Television Violence and the Effects on Children

Patty Leto

September 24, 2013

English 102

Professor Martin

Television Violence and the Effects on Children

What impact does viewing violence on television have on children? Is it possible that television is changing our world as we know it or is it not as influential as some researchers have led people to believe, or another question is, is it possible that what our children watch today really affect how they will behave tomorrow?

Over the years television shows and their content have changed drastically. With basically unlimited possibilities from news, cooking shows, sitcoms, do-it-yourself shows and cartoons there is always something on. Determining what is appropriate for your children to watch is becoming a challenge. At any point in any given day you can find a television show that is showing content that you may find inappropriate for your child to view. This content can range from topics like, violence, sex and teen pregnancy, to homosexuality. Thankfully, the cable and the satellite providers have built parental controls into most of their equipment which allows us to screen and censor what children are allowed to view.

In far too many shows violence and aggression are found to be in abundance, which enables young viewers to be exposed to this portion of human nature. Inappropriateness of the media violence for children focuses on the negative effects of violence in entertainment programming. (Der, Walma). Some people believe that children while being exposed to this very violent human nature may possibly lead to life altering effects to their behavior. “The first 2 years of life are considered a critical time for brain development. TV and other electronic media can get in the way of exploring, playing, and interacting with parents and others, which encourages learning and healthy physical and social development.” (KidsHealth)

Throughout television history there have been childhood favorite cartoons such as, Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Elmer...