Television and aggression

The question of whether the media influences aggression has recently become an area of great interest. More specifically, the area of whether aggression and violence is having a detrimental effect on children, and therefore is one of the causes in the recorded number of youth violent crimes.

Statistically speaking, the amount of television being viewed by children has risen:

“Children now spend approximately 25 hours a week watching television, a dramatic increase when compared to 10 years ago” (Miller, 1998)

However, more alarmingly is the evidence that shows the increase in violence on our television screens. Many psychologists have focused on this area and have found startling results including:

“ By the time the average child leaves elementary school, he or she will have witnessed at least 8,000 murders and more than 10,000 acts of violence on television” (Smith, 1996)

“ In 1982, airtime for violence increased from 1.5 hours per week to 43 hours per week in 1986, and in 1980 most of the children’s programmes featured 18.6 violent acts per hour and now have 26.5 violent acts per hour” (Smith, 1992)

“ 57% of television programmes contain “psychological

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Approximate Word count = 3068
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)