Television\'s Negative Effect on Society

Television's Negative Effect On Society

Type of Speech: Persuasive

Does television have a negative affect on society?

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to cut back the number of hours spent in TV watching, especially where children and impressionable young adults are considered.

Central Idea: Television has a negative affect on society because it encourages violence and discourages intellectual and academic development.

Watching Television: Pastime or Problem?

Did you know that children ages 2-11 watch nearly 30 hours of television a week, and teenagers watch about 25 hours of television programming? Well, according to Hedley et al.'s Thinking and Literacy, written in 1995, children and minors watch TV almost as often as their parents work to support them. That means that each day children are being exposed to more and more unfiltered content, content that could shape them more than their parents or educators. The phrase, "children are the future" is used quite liberally in our culture, and after school programs, academic tutors, and lectures by law enforcement agents have been installed in many communities in order to keep children safe and help them thrive. Despite this, relatively little has been done to curb children's TV watching although that TV watching has a negative impact on society, encouraging tomorrow's decision makers to behave in a violent manner and to perform poorly academically. Because television encourages violence and results in lowered academic achievement, it has a negative effect on society and should be watched only briefly, especially by young people.

As far back as the 1960s, the negative connection between violence in the media and society has been established. According to Signorielli's 2005 handbook, Violence in the Media, a series of climactic events in the 1960s encouraged, the formation of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, and several reports on the condition of violence and the media were commissioned. The commission eventually suggested that violence on television was leading to a "public preoccupation with violence." During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the issue continued to receive a great deal of press, ultimately resulting in the issuing of ratings on television in the 1990s. Although Signorielli points out that many different tests, studies, and research have shown that violence affects children in different ways. Still, organizations as significant as the AMA have, at one time or another, campaigned against the use of violence on television. Kirsh, in his 2003 book, Children, Adolescents, and Media, writes that research has shown that frightening parts of a story increase anxiety in children ages six to nine. Indeed, Kirsh cites research that has repeatedly shown that "violent and scary images on television and in movies" not only causes an immediate reaction of fear but also memories of that fear.

What this suggests is that violence in the media has a negative impact on society, making children fearful, anxious, and aggressive. As children are our future, showing violent and frightening images on television has a negative impact on society because it aids in the creation of a society that is both aggressive and fear. And what causes war and conflict other than aggressive fear?

In addition to creating a society filled with those who are both aggressive and fearful, television creates a society filled with those who do not succeed academically and intellectually, preparing the world to spiral into a downturn of less than qualified leadership. According to Hedley et al.'s book, the negative correlation between television viewing and academic performance can be supported by five major studies. These studies, conducted mostly during the 1980s, used data collected primarily from educational and academic sources, such as the Educational Testing Service, the California Assessment Program, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Susan B. Neuman, in Literacy in the Television Age, a book published in 1999, adds to this data by arguing that the television could have been a great educational tool. Tha I t is not, and is rather a tool commonly seen as eroding academic ability, certainly speaks volumes to its nature. Neuman argues that three arguments have been made, associating television with negative affects on society. Some have argued that television takes time away from more academic pursuits like reading and imagining, while others suggest that it shapes the way that students' think. The other argument holds that TV makes students exhibit poor behavior during class. Clearly, one of the most important pursuits of a child or adolescent's life is education. Without it, society will be doomed to malfunction. Because television impacts education negatively, it has a negative impact on society.