Media Violence and Children
Many people have been debating over the recent changes in television. Because the increasing juvenile crime rate is blamed on the rise in television violence, many people are pushing to regulate, or remove violence on television. There have been many claims that television violence has affected the children. Television violence does affect children contrary to the beliefs of some people as many studies have proven. If there is something that causes us to behave the way we do as human beings after viewing violence on television, and then copying that behavior, where does that leave us as a society on what to do with television as an influential source in our behavior? If a child will absorb something they see many times over and over, then by the age of 18 an American Child will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence (Senate, 4). It is a well-known fact that many small children act out their heroes from television soon after watching them. After watching "Ninja Turtles" I have personally observed small children act out the movie playing character roles from the movie. Research has shown by following a group of 8 year-olds for 22 years, the children that had increased levels of television viewing were mo
Ledingham, Dr. Jean. "The Effects of Media Violence on Children." National Clearinghouse on Family Violence July. 1989 re violent than the other children. By increasing their television viewing time, they were more likely to have committed a serious crime, to be more aggressive while drinking, and to punish their children more harshly than others. This study was not only true in the United States, but in other countries as well. (Tepperman, 1) Also in a separate study of young male felons who were imprisoned for committing crimes, between one fourth, and one third admitted to consciously imitating crime techniques they saw on television. (Tepperman, 1) Many movies and television shows are simply about a bad guy committing some form of a crime, and then the good guys going out to hunt them down and kill them to 'get even.' There are some movies that rivet audiences without the high body counts, and blood and gore such as Speed, and Crimson Tide. Then there are movies that fall between these two categories. Movies such as Boyz N the Hood deals with the reality of homicide, while Schindler's List deals with genocide. Teens do not need to be sheltered from these realities, because they will generally deal with them directly or indirectly. Such movies as these give a story as it would happen in real life. Showing how violence in that level exists, but providing a positive influence to show alternative ways from that as well as the results that follow from not taking the alternatives. (Levine, 358) America is the nation with the most violent television programming. Second on the list is Japan, so
Some common words found in the essay are:
Public Affairs, Ninja Turtles, America Japan, , Schindler's List, Psychological Association, University Michigan, American Child, Leonard Eron, television violence, Crimson Tide, violence television, media violence, television programming, violence senate, television viewing, bad guy committing, bad guy, guy committing, research shown, violent scenes,
Approximate Word count = 1085
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
