and to censor it so that children should not have to see events that could shock or scare them. Examples of guidelines designed to stop children being influenced by

Get Access