Violence On Tv A Twisted View Of The Society Essay, Research Paper

Violence in TV has been a great debit for many years. Many researchers arguing that there s link between violence on TV and the aggressive behavior of children. American children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today’s television programming is violent. We have a problem with violence on TV in this country and we need to develop a solution to prevent this problem from growing.

According to Ernest Hollings, The statistics from the American Psychological Association, which reported in 1992 that by the end of elementary school, the average American child has watched 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence (Hollings, 619). The numbers speaks for its self; we have a serious problem with the amount of violence exposed to children specially during the prime times. We don’t know what TV violence really is or what it should include. Should it include the news? Talk shows? Cartoons? That’s one of the major problems, trying to decide what kind of violence to object to.

Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater

aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. Children with emotional, behavioral, learning or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence. Noting this impact, Leonard Eron asserts, TV represents violence as an appropriate way to solve interpersonal problems, to get what you want out of life, avenge slights and insults, and make up for perceived injustice (Eron, 617). The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in the child’s behavior or may surface years later, and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence.

In spite of all the evidence, broadcasters and scientists continue to debate the link between the viewing TV violence and children’s aggressive behavior. Some broadcasters believe that there is not enough evidence to prove that TV violence is harmful. But scientists who have studied this issue say that there is a link between TV violence and aggression, as we mentioned earlier that the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Television and Society published a report that confirms this view.

Ernest Hollings pointed out that, More than one thousand studies including reports by the Surgeon General, the National Institute of Mental Health, and other have demonstrated the direct link between exposure to violence in the media and aggressive, violnec behavior (Hollings, 620). While most scientists are convinced that children can learn aggressive behavior from television, they also point out that parents have tremendous power to moderate that influence. Because there is a great deal of violence in both adult and children’s programming, just limiting the number of hours children watch television will probably reduce the amount of aggression they see. Parents should watch at least one episode of the programs their children watch. That way they’ll know what their children are watching and be able to talk about it with them.

When they see a violent incident, parents can discuss with their child what caused the character to act in a violent way. They should also point out that this kind of behavior is not characteristic, not the way adults usually solve their problems. They can ask their children to talk about other ways the character could have reacted, or other nonviolent solutions to the character’s problem. Parents can limit the amount of time children spend watching television, and encourage children to spend their time on sports, hobbies, or with friends; parents and kids can even draw up a list of other enjoyable activities to do instead of watching TV. Parents can encourage their children to watch programs that demonstrate helping, caring and cooperation. Studies show that these types of programs can influence children to become more kind and considerate.

Once again, there is no easy answer to this very real problem. , I suppose, the first step to dealing with violence on TV is the very difficult job of actually thinking about how and when and why and what we watch on TV. Parents have a great role on solving this problem and protect their children from the exposure to this violence. It’s a hard job, but we all have to do it.

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