Media's Effect on Society's Perspectives Essay

Television has a widespread influence on everyone, especially children. Children are impacted so much by the things they have seen and watched on TV. They learn many things from TV, but their social skills and other learning abilities slow down. Watching TV numbs the mind of children and keeps them inactive from daily exercise. Furthermore, speech delays can occur in children who watch excessive amounts of television. Television programming such as MTV, Adult Swim, and Family Guy exposes and promotes negative

“Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.” (Peter). There was a time when all children wanted to do was to run, play, explore, and be adventurous. As time evolved, children have found more interest in television. Statistics show that a child spends 900 hours per year in school,and they spend 1,200 hours per year watching television. When asked to choose between watching T.V. and spending time with their families fifty-four percent of four to six year olds voted they would prefer to watch television. Television has changed the mindset of children over the years it has been proven that the more programs they watch, the more harmful it is to their brain development. T.V.

Numerous studies have concluded that the content and amount of television programming watched by individuals – especially by children - has a direct result on the behavior of that individual. The behavior affected by television viewing can be anything from a desire for a certain food or material good to violent distemper (Zuckerman 1985.) Recently, more and more woman have given up their traditional role of raising their children opting instead to work during the day and leave their children to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many children find that spending countless hours in front of the television to be a worthwhile way to entertain themselves. Most parents tell their children never to talk to strangers, but what they fail to realize is that every day their children are subject to the messages and ideas of strangers on the television. In fact, a study concluded that an average American by the age of 18 has spent more time watching television than they have spent in school; this study also went on the state that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. This may explain why an additional study revealed that if a child was told something by his or her parents and then viewed on television something that contradicted what the parents had said, four times out of five the child opted to believe the

In a study done by Huston et al. (1989), it was found that television was the center of the majority of children’s time and attention. This particularly applied to children in low-income and minority families who did not have the financial resources to provide other activities and media sources to occupy their children’s time. This article stated that television has an impact on children in three main ways: as an educator, a source for social learning and a way to advertise and sell products. The article also discussed many of the public

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability do not develop as well when they have a television in the background while they are playing and interacting. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teenage pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to large amounts of television and video games become socially awkward and have issues interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly, which is leading to shows that should be restricted by a V-chip being watched by children, rendering the restricting system null and void.

The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability does not develop as well when they have television in the background while they are playing. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teen pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to too much Television and video games become socially awkward and have trouble interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly which is leading to shows that should be blocked

Technology throughout the past 30-40 years has become more advanced and accessible than ever. The television specifically has developed extremely since its beginning. What started off as a single camera caption, has developed into a full fledge worldwide availability. Within the United States, the TV is a normal everyday object common in households, hotels, schools, and even restaurants. There are approximately 118.4 million household in the United States that own a television set ( The Number of TV Households in the United States from season 2000-2001 to season 2016-2017 (in millions)).However, the increased amount of time spent watching TV has had a tremendous impact on people, especially kids. The differences in generations throughout the development of the TV has led to many questions, all revolving around whether or not the televisions has had a good or negative impact pertaining to children. Time spent watching television affects the brain, ability to learn, and skill levels in different areas (source. In the book “Last Child in The Woods,” Richard Louv discusses how children in the 1940’s would watch out the window at the scenery and have conversations, while children now sit and watch a movie on a flip-down video screen without knowledge to the outside world (Louv 16-17).

As we know the media plays a large role in society, it has a tremendous impact on our cultures, businesses, and relationships. The media is not responsible for telling you what to think, but what to think about. The media cannot independently dictate what specific type of views a person should have, but the media can influence our opinions in a major way. People tend to believe that we derived our attitudes, beliefs, and opinions from social structures including: religious entities, schools, family, and culture. However, mass media creates meaning and continuously shapes the way society views particular topics, ideas, and people. The way ethnic groups are portrayed, marketed and viewed through the lens of the media, serves as a how-to guide for particular audiences to treat them. Specifically, African American males who are portrayed in the media receive a negative connotation. From the media’s perspective black males are portrayed as a stereotypical prototype which translates over into real life. The problem with this is, people tend to attribute the media’s representation of African American males and characterize them base off of generalized assumptions. This topic is important because minority groups are the only ones traumatically affected indirectly and directly by the blatant misrepresentation and lack thereof positive representation of minority groups particularly, African American men.

Many children are influenced by what they see on television. Some programs have a positive and negative affect on how children behave.(AACAP.org) Using Cultivation Theory, I will validate that the amount of television being watched and the variety of talk shows does impact a child’s health, behavior and family life. After reviewing the outcomes, it is obvious that my hypothesis and Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory which essentially clarifies that the heavy television viewers develop a common socially conservative outlook through constant exposure to the same images and labels.(p. 353) According to the 2011 Active Healthy Kids Report Card on Physical Activity, television is one of the most prevalent media influences in kids’ lives. Children are spending too much time watching television and this is stopping them from doing activities crucial to healthy mental and physical development. Studies has shown that young children who watch too much television have delayed cognitive and emotional development. In older children excessive screen time has been proven to lead to behavioral difficulties, reduced achievement at school, attention problems, sedentary behaviors and an increased risk of obesity.(MediaSmarts)

It may be hard to admit, but television has become an intricate part of our everyday lives. People children often find themselves sitting in front of the television screen for a longer period of time than before and this has evolved immensely over the past few years. In this article, “The Trouble with Television,” by the author Marie Winn, mentions that addiction of television is negative effects on children and families. It keeps the families from doing other things and it’s a hidden competitor for all other activities. Television takes place of play and on top of that kids who watch a lot of television grow uncivilized. Also, the author mentioned that televisions are less resourceful for children and have negative effects on children’s

Television is looked at as one of the greatest inventions ever created, but during recent times, television is starting to take a negative effect on its younger viewers. TV critics and countless parents are enraged at the type of morals "kids tv shows" are instilling in todays'

     Television viewing is a major activity and influences children and adolescents. Children in the United States watch on average 3 – 4 hours of television a day (AACAP, March 2001).  By the time they graduate they will have spent more time watching television than they spent in the classroom.  Television may entertain, inform, and keep them company, but it may also influence them in undesirable ways. There are important activities that children could be doing like reading, school work, playing, exercise, interaction with

The Role of Media in the Society Media has always played a huge role in our society. For a long time media was one of the methods of controlling people and leisure. In ancient times when there was no newspapers and television, people used literature as source of information, some books like "the Iliad", and different stories about great kings, shows those people the information about them. Nowadays media is one of the main part of our lives and our society, because we use word media, to combine all sources of information. Average man is spending 4 hours a day on watching TV and reading newspapers.

In our society, the media play a critical role, they provide us with definitions about who we are as a nation, they reinforce our values and norms and they perpetuate certain ways of seeing the world and the people within the world. The media have provided us with image of prescription and description. They tell us how society sees us and tell us how to behave in society with the help of media hegemony which is “a condition that occurs when dominant groups in society control the mass media, largely through ownership” (John V. Pavlik). With media hegemony in our media conveys and reinforces negative stereotypes of a group of people. Users online is posting, uploading photos, videos, and commenting without considering how it vilifies other groups or persons. Since images are present around us everywhere we go. Our mind consumes and registers these images without a consent. Whether we want to view these images or not our subconscious uses them to construct our social behavior. Not only do these mediated images penetrate our minds, but they shape and re-create the world we live in and the way we view it. The danger lies in stereotypes that are integrated into these online photo, video and messages are used to spread hate. This online user is using propaganda which is “the regular dissemination of a belief, doctrine, cause or information, with the intent to mold public opinion (Pavlik)”to share this belief. However, the liking for freedom of expression has led to appearance of