Television and Media - TV Violence and Childrens Behavior Essay

Television Violence and Childrens Behavior Drive-by shootings and school massacres are just two of the umteen violent past-times of todays youth. Is television a contributor to this insidious erosion of childrens respect for life? Much research that has been done in an render to answer this question. The majority of the findings are very similar in content, and the results are grim. Television violence has been shown to cause four major changes in childrens behavior increase aggressiveness and anti-social behavior, increasing their fear of becoming victims, making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence, and increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life. (AAP Committee) Television is causing a change in Americas children, and it is not a change for the better. If watching television is increasing childrens aggressive behavior, then is it too causing a higher crime rate? Once over again, the answer is a resounding yes. Longitudi nal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a champion individual found that 8-year-old boys who viewed the most violent programs while growing up were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30. (Booth, Mullins, Scott, and Woolston) Not only do our children exhibit an immediate reaction to violence in the media but also a long term effect of a higher propensity toward committing crimes. Another population study stated that the homicide rate forked within ten to fifteen years after the introduction of television into several different locations where television was introduced at different times. (Facts About Media Violence) We are any affect... ...can child reaches the age of 16, he or she will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence on television, including 33,000 murders. (Juvenile Crime and TV) Apparently we accept what we see over and over again as normal behavior. We are teaching our chi ldren that violence is acceptable by inviting it into our homes everyday. They, in turn, are becoming more violent from the playgrounds all the way to the prisons. full treatment Cited Booth, Vicki, Mullins, Heather, Scott, Erika, and Woolston, Jonathon. Juvenile Crime and TV. Online. http//staff.gc.maricopa.edu/mdinchak/eng101/juvenile.htm Facts About Media Violence. Online. http//www.ama-assn.org/ad-com/releases/1996/mvfacts.htm AAP Committee on Pediatrics. Some Things You Should Know About Media Violence and Media Literacy. Online. http//www.aap.org/advocacy/ChildHealthMonth/media.htm