Violence and Television In today’s society, television violence is shaping the way our children behave, making them prone to violence and abuse as they get older. Living in a world where the majority of our entertainment is television, it is very likely that we would become more immune to the physical and damaging acts of damaging force committed. Violence is all over our media but mostly on the TV. Parents should monitor what their children are watching closely, so that their behavior does not become more destructive at; even at the age of 5. History shows that some of the first violent acts were noticed in the 1950’s.
They say that even back then a lot of television was filled with destructive acts. From talking to my grandparents television was not as much of a necessity as we believe it to be today. Being the society that has to be entertained around the clock, we just do not think about what is going into our children’s heads. It seems to affect children more, because their behavior patterns are still developing, and are very vulnerable, and we don’t want them to develop into what they see on TV.
Children who watch television a lot of the time become less aware to the pain and suffering of other people around them. If they are always in front of the tube, and just sit there, and soak in all of that bad stuff they are seeing, they become not as aware as they should be. When terrible acts of violence happen in the children’s life that do watch a lot of TV, they are not as aroused by the acts going on in front of them. It is not as disturbing as it would be for a child who does not watch a lot of violent television. A study was shown that a child who had watched a violent television show such as The Power Rangers, rather than a nonviolent show like My Little Pony, were slower getting involved when they saw a younger child getting beat up or playing destructively. Instead of children taking action, or getting involved if they are old enough, they are more fearful of the things going on around them.
If a child watches a lot of violence, when a violent or destructive situation came up they might be afraid to take action. They could be fearful that they would get hurt. In this case, we need to let our children know that if there is a dangerous situation that they should be brave enough to go and tell an adult or someone in authority. If they are too afraid to even help, situations may turn for the worse, if their not stopped at an early enough age.
The third reason we should monitor what our children watch more, is when they get so used to watching violence, anything else they watch is not exciting enough for them. They get so used to watching violent things on television, they are going to need something more exciting. Violence could be anything from murder, to rape, to robbing. So do we want our children to get excited by watching someone being raped on the television? What kind of world is this coming to if our children are excited to see someone killed on TV? Even with all of the violence going on in our media today, we have to remember that not all of it is bad. Or we just can not help the violence that is in the news or the newspapers.
Violence happens in our world everyday, but we are the ones that need to protect out children from certain types of violence, such as killing, or hurting people in unnecessary ways. I am not a mother yet, but I watch plenty of children to know that even without watching all of the violent things on TV, that they can be rough. I can not even imagine what they would be like if they did spend a lot of time in front of the television. I know that when I am a mother that I will be a great mediator of what my children watch. If television is shaping the way our children behave, I do not want my children watching it. Children should always be able to watch plenty of TV.
Just make sure you know the kind of television they are putting into their heads.