Essay Television and Media - TV Violence is Ruining Children

Viewing violence encourages children to see other people as enemies rather as individuals with thoughts and feelings like themselves. Violent scenes less arouses children whom watch a lot of TV than those who only watch a little. They are less bothered by violence in general and less likely to see anything wrong with it. "For example, in several studies, children who watched a violent program instead of a non-violent one were less quick to intervene or to call for

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

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.

According to Huesmann Rowell L., "One of the notable changes in our social environment in the 20th and 21st centuries has been the saturation of our culture and daily lives by the mass media. In this new environment radio, television, movies, videos, video games, cell phones, and computer networks have assumed central roles in our children’s daily lives. For better or worse the mass media are having an enormous impact on our children’s values, beliefs, and behaviors. Unfortunately, the consequences of one particular common element of the electronic mass media has a particularly detrimental effect on children’s well being. Research evidence has accumulated over the past half-century that exposure to violence on television, movies, and most recently in video games increases the risk of violent behavior on the viewer’s part just as growing up in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of

Children watch an average of 2 to 4 hours of television a day (these numbers may have increased since this study), the occurrence of violence on television has increase by 75% since 1998, children view more than 1,000 murders, rapes, and assaults each year on television, by the time children reach elementary school children will have already seen 100,000 acts of violence committed on television (United States Congress and Senate 2012). Exposure to these acts of violence makes it very easy to slowly accept that this is the way the world operates. Children becoming desensitized to violence has a negative effect on their evaluative/ judgment system and they begin to lack empathy. When children become desensitized to the violence in television they begin to lose a sense of remorse for poor behavior and not take societal crime as serious as it should be

Many studies show that children are more prone to violence due to a child’s undeveloped brain. “Children who are regularly exposed to more violent media have an increased probability of behaving more aggressively in real life (Anderson).” Furthermore, children nowadays are exposed to excessive amounts of violence in media, increasing their risks of violence when older (Anderson). Anderson explains, children are likely to become “emotionally desensitized to the violence” being portrayed. Negative actions may happen without concern or acknowledgement that something is wrong (Anderson). According to Anderson, young children will be meaner and more aggressive. The more contact with media violence a child gets, the more likely they are to be aggressive, as he or she gets older

Violence has helped children lose the ability to decipher between what is real-life and recreational violence. When they lose this ability they believe that violence is accepted and a perfect way to solve their problems. Children who lose their ability to know right from wrong also have a greater tendency to believe that violence is natural and something to be

“In terms of exposure, the average U.S. child between the ages of 8 and 18 spends 6½ hours a day using media” (Strasburger, V., & Wilson, B. 2009). Children are the most vulnerable target, not only do they manipulate their parents as consumers, but they are also susceptible to being misled by what they see. Many children lack discernment between actual acts of violence and mock violence exhibited in pop culture. The authors of Children, Adolescents, and the Media assert, “… Youth today are confronted with a media environment that is rapidly changing. Technologies are proliferating, merging, and becoming more interactive. And the content featured in these technologies is increasingly graphic, realistic, and commercial in nature” (Strasburger, V., & Wilson, B. 2009). Television programs often mislead gullible children because of positive attitudes toward violence. Cartoons like Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner follow the laws of animation physics and often display exaggerated cycles of violence. Thus, certain levels of violent acts were accepted and became the norm. The good guy beats the bad guy and over time children may become desensitized. Jacoby (1995) asks the question, “What impact does it have on a generation growing up amid dysfunctional families, broken-down schools, and a culture of values-free secularism?” (p

Violence, and the portrayal of violence, is one of our chief forms of entertainment in the U.S. Sports, (where people suffer many injuries), violent television and the physical punishment of children are widely accepted and supported. The average American child has seen 16,000 murders portrayed on television by age 16.

Children are growing aggressively from watching media input into their undeveloped mind that violence is always the quickest answer and it is easy to do so while if you were to be a good guy, you will have to suffer and lose. Dr. Kunkle, Professor of Communication at University of Arizona wrote in an article on The Effects of Television Violence on Children wrote, “violence that is presented as sanitized or glamorizes poses a much greater risk of adverse effects on children than violence that is presented with negative outcomes such as pain or suffering for its victim or negative consequence for its perpetrators”. Dr. Kunkle came to this conclusion based on National Television Violence Study as a participated researcher in this study for over 20 years. Even with such evidences, teenagers do not care of this fact as it not relevant toward them since they know what is right or wrong. However, if they know the intermediate line between right and wrong, why are they continuing to watches all these violent shows on television and social media and act the same ways like those on social

The visual created by Nate Londa shows that violent media has negative effects on children and is worsened due to how accessible it is. This visual makes a powerful statement about violent media’s influence on young children since it comes in many different forms and due to the young age at which children begin to feel its effects. The image depicts a child turning on a television and being bombarded by a slew of violent weapons, such as grenades, guns, and swords, as well as a fist, which refers to fighting. It is difficult to tell but the background is varying shades of white circles that grow smaller until they center on the image of the child and the tv. This creative technique draws the viewer’s eyes to the central image. The words “silence

          Due to violence on television, children become less sensitive to that pain and suffering of others or to become more aggressive to others. It also makes children more fearful to the world around them. (Abelard 1) Viewing habits of children observed for many decades deduced that violence on TV is associated with aggressive behavior, more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. It also reported that a TV show contains about 20 acts of violence an hour.

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).”

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

TV heroes endorse tanks of noxious,flesh-eating gas The complex age of elaborate laptops, portable color televisions in every room, and pocket radios the size of a basic calculator have all taken their toll on American society. In a furious outburst reflecting the contemporary society in which we live, television has come to represent all that is evil and wicked for our children. Through gruesome, explicit, and often unrealistic portrayals of death and violence, the impressionable clay of our children's minds are being molded into vicious statues incapable of comprehending the gap between what is real and what is injurious. What you see is what you get has taken on an all too terrifying