Violent Television's Influlence on Children's Behaviour 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

Over the years, researchers have studied the effects that television has had on children. When children are taught to tie their shoes, it is because their parents taught them. When children are taught to ride their bikes, it is because someone showed them. In many instances, children learn by watching and observing things they see others do. This leads researchers to believe that violent television in terms, makes children more aggressive.

With children having easier access to media and a wider variety of content, the possible negative influence on health issues such as sex, drugs, obesity and eating disorders is increased, along with the influence of violence (Media para 3). The viewpoint claims that children learn their attitudes toward violence at a young age and that makes it difficult to reverse and modify these attitudes (Media para 1). Several studies have shown that violent boys tend to watch more TV, choose more violent content and get more enjoyment out of it (Cutler para 3). Because of all the love in boys for violent television and games they tend to grow up in a violent aggressive way and have a greater chance than someone not a fan of violent media to make the wrong

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:

While many argue that film violence has little or no influence on actual behaviour, this essay will argue that media violence has a direct influence on actual behaviour in adolescence and adults. The main ideas I will put forward are. How Media Violence Increases Children’s tolerance of Real-Life Aggression, Violence Exposure in real-life, Violent Film Characters and their portrayal of violent acts, the effects of violence in emerging adults, film violence and subsequent aggressive tendencies. I will also show that people that were angered when they started watching Violent Films or TV were more angered afterwards which resulted in violent behaviour.

Violence has become more and more prevalent in today's society. We see it in the streets, back alleys, schools, and even at home. Homes, in particular, are a major source of violence. A television set has become common to the living room of most family homes. This outlet for violence often goes unnoticed. Children who view television are often pulled into the realistic, yet a devastating world of violence. Much research has gone into showing why children are so mesmerized by this big glowing box and the action that takes place within it. Research shows that it is definitely a major source of violent behavior in children (Howe 55). The research proves time and time again that aggression and television viewing do go hand in hand. The truth about television violence and children has been shown.

Violence in the media is a growing concern on whether or not it affects children. The media starts portraying violence at a very young age in many children’s shows and many times children prefer the television show with more action. There is also the “monkey see, monkey do” factor at a young age because a child might see something on tv and try to copy it in real life after they see the cartoon character was okay. Many people believe that media has an effect on kids and adolescents, but it’s hard to determine whether or not media leads to a child’s aggression and how violent American media really is.

From a very early age, people are exposed to various types of media, for example books or magazines, television, song lyrics, video games, and movies. Media often portrays, aggressive action, behaviour, and violence. This content can negatively affect not only adolescents and adults, but can have an even greater effect on children even from the moment they are exposed to it. Children who are exposed to violence in the media may display aggressive and violent behaviour. Young people especially children under the age of eight this may not be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality and may be more likely to be influenced by violence in the media (American Academy of Pediatrics 1497). Young people should have limited access to the different types of media that exposes them to violence because of the negative effects such as, modelling violent behaviour, becoming desensitized to violence, accepting violent behaviour, and getting a false impression of the prevalence of violence.

Pretend you are a parent. You are at home and you see your child acting in a hostile and aggressive manner. You ask him where he picked up on this behavior. He replies, “I saw it on Television.” Television violence had a role in the child's behavior. Media violence can have a lasting impression on children, teenagers and adults not only through television, but also through video games. In the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in violent behavior in the United States (Merino 1). This is the result of exposure to violence. More than half of television programs and video games contain some type of violence. Perez Daly says, “’... children are likely to see 8,000 murders and at least 100,000 other acts of violence prior

In a statistic that is extremely startling, as many as 73% of parents believe that their children view violent media content at least once a week (Cheng, et al., 2004). But what exactly constitutes violence? Stipp and J. Ronald Milavsky’s (1988) piece entitled U.S. Television Programming’s Effects on Aggressive Behavior of Children and Adolescents brings to light that pollsters always point out that there is “too much violence on television” but researchers have found that it is extremely difficult to measure and define how much violence is too much violence in television. Television media includes everything from children’s comedy on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, to bloody gore movies and shows on FX, HBO, TNT, and others. That is a very wide spectrum to narrow in terms of what children may see on a daily basis. Stipp and Milavsky’s research explains that surveys used to determine aggressiveness and media in children have questionable validity of the key measures. They go on to explain

▪ Of over a thousand studies that have been done on the effects of violence in television and movies, majority of them conclude that individuals, especially children who spend significant time watching violence on TV and movies are more likely to display aggressive or violent behavior, attitudes and values. (Senate Committee; Congressional Public Health Summit qtd. from the National Institute on Media and the Family)

One click of a button and a person can be sucked into the world of television. Television has hundreds of channels to choose from, the one that appears on the screen can have a positive or negative effect on the viewer. A concern that has gone through a multitude of households is making the decision of what to watch, especially if there are children watching too. Many tv and satellite providers have parental controls, which allow parents to block specific channels that they think will have a negative influence on their child. Violence is one of the biggest attributes to the parents decision to block a certain channel or show. There are a majority of ways children can view violent acts on television, even if there are blocked channels on their television. By the age of 18, the average child will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television (Media). The simple act of watching television could have the greatest affect on children and adolescents.

            "Fear of violence is one reason that children are spending less time outside playing and more time watching TV," says William Abbott, president of the Boston-based National Foundation to Improve Television.  (Bergenfield)  However, just because children aren't outside as much as they used to be doesn't mean that they are escaping from the threat of violence.  Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and behavior in children.  Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent.  Several studies by UCLA " have found that children may become 'immune' to the horror of violence, gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, imitate the violence they observe on television, and identify with certain character; victims and/or victimizers."  (UCLA)  The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in a child's behavior or may surface years later.  However, this is not to say that violence on television is the only source for aggressive or violent behavior, but it is a significant factor.

The accumulated evidence, however, does not warrant the conclusion that televised violence has a uniformly adverse effect nor the conclusion that it has an adverse effect on the majority of children. It cannot even be said that the majority of the children in the various studies we have reviewed showed an increase in aggressive behavior in response to the violent fare to which they were exposed. The evidence does indicate the televised violence may lead to increased aggressive behavior in certain subgroups of children who might constitute a small portion or substantial proportion of the total population of young television viewers. (109-110)

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine research of how violence in the media affects children today. This paper critiques the research by W. James Potter and his article “On Media Violence.” Facts and personal opinions on the author’s beliefs regarding the affects of violence in the media will also be included.