Violence on Televison

Violence on Television

With a click of a button, and hundreds of channels to choose from, the viewing options are endless. Television is filled with violent and aggressive acts and most of the time children are viewing these acts.

Media violence has caused many negative effects in society. Because we continue to disregard this matter, it has become an unstoppable growth. By the time children are sixteen years old they have spent more time watching television, viewing about twenty thousand advertisements a year, than going to school. By the time a child graduates from high school they will have witnessed thirteen thousand violent deaths on television (Witt). Children spend countless hours in front of MTV, which "reaches fifty-seven million cable households, and its video images are even more lurid than the ones shown on regular TV," (Anderson). Children view images of songs that portray "violence, rebellion, sadomasochism, the occult, drug abuse, and promiscuity,"(Anderson). These music videos are filled with rape, murder, and sex.

Media has became one of the most powerful weapons in the world. Since media plays a big part in our day to day life, what impact does the viewing of violence have on us?

Children's ideas about how the world works come from their own experiences and from the attitudes and behaviors they see around them. "The innocence of childhood has been replaced by the very real threat of violence," (Anderson). Heavy exposure to televised violence is one of the causes of aggressive behavior. Television violence affects the youth of all ages and of both genders. Children who view violent programming on television will behave more aggressively with peers. "In one five-year study of 732 children, "several kinds of aggression-- conflicts with parents, fighting and delinquency--were all positively correlated with the total amount of television viewing," (Anderson). As a result of so many hours of viewing television, their is a negative attitude change to a great deal of young people.

Children who watch violence and aggression on television can grow into adults who have a violent frame of mind. Significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain children and adolescents. Television brings hitting, kicking, stabbings, shootings, and dismemberment right into homes on a daily basis (Anderson). Young children imitate behaviors they see on television and may consequently exhibit these gender-biased behaviors and develop the gender-biased attitudes that they watch on television (Witt). Kids in school try to avoid fights in the hall and often walk home in fear because children in school are often violent and dangerous due to the fact of violent television shows.

Also, children become physically and emotionally unresponsive to the violence and aggression they