Effects Of Television Violence example essay topic

371 words
Television is at the heart of American culture: its power and influence are unparalleled. Approximately two-thirds of Americans report that they get most of their information about the world from TV. Though influential, this phenomenon is relatively new. In 1956, only 4.6 million homes in the United States had television sets and no programming was available during many hours every day. By 1990, there were 92.1 million homes with TVs and the average viewer could select from approximately 30 channels.

The number of homes with TVs keeps rising. Majority of these homes have television sets on for more than seven hours each day. Children form the ages 6-11 spend more time watching television than they do in the classroom. As a child sits in front of baby-sitting television, her eyes are glued to the viewing of shoot em up rip em up kind of entertainment. We have to remember that the entertainment media plays an extremely powerful role in the formation of values and morals, to all youngsters minds, all socioeconomic levels and all levels of intelligence. These programs play with kids minds.

These programs have a tremendous negative effect on our children. We as a society, must save our future and take an active role in protecting our children from the violence on our television. Impact of television on children The impact of television, more specifically on children, has been an issue discussed and debated by psychologists, sociologists, media networks and the viewing public in general. As some maintain that exposure to television violence results in violent actions in real life, others believe that the opposite is true. Questions and doubts still pervade the validity of the studies and findings that have been conducted on the effects of television violence, although all seems to agree that television plays a major role in shaping the cultural and mental state of children. Several researchers have agreed that television and media are self-evidently a central aspect of contemporary children's lives.

Surveys consistently show that most children in industrialized countries spend more time watching television than they spend in school, in interacting with their families or friends.