Violence on Television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Violence on Television - Essay Example There is no doubt that television has its good side. It can be both entertaining as well as educational. It gives good opportunity for children to learn more about different cultures, and gain exposure to ideas they may never encounter in their own community.Besides, it also gives them a chance to see different places and learn about various aspects on life in different parts of the world. In addition, there are also several motivational programs with positive role models and good moral stories that can influence kids to change their behavior for the better (UMHS n. pag, 2007). However, the concern today is the impact of violence that is projected in the television. Ever since the beginning of television, the effect of TV violence on society has been commonly studied and strongly debated. There are several studies that provide evidence that violence in television can be linked to the real life violence. For instance, a study conducted by four universities and financed by the cable industry found that of nearly 2,700 shows analyzed in a 20 week survey of 23 channels, 57% were said to contain at least some violence (Zoglin 58-61). [1] One of the biggest concerns is the negative effect of television on children. Researchers hypothesize that viewing TV violence can lead to three potentially harmful effects: increased antisocial or aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence (becoming more accepting of violence in real life and less caring about other people's feelings), or increased fear of becoming a victim of violence (Smith and Donnerstein 167-202).12 [2] Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Children and adolescent concur some of the negative moral influences through TV such as media violence, portrayals of sexual exploitation and attitudes, vulgarity and rudeness, intense and disturbing imagery, passive watching - the "couch potato" syndrome, alcoholism, drug abuse, and other kinds of disturbing activities. For example, the average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18 (Dowshen and Gavin n. pag 2005). These may lead to serious psychological problems. Too much of TV means that children not exercising, reading, socializing, or spending time outside. Children, who view violent events, are also more likely to believe that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them. These could have serious negative influence on the growth and development of the child. A review of scientific literature on media violence provides ample evidences that the connection of media violence to real-life aggressive behavior and violence has been largely exposed (Donnerstein and Linz 271-284). Estimates suggest that as much as 10% to 20% of real-life violence may be a duplication of media violence (Comstock and Strasburger 495-509). National Television Violence Study presented the following after a three years study: nearly two thirds of all programming contains violence; children's shows contain the most violence; portrayals of violence are usually glamorized; and perpetrators often go unpunished (Federman 1998). Violence on television can influence people to commit crimes. There is an increase of juvenile crimes in the world. While television violence is not the only cause of aggressive or violent behavior, researchers believe that it is clearly a significant factor. It is important