Whatever Hapenned to Morality and Values on Television

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

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

Some of the most popular television shows in today’s society are The Biggest Looser, Jersey Shore, and Big Brother. These programs and many others are classified as reality television. Reality television’s main purpose is to attempt to portray ordinary people in unscripted situations. Recently, however, many of these shows have achieved in creating the complete opposite, and have earned an immense amount of criticism as a result. Reality television programs are detrimental to society because they influence bad behavior among teenagers, do not produce authentic real life situations, and they humiliate many of the characters.

Everyone is influenced and shaped by society. Society affects our perceptions, our consciousness, and our actions. A majority of the influence, especially on the younger demographic comes through the media; specifically through television. It is important to examine how violence in the media develops a pervasive cultural environment that cultivates a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the impact of television and media violence, as well as the human cost of violent media, and the overall effects on society from watching TV.

Johnson breezily admits that modern TV shows are becoming more violent, but he treats it as a trivial fact that should not be heavily weighted. However, the subtle influences of shows like 24 should not be taken lightly. 24's influence in particular encourages its audience to bypass the terrorist activity that takes place and eventually numbs their minds to the horrors of blood-and-guts violence. Although Johnson is correct to state that 20 years ago audiences would probably not have been able to track such complex, intertwined plots, they also would not have tolerated the vast doses of violent and inappropriate behavior that can be found in today's popular shows. Therefore, the constant intake of violence that is portrayed on TV is muddying our perceptions of hostility and quietly increasing our acceptance of

There is no question that television and films these days are filled with violence and antisocial behavior. Virtually every show, movie or news story nowadays has some sort of violent theme. Studies have shown that for every hour of television, there are 6 violent exchanges shown, and this number increases to 14 exchanges an hour

Today’s society has become a visually based culture and, as a result, people learn and act from what they see. With the advent of television, many programs have been aired ranging from news programs to sitcoms and from game shows to talk shows, but talk shows, today, have the most effect on the public. Daily, viewers turn on their televisions and many are bombarded with images of sex, drugs, and violence on the talk shows. Unfortunately, many people are either disturbed or affected by what they see. As Vicki Abt and Leonardo Mustazza point out in their article, “Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV Talk Show,” “Surely long-term exposure to this genre has consequences for the

As censorship of the American media has broken down over the years, the amount of violence allowed to be shown in movies, on television, and in video games has skyrocketed. From coast to coast in our nation, this saturation of hostility in our media has caused many contentious debates between scholars, parents, students and government officials alike. In this controversy, the central argument revolves around the effects violent media has on our society. The question that most researchers strive to answer is this: does watching or participating in violent media cause violent or other harmful behaviors? There are those who would say yes, it does promote destructive behavior in

Throughout the past fifty years, moral values in the media have plummeted drastically. The entertainment industry focuses on television shows, celebrity scandals, affairs, relationships, and quarrels. Specifically, three television shows perfectly exhibit the lack of morality in the media: American Horror Story, I Am Cait, and 19 Kids and

In a world in which acts of heinous violence, murder or crude and shocking behavior seem to be a normal occurrence, it may lead one to wonder what has put society onto this slippery slope. How did this type of behavior come to be so acceptable and in some cases glorifiable? A careful study of society may lead to multi media as being the main cause in this changing of ideals. The modern world has become desensitized to the acts shown on television, movies, video games or printed in newspapers and magazines. Censorship must be employed if morals and decency are to be preserved.

Saturday morning cartoons contain twenty to twenty-five violent acts per hour (Stranger & Gridina, 1999). Pediatricians warn that media violence can be especially damaging to children under age eight because they cannot readily tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Many violent acts are perpetrated by the "good guys," whom kids have been taught to emulate. Even though kids are taught by their parents that it's not right to hit, television says it's OK to bite, hit, or kick if you're the good guy. This can lead to confusion when kids try to understand the difference between right and wrong. And even the "bad guys" on TV aren't always held responsible or punished for their actions (Nemours, 1995-2009). “These violent behaviors are learned,” said Dr. Slutkin (Herbert, 2010, p. 1). “They are largely formed by modeling, the almost unconscious copying of one another (Herbert, 2010, p. 1). And then they are maintained by the social pressure of peers (Herbert, 2010, p. 1). It becomes normal to reach for a gun (Herbert, 2010, p. 1). TV is full of programs and commercials that depict behaviors such as sex and substance abuse as cool, fun, and exciting. Studies have shown that teens who watch lots of sexual content on TV are more likely to initiate intercourse or participate in other sexual activities earlier than peers who don’t watch sexually explicit

Can T.V. shows be the reflection of our society or influence the behavior of the members of our community? Since 1936 when television broadcasting begin, it priority was to inform and to entertain our society; subsequently, a massive amount of rules and regulations were created to control the material presented in TV, which principal goal was to safeguard the moral and ethical standards of it time. Nevertheless, from its beginning to the present home entertainment television standards contents have change; likewise, the moral an ethics values of our society have change and continuing changing from generation to generation. TV shows from the 50’s, 80’s, and the present exposed many changes in the way human role are exposed, the language

Secondly, television has made children more violent. Television not only makes children more violent, but it also makes children more fearful to the world around them. Cyndy Scheibe describes how parents are concerned about violence on television. A big problem is that not only does adult crime dramas include violence, but so do cartoons and slapstick comedies. Scheibe explains some other effects of violence on television are that children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others in reality and television. She also states that children may behave in aggressive and harmful ways to others. Scheibe says the reason for this is, “The impact of TV violence on aggression seems to be partly due to imitation of the aggressive actions that children see (particularly if they are done by the “good guys”) and partly due to the message that aggression works to get what you want and it’s okay to use aggression it you are justified in doing so.” (Scheibe p1) Agreeing with Scheibe, Talia Trigilio also says violence in television makes kids more aggressive. Cartoons carry a lot of violent content, 46% of violence is found in cartoons. Trigilio said, “I was shocked to stumble across the statistic that there were more violent acts in an hour of Saturday morning television than during prime time.” (Trigilio p4) A Common show like the “Power Rangers” is interpreting “violence is fantasy” but sometimes your viewers can’t tell

Today’s society is heavily influenced by television. The violence disrupts a child’s learning process and can alter the moral beliefs that an older person has. Children view more violence on Saturday mornings than any other time. The cartoons aimed at little children influence youngsters to mimic violent acts because their parents do not fully explain the effects of the stunts. It is pathetic that in such a technology based society, such a simple thing as television can have a negative effect on people.

Today, watching television no longer consists of sitting around the living room with family members to see the next witty comment Mr. Ed has to say or if Opey forgot to do his algebra homework. For today’s audience, watching any sort of show promoting the feelings of lust, hatred, or intolerance seems to supersede the need to intake morality and honest behavior (Bednarski). America has turned to moral erosion rather than moral fiber. Commercials for alcohol dominate each station, and until recently, ads for cigarettes were aimed toward children (Blakey). While most of the blame must be placed on the media, part of the fault lies in the audience’s hands. The reason the networks continue to spew out less-than-classy shows like Temptation Island, and even supposedly acceptable shows like Sex and the City is because that is what viewers today crave. The media is only attempting to keep up with the demands it sees from today’s audiences (Bednarski).