Media Problems

Children and television

Brent Iannoli

COM/156

March 11, 2012

Valerie Bradley-Holliday

 Children and Television

Can the television shows that our children watch really change different aspects of their development? A growing number of researchers are raising questions about this very topic, and conducting numerous studies to further understand the complexity of this potential issue. Since television is a stimulus, there are many contributing factors which could have an adverse effect on the viewers, especially the fragile psyche of a child. The fact of the matter is, the television programming that children watch can have significant effects on their development, depending on the type of stimulus.

There are numerous different forms of stimulus encapsulated in television today, but possibly one of the most prominent concerns for young children would be the violent content which many programs contain. While author Matthew Johnson (2002) states that “a direct "cause and effect" link is difficult to establish, [however] there is a growing consensus that some children may be vulnerable to violent images and messages”, much research has been conducted in long term tests in attempts to provide a more direct link between the two. Researchers have, however, found results in child behavior that could have a direct link to media violence. When faced with television violence on a regular basis, adolescents develops a kind of resistance to the matter. The way violence is perceived is changed and may make the child desensitized to violence in the real world. Another area of focus is how children cope with the violence they have seen. There are many forms of coping with the perceived violence but most commonly presented is “Increased aggressive behavior” which “can be especially true of young children, who are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior after viewing violent TV shows or movies” (Johnson, 2002).

Violent behavior and how children...