War, fighting, blood, and violence are all televised nationally in today’s society. This violence in television affects our society immensely. Television violence promotes and creates violence in the community. This violence affects all people but it tremendously puts pressure the younger generations. Children are shaped by what they see and hear and if they see violence on the TV than they will soon believe that violence in the real world is okay. In society today children’s innocence is being taken away from them at a very early age. Shows of violence on television promote kids to have violent lives themselves. Not only do television shows promote violence but the media does as well.
Television shows such as wars, fighting, murders, and many more promote the idea to children that violence is accepted. Images from the screen influence children’s experiences in the real world. This is because kids copy behaviors from the television for example they mimic the actions of the “Guidos” from The Jersey Shore and the violence from shows such as CSI. There has always been violent TV but it has not become widely popular until recently. Violence has recently become mainstream, where even family channels now have showings. “Many of the movies seen at home today wouldn't have been shown in theaters 10-20 years ago” (Anderson). Also violence has evolved to become more bloody and realistic than the past years due to advancing technology. In reaction to this increasing violence in television “Violent crimes have increased by more than 560 percent since 1960” (Anderson).
“The average child watches 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school” (Anderson). This amount of television violence impacts children’s lives massively. It is hard for young children to determine right from wrong and this is why the television violence has the largest impact on them. Children will eventually come to think that this violence is correct and they will then turn around and become violent themselves. The average child watches around four hours of television a day (AACAP). This large number is partially why kids are affected so much by what is shown on the TV. The Television is watch so frequently that it starts to become the child’s reality.
The Media is a massive cause of the violence amongst the younger generations. The media promotes violence due to the fact that it sells. Today’s society is obsessed with hearing about the violence in the world, but in fact showing this violence only creates more aggression amongst the society. The news channel is all about murders, wars, robbery, and other violent acts. These real world acts watch by adolescents influence them to perform the act themselves. This influence starts at a very young age. “University of Illinois psychologist Leonard Eron studied children at age eight and then at eighteen. He found that television habits established at the age of eight influenced aggressive behavior through childhood and adolescent years” (Anderson). He then concluded “the effect of television violence on aggression is cumulative”.
Violence in television needs to come to an end. It is creating a more aggressive youth and in the long run going to hurt our society. The television and media needs to become more regulated to where less or no violence is broadcasted. If this is done than the violent acts in the society will lessen. It will also make our society and overall better place to live.
Works Cited
Anderson, Kerby. Violence in Society. N.p., 14 July 2002. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/violence.html>.
Children and TV Violence. AACAP, 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_tv_violence>.
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