Violent behavior on television desensitizes children to violence in real life and has long lasting negative effects on them.

Violence is all around us in today's world. With the advent of smaller, more powerful handguns, it is easier than ever to commit a violent act. Every night on the news, one can see any number of news reports on a shooting or hostage situation. Even on fictional children's programming, one can find any number of creatures fighting each other. This is a large problem, because many children spend much more time with the television per day than they do with their parents. Why is seeing all of this violence a problem? Violent behavior on television desensitizes children to violence in real life and has long lasting negative effects on them.

There have been many studies that have shown that this is not really beneficial to children. One of the first studies was done by Albert Bandura (Bandura, Ross, and Ross 1963) demonstrates how easily a child can be influ

Kalin, Carla, "Television, Violence, and Children." College of Education, University of Oregon. [Online]. Available: http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA/MLArticleFolder/kalin.html [1997 June].

Parents really need to exercise control over television viewing. There are reasons as to why this makes sense as well. Children whose parents generally exerted guidance over their TV viewing were less likely to choose programs labeled as problematic, i.e. with advisories or PG-13 and R ratings. (NCTA). The first thing that parents can do is find out what their children are watching. About half the time a child spends in front of the television she is alone or in the company of other children (Sweet & Singh, p.3). By placing the television in a central location, for example in the living room and not in the child's bedroom, parents can better monitor what their children are watching. Parents can simply turn off the set if what their children are watching does not seem appropriate. (Kalin)

Foster, B. G. (1995). "Helping Children Cope in the Information Age." Educational Horizons, v73 n4 p174-180.

Megee, M. (1984). On Television: The Violence Factor (video recording).San Francisco: California Newsreel. Mediascope National Television Violence Study, (1996). [Online]. Available:http://cii2.cochran.com/mnet/eng/med/home/ resource/ntvs.htm [1997, March 26].

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