Television Violence essays

Television Violence essays With the recent outbreak of school shootings, there has been renewed public concern over how violence is depicted in the media, particularly on television. Studies have shown that a child has witnessed 8,000 murders on television before finishing elementary school. With this statistic in mind, I am going to define television violence, state some facts on how violence causes aggressive behavior in children and give some suggestions on how parents can decrease the amount of media violence in their home. Television violence usually refers to all the violence appearing on TV screens. It includes material broadcast over the air, distributed by cable and satellite systems, and available on videocassettes and disks. A common understanding or definition of what constitutes television violence could be useful in helping to examine and regulate the problem (Alter, pars. 4-5). Extensive viewing of television violences by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in the childs behavior or may surface years later , and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence. This does not mean that violence on television is the only source for aggressive or violent behavior, but it is a significant contributor (Smith, par. 4). The overall pattern of research findings indicates a positive association between television violence and aggressive behavior. A Washington Post article , states that the evidence from more than 3,000 research studies over two decades shows that the violence portrayed on television influences the attitudes and behavior...