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Television Viewing and Violence in Children
Television has become a kind of a modern, technological 'babysitter' for children. It is not unusual for even very young children to have unsupervised television time. Because of the famous studies conduced by Bandura which suggested that children are apt to mimic observed behaviors and imitate the behaviors of others (even when they are not directly praised for doing so) many researchers have attempted to draw a causal link between violent television viewing and actual violent behavior in children. They also argue that children are desensitized to violence through repeated viewing of violent programming. This notion of desensitization is supported by studies which found that measures of arousal in children declined upon repeated exposure to violent content. Children exposed to violent television also seem more apt to articulate a suspicious view of the world (275-276).
However, it is somewhat problematic...
Violence is a complex expression of human behavior, and reducing it to a simplistic factor like television exposure is almost impossible under 'real world' conditions, since so many unaccounted-for factors can affect behavior. Although there may be a correlation between violent behavior and television viewing, it may be likely that parents who allow unlimited and supervised television viewing are less involved in their children's lives, and these households may be more chaotic and violent in nature. Additionally, children that willingly select violent television programming may have a genetic predisposition to be fascinated with violence.
There is also the question of what constitutes 'violence' on television in general. Even fairy tales have violent elements -- as do Roadrunner cartoons. Studies of violence…
It said that most parents would support new limits to be established on content of television programs and shows. Approximately half of the surveyed parents and their peers expressed concern that their own children saw what they saw on TV. More Black and Hispanic parents expressed this concern than did white parents. More than three-fourths of them said that inappropriate television and media material worried them the most. Two-thirds
Children and Television Over time, television has become a must have household item/electronic for most American households. Today, unlike several decades ago, a television viewer has a wide range of channels to choose from. However, the ever increasing relevance of the television set has not come without criticism. In most cases, the criticism that has been leveled against television viewing has largely been founded on the impact it has on its
In fact, the relationship between academic performance and television is not clear cut. Research has shown that children who watch a large amount of television typically do poorly in school, yet those who spend a moderate amount of time in front of the television do better than non-viewers. There is a small negative relationship between television viewing and a child's IQ. However, there are significant subgroup differences. There are
Television and Social Behavior As a pervasive media, television has a significant impact on people of every age group. Regular dose of violence, aggression, killing, rape and other criminal activities creates both short-term and long-term effects. Besides the risk of desensitization and development of a violent disposition, television also causes other social behavioral issues. Too much television viewing has been shown to affect active peer relationships. Research on 'mirror neurons' has
Two of the most important things that the industry is doing now is making sure that all television programs are rated, and using v-chips to keep children from seeing programs that contain violence (Szaflik, 2000). Neither one of these ideas are foolproof, however, and therefore more must be done. Unfortunately, not that many parents and educators are aware of what else can be done to help, and therefore television violence
The industry knowingly takes advantage of this recent cultural shift in parent-child relationships. And finally, the industry knows that children and youngsters are more likely to be influenced by violent movies, TV shows, and games and are more likely to get addicted to violent imagery, becoming potential customers for future media products and games that glorify violence (Mean world syndrome, 2009). It is fair, therefore, to say that bombardment