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Television Violence And Our Children

Society is faced with an overwhelming amount of media violence. Everywhere you look, you see shootings, stabbings, beatings, and some kind of violence. Television violence is the most common type of media violence. The gruesome things that children witness on television, shouldn't even be viewed by the most qualified professional. The depiction of television violence can negatively affect the mental health of children.
Families today are much busier than in previous decades. There is much less time for parents to supervise their children, and complete the tasks that they need to complete. It is increasingly common that parents place their child in front of the television set, to occupy the children until they have time to supervise them once again. The television has basically become the temporary babysitter in most American households (Abelard).
Recent studies show that the material that children watch and the amount of time they spend in front of the television correlate to their academic success later in life. Most children who watch educational programs excel in school, while the children who watch television excessively including violent programs, tend to fail and be unsuccessful (Abelard).
Television has become more mainstream; the average child spends an estimated six and a half hours in front of the television ("Fact Sheet"). It is also estimated that 98% of Americans have a television in their homes, and 65% have more than one television set in their home (Gerdes 41). Multiple studies have been done on the issue of television violence. It is a proven fact that the average child by the age of eighteen, has seen over 200,000 acts of violence on television, including 40,000 murders ("Fact Sheet"). Television shows for children, such as the Saturday morning cartoons, are 50-60 times more violent than the prime-time shows for adults (American Psychiatric Association).
Children, who spend an excessive amount of time in front of the television, are...