There are television sets in nearly every household in America. Therefore most children grow up watching television. The problem is that television programs are becoming increasingly violent. Regularly watched, these programs can cause harmful effects on children. Children, being easily influenced, will imitate the television characters.
There has been concern about the effect of video games on children almost since they first became popular. As early as 1982, the Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, stated that “children are into the games, mind, body, and soul - everything is zapping the enemy” (Cited in Scott 1995). Since then the concerns of the public have intensified. President Clinton and the first lady addressed “kids steeped in the culture of violence do become desensitized to it and are more capable of
TV is full of programs and commercials that shows risky behaviors such as drinking alcohol, doing drugs and smoking cigarettes. By watching too much TV children can become obese and may increase the risk of negative behavior to do violent acts when they grow up. Letting children watch too much TV is bad. Children who watch TV have a risk of becoming obese. Kids are bombarded with ads that encourage them to eat unhealthy foods such as potato chips and soft drinks.
When children witness acts of violence from the media, they begin to believe that it is normal and so they begin to act upon the instances of violence and anger they witnessed. Videogames also play a large role in the manifestation of violent thoughts and behavior in children and young adults. Just like television, videogames desensitize the player of the game. Thus, violence within the media should be censored and monitored to prevent the decay and desensitization of the human race. To begin, throughout history studies have been conducted on the ability for children to retain information and how this is affected by certain factors.
This cartoon also utilizes the children to count and remember things in interact with it. In today’s society there are both educational cartoons and educational programs that are now widely available on television for children. These differ from other programs on television today because there are strict guidelines for learning. While there are many different ways for children to learn and the television can become another resourceful tool for everyone to utilize. Some parents do not realize that when they are allowing their children to sit down and watch television for hours on end that there could be a show that is educational and will help to fill the child’s mind with knowledge and not pollution.
Vulgar language routinely appears in programs and movies which is accessible to youth. It is realistic and believable to younger youth which can lead them to aggressiveness. As with our American youth viewing these ideas, these images are imposed on the viewers, especially the younger generation. There is a huge amount of younger children that sit and watch television for many hours. In doing that it will handicap their brains.
Censorship is used in television by ratings such as General audience, Parental Guidance Suggested, PG-13 strongly advises guidance for children under age 13 and R requires accompaniment by an adult for children under age 17, or 18 in some states. The media today is filled with entertainment because without entertainment
Parents should realize this problem and talk with their children about negative effects of gun violence and to instruct on how to deal with the child’s emotions. Video games are rated by the ESRB, The Entertainment Software Rating Board, by how violent the game is and rates them accordingly to the appropriate age level that can handle the material. M-rated games require the buyer to be 17 years of age or older because of its violent and/or sexual content. In 2003 a survey shows that 69 percent of teenage shoppers were able to buy M-rated games (FTC). This percentage of youths that can buy violent to extremely violent games is mind
There has been at least one shooting every year since 1991. Even though violent video games, television, and bullying in schools influence children in negative ways, the children, themselves, have psychological problems, and there is nothing else to blame their violent acts on. One in three students in America does not feel safe at school (Orr). What are the shooter’s reasons for attacking the schools? Some experts conclude that the recent trends of violence in video games and on TV are manipulating children.
More ways of playing violent video games are created each year, but most of us have this question in mind. Do violent video games influence young people to act aggressively? Overplaying video games can have many disastrous effects on teen limiting gameplay can have multiple positive effects. Sitting in front of a TV screen shooting people can incite young players to act violently. Repetitive killing can train them to act aggressively.