Free The Negative Effects of Television Violence on Children Essay Sample

Television is a very influential medium in homes

It is also considered to be the most effective means of communication. It contains many shows which have different impacts in our lives and suitable for either both children and adults or for adults only. It has both positive and negative impacts on children.,  The effects of television shows on children results from violence associated with such programs and have been found to impact children negatively at all stages of development.

It is appreciated that children watch TV shows at all ages of their lives

With this in mind, every child at any given stage of development would “grasp something from the TV shows which in the long run will determine their viewing habits”. One particular aspect that is common among children of all ages is imitation of what they see. For instance, when a child views a character in a cartoon show, this child will imitate what that character does. Unfortunately, most cartoon shows often depict a character being drowned by other characters without being injured. Such cases encourage violence among children because of the belief that violence does not harm anyway. Watson and Skinner further asserted that,  most characters in violent cartoons shows often go unpunished irrespective of their crime. Such, cases tend to breed violence and crimes among children who through the shows are made to believe that instance of crime are not punishable.  

Research has also showed that various programs that are aired on TV cause arousal effects on children

Generally, TV shows are known to be stimulating especially to children and therefore easily stir them. However, such excitement can sometimes be utilized by children wrongly and become part and parcel of their habits thereby resulting in “aggressive behaviors”. In fact, most children tend to be more aggressive immediately after watching violent TV programs. Such acts of aggression often result from the children’s desire to practice what they might have seen on violent TV shows. Similarly, some children have in one way or the other surprised their parents or guardians on the way they behave especially after they encountered certain violent TV shows. Such instances are attributed to “variation in children’s information processing abilities”. Therefore, it shows that violent TV shows can result in aggressive behaviors either immediately or after a long period of TV encounter.

The other negative effect of TV violence on children is the use of violence as a means of solving life problems. That is, through the TV shows, children tend to learn that they can employ violence to solve problems whenever they occur. According to Singer and Singer , children are exposed to Television at all ages of their lives. This implies that, at any given point, a child would be able to learn from the TV shows by picking a character’s role that really interests him/her. Such children often copy what they see on TV shows and apply the same tactics in real life issues. Often children watch violent TV programs where a character commits a lot of crimes and the television ends up crafting a hero out of such violent character. In such cases, a child will emulate the same violent acts in situations where he/she values the character as a role model. This shows that violent TV shows feed the children with wrong ideas thinking that crime creates fame. On the other hand, violent TV shows contain frightening and horrible scenes which affects a child’s view of life as a whole. In this way, a child will live knowing that life is always cruel and that “the real-world violence is more common and the world is less safe”. Therefore, the child will live with fear and trauma thereby making him/her to worry about everything in life. This is because a child cannot differentiate between a fact and fiction and therefore the stories they watch on TV shows reflect in their daily lives as if they were real. Consequently, children exposed to violence television programs develop fear and attitudes that the word is so mean and that they might be victims of violence in life.

Singer and Singer argue that violent TV shows have a great impact on children whenever they are watched. When a child begins to watch those violent TV shows daily, this will be part and parcel of his/her life and therefore everything they are watching becomes their lifestyle. Such children grow up with violence as their habit thereby making it difficult to change. This will even affect a child’s social behavior and how he/she relates with other people such as parents and friends. Therefore, the value and meaning of life is lost because the violent TV shows justifies killing as fun where the characters on TV shows do not care after committing murder. In this case, overexposure of children on violent TV shows makes them accept violence as a normal issue. This has in one way or the other made children exposed to TV violence to allow, enjoy and embrace hostility from others without resisting.

In summary, it is evident that television violence affects children negatively

Consequently, it would be important for the parents, guardians, and other bodies concerned to ensure that the media provides television programs that support children’s interest. Although it is hard to control the media on programs that it should air especially if they are meant for adults, it should be upon parents and guardians to monitor and restrict what their children are watching at any given time. In addition, parents should substitute watching TV with some other activities such as sports, reading and other extracurricular activities. They should also encourage media education in their families to ensure that their children are well guarded on television programs.

 

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