...Is television a Bad Influence On Children? What has the world come to these days? It often seems like everywhere one looks, violence rears its ugly head. We see it in the streets, school, and even at home. The last of these is a major source of violence. In many peoples living rooms there sits an outlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television, and the children who view it are often pulled into its realistic world of violence scenes with sometimes devastating results. 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. The research proves time and time again that aggression and television viewing do go hand in hand. Violence on television is bad for children because it causes lifelong aggressiveness, trauma and desensitization. The truth about television violence and children has been shown. Some are trying to fight this problem. Others are ignoring it and hoping it will go away. Still others don't even seem to care. However, the facts are undeniable. The studies have been carried out and all the results point to one conclusion: Television violence causes children to be aggressive and the effects can be life-long. The information can't be ignored. Violent television viewing does affect children. The effects have been seen in a number of cases. In New York, a 16-year-old boy...
Words: 1670 - Pages: 7
...Media Violence Jessica Higginson PSY101: Introduction to Psychology Instructor: Hillary Locke Sept. 28, 2014 Media Violence and Violent Behavior in Children Is violence on television turning our children into violent, destructive, hateful people? Television shows today can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior (Bee, 1998: 261-262). Violence surrounds us due to most of what is on television is violent. For example take Saturday morning cartoons; the level of violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of violence during prime time. During prime time there are six to eight violent acts per hour while there are twenty to thirty violent acts during Saturday morning cartoons ("Killing Screens," 1994). Before children finish grade school, they will have witnessed up to eight thousand murders and one hundred thousand violent acts on television (Levine, 1995: 143). Children learn about life through media more than in any other manner. The average child spends approximately twenty-seven hours per week watching television, which means that children spend most of their time only watching television and sleeping (Minow & LaMay, 1995: 32-33). Also, it has been proven by many studies that there is a positive relationship between television violence and behavioral problems in children. The research done by Wood, Wong, and Chachere (1991:378) has shown that "exposure to media violence increase viewers' aggression." This paper...
Words: 2539 - Pages: 11
...Violence in the Media Violence on Television Krystal Middleton November 16, 2009 Developmental Psychology A German physicist named Karl Ferdinand Braun developed a device called a cathode ray tube in 1897, which could transmit light if struck by a stream of electrons. Scientists across the world began developing means of using the tubes to transmit images. By the end of the 1920s, the U. S. had established about 15 experimental broadcast signals for television. The 1939 World’s Fair, held in New York City, offered commercial television to the U. S. public. Production of televisions was put on the back burner during the U. S. involvement of World War II, but almost immediately after the end of the war in 1945, the television market boomed. The number of households owning televisions went from 7,000 in 1945 to over 20 million in 1952. Early programs were influenced by programs that had once been on the radio, such as detective show “Dragnet” and Westerns like “The Lone Ranger.” There was fighting, shooting and dying on the programs, but it appeared unrealistic, and blood was never shown. Even though the violence was “mild”, many complained that the television producers went too far in the violent acts they were showing. So began the debate. As early as 1950, critics were protesting the content of many shows and were suggesting that those shows that did contain violence be aired late in the evening, when children were sleeping. Webster’s...
Words: 1425 - Pages: 6
...Sex and Violence on Television: Are the affects on Children all bad? The Issue How does the saying go? “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” There is no question that the controversy of violence among today’s youth is colossal. There are many studies that point to sex and violence in the media as the cause of this problem. Yet there are also several studies that suggest that the affects of TV violence on children and teens are minimal or may be beneficial in some ways. This paper will review literature from both sides of the controversy not for the sake of defending one side over the other but for the purpose of unveiling what makes the issue so controversial by exploring some of the questions regarding who are the people that have a stance on the issue, why might someone take a strong stance, and discuss what previous researches conclude about the influence of media sex and violence on children’s behavior. Summary of Internet Information For about half a century, Congress has wrestled with the perceived negative influences of television on society, particularly its youth. The responses to this divergence in the past have ranged from banning indecent content and restricting offensive speech to condensing the rights of the broadcast industry. Television violence, the most recent and pressing issue to date for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is the conflict between protecting children from the potentially harmful influence of exposure to sex and...
Words: 2512 - Pages: 11
...Neal Social Psychology Agression/TV Violence Prof. Zaleski 6/26/14 Television has its good side. It can be entertaining and educational, and can open up new worlds for kids, giving them a chance to travel the globe, learn about different cultures, and gain exposure to ideas that may never encounter in their own community. Shows with a prosocial message can have a positive effect on kids’ behavior; programs with positive role models can influence viewers to make positive lifestyle changes. However, the reverse can also be true: kids are likely to learn things from TV that parents don’t want them to learn. TV can affect kids’ health, behavior and family life in negative ways. The Amount of Violence on Television According to the renowned psychiatrist Karl Menninger, "We not only tolerate violence it is part of our life. Why over one third of our television programs use it for amusement. There are more than 200 million television sets in America. The average American watches over seven hours a day. For many children, this is more time than they spend in school. The world of television has been alternatively called entertainment and a vast wasteland. It serves as a model of the world around us. What kind of world does it depict? The message is often one of violence. In 1973, the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, devised a "violence profile" to measure the amount of violence shown on television. The analysts watched over 33 hours...
Words: 2304 - Pages: 10
...these days? Everywhere we look, violence is present; in the streets, back alleys, school, and even at home. Even if one might be a pacifist, violence will seep its way into our homes through the television. Some children that see violence on television are pulled into its harmful deceptions of problem solving. Scientists have tried to explain why children are so amused by a big glowing box and the action that takes place within it. Research shows that television is a major source of violence for children. This research shows us that violence appeals to every audience, including children. The effects have been seen in a number of cases. One example, from Alabama, was when a nine-year-old boy received a bad report card from his teacher. He suggested to one of his friends that he send the teacher poisoned candy as revenge. He had seen the same scenario on television the night before. In California, a 7 year old boy sprinkled ground-up glass into the lamb stew the family was to eat for dinner. When asked why he did it he replied that he wanted to see if the results would be the same in real life as they were on television (Howe 72). Some people might not accept a child’s diversion of blame, but it must be pointed out that all of children claimed to have seen a similar act on television. We should not hold television directly responsible for these acts, but understand that it is television that plants a violent seed in the minds of these children. Some psychologists and psychiatrists...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Reality of Television Media About six years ago, a three-year-old child in London who weighed 83 pounds died from obesity. The parents—who may have partially been at fault for being unable to say “no” to their child’s destructive eating habits—were appropriately devastated. Obesity-related deaths aren’t especially common in children that young; however, childhood obesity has increasingly become a threat to children everywhere, with 20% of children aged six to eleven being obese (Ogden qtd. in CDC). Such a sad, shocking statistic ought to raise eyebrows and turn heads, yet parents don’t necessarily hold all the blame for their children’s obesity. It is likely that most children that young wouldn’t even know of such fattening foods without frequent exposure to it, regardless of how the exposure occurs. While I am not here to strictly talk about childhood obesity, it is part of the bigger picture: as the years go by, children are exposed to more and more television. It has gotten to the point where most children spend at least 1.5 times more time watching television than attending school (Herr)! More specifically, the average American youth watches about 1500 hours of television per year—that’s about 62.5 days per year of pure television (Herr). Many studies have been performed on the adverse effects of television on children, and generally speaking, television truly has a profound effect on their lives. Whether it be through advertising or typical programming, television media...
Words: 3206 - Pages: 13
...VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA OF AMERICA JEFFREY MUHLNICKEL MR. DAVID KERWIN EN 1320 AUGUST 27 2013 Many Americans feel that the viewing of violence in the media reinforces negative behavior in society, especially among children and young adults. "Three thousand studies have been done since 1955 on the link between television and violence; 2,980 of them found a correlation between the two. We hear little about that because we get most of our news from television" (Peterson). With this much research one must acknowledge that there is a problem in America involving sex and violence in the media. We cannot blame all societal problems on the media and its portrayal of these issues, but we can become educated, ourselves, in order to better facilitate the healthy lives of our children. "Violence grabs the headlines, but violence itself is a result of a society that promotes selfishness, greed and instant gratification" (Peterson). Violence on public television often catches us in a serious debate. Concerned parents fear that viewing inappropriate images presented by the media will corrupt America's youth. They cringe at the idea of our nation's children growing up to be vicious killers due to the brutal violence often seen on TV. Some blame television for most, if not all, of the ills of society and its children. "Truly it accounts for about 10 percent of violence, which means that 90 percent is caused by other things," Leonard Eron says. "Violence is a multi-determined...
Words: 2119 - Pages: 9
...depicting violence on television with reference to effects theory As the development of economy and technology, there are many diverse forms of media in the digitized twenty-first century, including TV, radio, newspapers, and the Internet. Especially the television plays such a significant role in the lives of modern citizens nowadays. However, it may cause some negative aspects such as the television violence because children who watch violent television shows are more likely to commit crimes than those who do not (Marc, 2001). In this essay it will attempt to bring these claims into perspective and discuss critically that the consequences of depicting violence on television with reference to effects theory. The structure of the paper is as follows.How television violence affects children will be firstly presented according to the hypodermic needle theory. Subsequently, it will illustrate the impacts of depicting violence on TV by uses and gratifications theory and media cultivations theory under the conditions of media content and audience variables. Firstly, it is generally believed that television violence can result in the real violence and aggressive behaviour (Mcquail, 2005).Through statistic analysis, children can spend more time watching television which can reach twenty five hours per week than other activities (Violence on prime time broadcast TV 2001). Besides, a large number of violent programs are showed in television nowadays (Children and TV violence 2011)....
Words: 1605 - Pages: 7
...Many American citizens might argue the rise in violence in children and teens is attributed to the amount of violence found in different medias such as, television and video games. According to Macionis, society views violence in television and media as the reason behind high aggression in children and that the two are directly linked (p. 124.) Violence in television has become more graphic and has had lawmakers and citizens concerned as early as the 1950’s. In 1952 the House of Representatives held a meeting to regarding violence in media and stated, “Television broadcast industry was a perpetrator and deliverer of violence,” (Parents Television Council, 2011.) According to the New York Times, the US Surgeon General Jesse Steinfield said, “it is clear to me that the casual relationship between televised violence and anti-social behavior is sufficient to warrant appropriate and immediate action,” (1999.) The history of violence in media shows how the regulations have changed from the early days of television and media to present day cable, Internet and other forms of media. Overtime, society has come to accept such violence in television, media and games. The issue is how much violence children and teenagers are exposed to. (1950’s) The Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) prohibited obscene and indecent material, which was defined by what the majority of society viewed as offensive. For example, television sitcoms in the 1950’s...
Words: 1025 - Pages: 5
...The Influence of TV Violence and Children Heather Aufderhar Week 7: Rough Draft July 13, 2011 Barbara Plyler The Influence of TV Violence and Children Children younger than eight “Cannot uniformly discriminate between real life and fantasy and entertainment…they quickly learn that violence is an acceptable solution to resolving complex problems, particularly if the aggressor is the hero” (Facts and TV Statistics, 2011). Batman and Robin, for instance, use crime and violence to stop Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from taking over Gotham City. The children watching are dressing up at Halloween to pretend to be a villain. Who is to say that children are trying to reenact the Hero’s? Children approximately spend four hours a day watching television. Children are spending more time watching television than doing any other activity. According to research, violence on TV has influenced children to become more violent, but who is responsible? Eli Routh, director of Hostel says, “Kids that age have seen enough TV and real-life violence by then that they understand the difference.” Eli Routh is an actor and is out to make money. Children do not know the difference unless the authorities teach them the difference. Child development is the most important part of a child’s life. “The first two years of life are considered a critical time for brain development”. (The Nemours Foundation, 2011). The four hours of television that was indicated in the above paragraph does not include other...
Words: 2058 - Pages: 9
...TV watching per year. Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children : 3.5 minutes / week. Number of minutes per week that the average child watches Television 1680 minutes (4 hours/day). 70% of day care centers use television during a typical day. Dietz WH, Strausburger VC & et al in 1991 study entitled “Children Adolescents and Television” revealed that – American children spend more time in front of TV than at any other activity, with the exception of sleep.8 The same research shows that American children spend an average of 2 & 1/2 to 4 hours per day watching television depending on their age. The amount of time spent by American youth in most investigations was around 3-5 hours /day.8 The Kaiser report found Children ages 8 to 18 spent an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day consuming media for fun, including TV, music, videogames and other content in 2009, according to a 2010 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report was based on a survey of 2,002 third- through 12th-graders, 702 of whom completed a seven-day media use diary. That was up about an hour and 17 minutes a day from five years earlier. About two-thirds of 8- to 18-year-olds said they had no rules on the amount of time they spent watching TV, playing videogames or using the computer. A Pan-Asian workshop on “Children and Television” held in Sep 1991 in Indonesia reported data from Asia. According to a study conducted in Japan it was shown...
Words: 4021 - Pages: 17
...Violence in Music Videos and Music Lyrics has a negative impact on children. Music videos that expose profanity and sexuality are inappropriate and leave a negative impression on young children. Violence in music videos can cause health problem. Music videos that promote negative lyrics are affecting young children. Music lyrics with vulgar languages affect the development and well-being of young children. For example, the study author (Stone, 2009) found “that music with explicit references to drugs, sex or violence can be associated with negative effects on school work behavior and emotions” (p. 2). Media violence not only provokes violence among children, it provokes sexual behaviors. However, Music videos add reinforcement to what is being heard with the use of visuals. Rap music video shows an elevated level of content presented of tobacco and alcohol use than any other kind of music videos. Exposure to violence, sexual imagery and alcohol in music videos persuade violent and hostile feelings, potentially aggressive behavior that may direct them to certain types of sadistic behavior. Teens listen to on an average 40 hours of music per week. Children under eight are still developing emotionally. They cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy. They tend to imitate what they hear on the radio and see on T.V. They idolize artists and build themselves to be like them. Children use music to obtain and control of their sensitivity level and to deal with seclusion...
Words: 1619 - Pages: 7
...Who should be responsible for Television Violence? Composition II Who should be responsible for Television Violence? Can we afford to continue ignoring the connection between television violence and the increase in mass murders? The answer is no. We have to take a stance now and fight for stricter regulations by the government and the Federal Communications Committee (FCC). Television has been associated with influencing controversial acts since the beginning of its creation. One of the most recent acts that television is being blamed for is the violence associated Columbine High School murders in 1999 [ (Updated: TV and Film Violence Reaches a New High, 2011) ]. Many adults enjoy the entertainment of bad cop versus good cop, as well as the violent acts that are performed by both parties to get to the bottom of the case. However, are shows like CSI, Blue Bloods and Law and Order responsible for the violent acts done in society? Is there a connection between these shows and children who commit horrendous acts of violence? According to Leonard Eron, Senior Research Scientist at University of Michigan, “Television alone is responsible for 10% of youth violence” [ (Media Violence: Facts & Statistics) ]. There needs to be stricter laws to help eliminate many hours of television violence on air. This is a community effort in which action must be taken now. The government should have stricter policies in place for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate....
Words: 1609 - Pages: 7
...Children and Violence on Television Little Johnny, left to his own devices, decides to watch “The Sopranos” on television last night while little Sally played Grand Theft Auto video game. This morning, you receive a phone call from the school saying Johnny stabbed a classmate with a pencil and Sally took another child’s lunch money. Is the violence they witnessed on television and in video games last night responsible for their aggressive behavior today? Violence, drugs, and murders are common words heard daily in our rugged environment. Our society today has become increasingly violent with children exhibiting more aggressive behaviors. As if that alone is not scary enough, the age of the offender is becoming younger and younger. What influences children to commit violent criminal acts? Children who witness violence on television may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, may become more fearful of the world around them and may be more likely to behave in an aggressive manner toward others. The first major effect of violence in television programs is that children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others after witnessing violence on television or video games. This generation of children spends more hours in front of the television than any previous generation. However, over 50 percent of the prime-time shows depict some type of violence. With all of this violence shown during prime-time viewing hours, the child...
Words: 540 - Pages: 3
