Violence On Television

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Britney Moss 000-05-9721 COM 150 March 24th, 2011 Violence on Television Television is being blamed for children becoming violent in later life because it is an easy scapegoat. In many families, television has become an electronic baby-sitter; a replacement for quality time with parents. Children who spend their after school time alone because parents work will find themselves learning behaviors not from their parents, but from television. American children watch an average of fours hours of television daily. “Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent (Szaflik, K.).” Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may: • become "immune" or numb to the horror of violence • gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems • imitate the violence they observe on television; and • identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers. Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows, in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or left unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. The impact of television violence may be immediately evident in a child’s behavior or may surface years later, and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry).However, this does not mean that violence on television is the only source for aggressive or violent behavior, but it is a significant contributor. In order to determine the effects of TV violence, one needs took look at the research that has been done. Though it may be
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