Children And Televison Violence Essay, Research Paper
The Effects of Television Violence on ChildrenChildren and Televison Violence What has the world come to these days? It often seems likeeverywhere one looks, violence rears its ugly head. We see it in thestreets, back alleys, school, and even at home. The last of these is amajor source of violence. In many peoples+ living rooms there sits anoutlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television,and the children who view it are often pulled into its realistic worldof violence scenes with sometimes devastating results. Much research has gone into showing why children are somesmerized by this big glowing box and the action that takes placewithin it. Research shows that it is definitely a major source ofviolent behavior in children. The research proves time and time againthat aggression and television viewing do go hand in hand. The truth about television violence and children has been shown. Some are trying to fight this problem. Others are ignoring it andhoping 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 theresults point to one conclusion: Television violence causes children tobe violent and the effects can be life-long. The information can+t be ignored. Violent television viewingdoes affect children. The effects have been seen in a number of cases. In New York, a 16-year-old boy broke into a cellar. When the policecaught him and asked him why he was wearing gloves he replied that hehad learned to do so to not leave fingerprints and that he discoveredthis on television. In Alabama, a nine-year-old boy received a badreport card from his teacher. He suggested sending the teacher poisonedcandy as revenge as he had seen on television the night before. InCalifornia, a seven-year-old boy sprinkled ground-up glass into the thelamb stew the family was to eat for dinner. When asked why he did it hereplied that he wanted to see if the results would be the same in reallife as they were on television (Howe 72). These are certainlystartling examples of how television can affect the child. It must bepointed out that all of these situations were directly caused bychildren watching violent television. Not only does television violence affect the child+s youth, butit can also affect his or her adulthood. Some psychologists andpsychiatrists feel that continued exposure to such violence mightunnaturally speed up the impact of the adult world on the child. Thiscan force the child into a kind of premature maturity. As the childmatures into an adult, he can become bewildered, have a greater distrusttowards others, a superficial approach to adult problems, and even anunwillingness to become an adult (Carter 14). Television violence can destroy a young child+s mind. Theeffects of this violence can be long-lasting, if not never-ending. For some, television at its worst, is an assault on a child+s mind, an insidious influence tat upsets moral balance and makes a child prone to aggressive behavior as it warps his or her perception of the real world. Other see television as an unhealthy intrusion into a child+s learning process, substituting easy pictures for the discipline of reading and concentrating and transforming the young viewer into a hypnotized nonthinker (Langone 48). As you can see, television violence can disrupt a child+s learning andthinking ability which will cause life long problems. If a child cannotdo well in school, his or her whole future is at stake. Why do children like the violence that they see on television?+Since media violence is much more vicious than that which childrennormally experience, real-life aggression appears bland by comparison+(Dorr 127). The violence on television is able to be more exciting andenthralling than the violence that is normally viewed on the streets. Instead of just seeing a police officer handing a ticket to a speedingviolator, he can beat the offender bloody on television. However,children don+t always realize this is not the way thing are handled inreal life. They come to expect it, and when they don+t see it the worldbecomes bland and in need of violence. The children then can create theviolence that their mind craves. The television violence can cause actual violence in a number ofways. As explained above, after viewing television violence the worldbecomes bland in comparison. The child needs to create violence to keephimself satisfied (Dorr 127). Also the children find the violentcharacters on television fun to imitate. +Children do imitate thebehavior of models such as those portrayed in television, movies, etc. They do so because the ideas that are shown to them on television aremore attractive to the viewer than those the viewer can think uphimself+ (Brown 98). This has been widely seen lately with the advent
of the Mighty Morphin+ Power
Langone, John. Violence. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1984. Cheyney, Glenn Alan. Television in American Society. New York: Franklin Watts Co., 1983. Howe, Michael J. A. Television and Children. London: New University Education, 1977. Husemann, L. Rowell. +Social Channels Tune T.V.+s effects.+ Science News 14 Sept. 1985: 166. Door, Palmer. Children and the Faces of Television. New York: Academic Press, 1980. Carter, Douglass. T.V. Violence and the Child. New York: Russel Sage Foundation, 1977.