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Television Violence

Does Television Violence Make Children Significantly More Violent?

Abstract
Television is a pervasive element in American society today and is seen as having a great deal of influence, especially over the young. According to psychological research, violence on television affects children negatively. The major effects of seeing violence on television are that children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, more fearful of the world around them and more likely to behave in aggressive ways toward others.
The questions that are to be addressed in this paper are the following: What causes television violence to make children more violent toward others? What are the implications? Are there solutions to television violence? How can we begin to resolve the issue of the effects of violent television on children? This paper will address the answers to these questions.

Introduction
The world today truly shows that youths are influence by TV violence. For instance, the Toronto Star newsletter claims that charges laid by Canadian police against youths ages 12-17 for violent offenses have more than doubled in the last five years. Some believe that there is truly a link between the rise of youth violence and the escalating of scenes portrayed in movies and on television. The quote which led to the Awake magazine to comment and I quote “TV has a major role in desensitizing and conditioning young people and in glamorizing violence as the preferred method of solving problems” (Awake Magazine Issue, November 1993, p.28-29).

Literature Review
Since the earliest days of television, violence has played a prominent role in television on westerns, police shows, and war dramas, not to mention cartoons and children's programming. Chapter 36 in the Young People Ask-Questions that Work publication heading “How Can I Control my TV Viewing Habits?” states that regular programming often provides a steady diet of car...