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Essay #5 |
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Patricia Clements��� ���������������������������������������������������� June 17, 2002 |
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Children and the Effects of the Media |
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Television surveyor A.C. Nielson, says children under the age of five watches about 23.5 hours of television in a week.� Most teenagers have watched approximately 15,000 hours of television.� It can lead to emotional problems of distinguishing reality from fiction.� What parents don't understand is that the television plays a big part in a child's life. It teaches them new words and shows them things they have never seen before. Television is starting to play a significant role in how children behave, act ,and respond to the outside world.� Watching too much television isn't good for anybody, but it has more of an effect on children since their brains and bodies are not fully developed.� |
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����������� Most television shows have some violence and when children constantly see this, they think and learn that this behavior is normal.� According to Dr. John Murray, a professor of Developmental Psychology at Kansas State University, "neuro-imaging evidence confirms that watching violence is compelling, highly likely to be learned and can be easily recalled to serve as a model for children's future behavior." Violence is not something that a child is born with.� He has to see it and learn it. Leonard Eron, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan says, "Aggression is a learned behavior, it is learned at an early age, and media violence is one of its teachers.� But because it is learned, there is hope it can be unlearned or never taught in the first place." |
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����������� Leonard was so convinced that television violence affected kids, he did a survey of every 8-year-old in Columbia County, New York and found a correlation between the amounts of violence children saw on television and the aggressiveness of their behavior.� Further studies showed that 8-year-olds who watched violence on television when they were young had more arrests for drunk driving, violent crimes, spousal abuse, and had violent children.� The evidence was so convincing to Eron, he said, "The strength of the relationship is the same as cigarettes causing lung cancer, is there any doubt about that?" |
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����������� The National Television Violence also conducted a study and is one of the most complex studies conducted on this subject.� Over the years they've gathered information that shows that violence do affects kids directly. Children who view violent learn to behave violently and they become more desensitized to the outcome of violence and have more fear of being attack. |
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����������� The results of these studies seem to point in the same direction.� There are undeniable association between violent television and anger.� Other studies around the Unite States discovered that aggression, educational problems, unpopularity with peers and violence feed off each other, which promotes violent behavior in children.� The child watches violence, which causes aggression.� The combination of aggression and continued television viewing leads to poor academic status as well as unpopularity in children.� This can cause more aggression and the start of a vicious cycle.� Some people are trying to fight this problem and others are ignoring it, hoping it will go away.� The facts are irrefutable that the results of the studies carried out, all evidences point to the same conclusion:� Television violence causes children to be violent and the effects can be life-long. |
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����������� The television industry took steps toward putting ratings system into effect at a meeting with President Clinton during his term.� The ratings system gives parents an indication of content not suitable for children.� The rating system uses letter codes (such as PG-7 for programs deemed suitable for children aged 7 and up, PG-10, PG-15, etc.).� Also, the television industry may develop a short description of content, which would be aired prior to the program. |
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����������� Recent studies show that the following steps can help parents maintain control in swaying their child's viewing habits.� They can watch at least one episode of the program to help the child understand the content, discuss if necessary, and explain any questionable incidents that may occur.� Parents or guardians should ban all programs that are too violent or offensive.� Restrict television viewing to educational programming and encourage children to participate in activities such as sports, hobbies or playing with their friends.� Limit the amount of time that your children spend watching television.� Perhaps the most important way to prevent children from watching television violence is to stop it where it starts.� The parents are the child's role models.� If the child can learn at an early age that violence on television is bad, then he can turn the set off for himself when he is older because education should start at home. |
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Works Cited |
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Associated Press Online 17 June 2002. <http://www.associatedpress.com>. |
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Education Digest, 1996, Vol. 62. |
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Eron, Leonard. University of Michigan. <http://www.wmich.edu>. |
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Murray, John. Developmental Psychology of Kansas City University. 17 June 2002 <http://www.umkc.edu>. |
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National Coalition on TV Violence. 17 June 2002. <http://www.nctvv.org>. |
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