OPPapers.com

Television Violence: Entertaining Or Problematic?

Television Violence: Entertaining or problematic?
"Exposure to violent media plays an important causal role in this societal problem' of youth violence…..'from a public health perspective, today's media consumption patterns are far from optimal. And for many children they are clearly harmful" (Leeds).
Previous Untied States Surgeon General David Satcher stated the above quote in a report released in Washing into in January 2001. He was the first surgeon general to turn the controversy over violence on television into a public health concern (Leeds). Violence on television has led to a legal debate due to its alleged link to crime. Hundreds of experiments and studies have proven that many violent crimes that occur in society have been learned from the violence depicted on television.
Children as young as a few weeks old learn by example. They imitate all behaviors, whether it's viewed on a television set or in public setting outside the home. Although they are smart enough to mimic a behavior, they are unable to distinguish between right and wrong. With the case of crime they cannot distinguish between appropriate and aggressive behavior. When children watch television they don't realize that it is a source of entertainment depicting fictional tales and characters. They see television as real as their own families. According to the article,
"As of 1990, the average American child aged 2 to 5 years was watching over 27 hours of television per week, however, up through ages 3 and 4 years, many children are unable to distinguish fact from fantasy in television programs and remain unable to do so despite adult coaching. In the minds of such young children, television is a source of entirely factually information regarding how the world works" (Centerwall).
Even though as children get older they begin to realize the difference between the two, the behaviors imposed on them as kids have become a part of their earliest memories. These manners could very easily be...