Media Violence

Television has both positive and negative effects on children of all ages.   Violence in the Media is available to children and can be watched in many ways: on television, on movie theater screens, on DVD’s, on the Internet, and many other forms.   Psychologists are providing substantial evidence proving through studies that violence in the media has a negative impact on a child’s future.   Many parents are unaware on what preventative measures they have provided to limit their child’s intake to violent materials on television. Steps that the concerned parents can take is to supervise the daily amount of television with their child, also making sure the child fully understands the differences in reality to fantasy, and insisting that their child’s school work and family responsibilities are first priority and television is a privilege.  

Like everything they encounter early in life, what children see and hear in the media makes an impression in their lives.   According to Kaiser Family Foundation, “Children, ages eight to eighteen, spend more time (44.5 hours per week – six and a half hours daily) in front of computer, television, and game screens than any other activity in their lives except sleeping”(2005).   So it is extremely critical for parents to take the time to supervise and limit their child’s intake on what their child is watching.   Craig Anderson, a leading researcher on the effects of media violence on children says, Violent content on television, the Internet, movies, video games tells children that people are vindictive, negative events are deliberate acts of malice, and retaliation is a valid response to conflict.     Many studies have shown that parents today have no idea on what their children are actually watching on television. By the time a child is eighteen year old, he or she will witness on television (with average viewing time) 200,000 acts of violence including 40,000 murders (Huston, et al, 1992).   So parents need to know and guide the...