Effect Of Violence On Children’s Television Programs

The last decade has generated enormous momentum regarding the effect of violence in media targeted at individuals in the young age bracket. But even as awareness increases the problem seems to increase in magnitude. Experts argue that unless the demand does not reduce the supply will not match down and this might just be true. In reality the stem of the problem is still lack of awareness. An average educated American family might know not to expose their children to violence on television but may not really gauge the fact that the program their toddler watches on screen has its share of violence in a well fed and nourished capsule. This is largely the problem.

Of course, other social factors can increase the likelihood of violence by youth: lack of interaction with parents, brutality in home life, exposure to violence in neighborhoods, and easy access to guns. Here we are talking about an entire generation of our children who shall be victims to aggression and violence and who shall with increased likelihood grow up to be less productive individuals. Let us not forget that we are talking about the future of any given nation when we speak of its children. Take a look.

Significance of the problem at hand:

So just why is it so important that we try to understand something that happens in childhood? And that too something as trivial as a few stunts in your child’s daily program, some might ask. Don’t most children grow out of such things when they grow up and begin to exhibit normal acceptable adult behavior? The truth is that during early childhood, the foundation is laid for future social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

During this formative period, young children are particularly vulnerable to negative influences. In most instances, children have no control over the environmental messages they receive. Up until age seven or eight, children have great difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality, and their ability to comprehend nuances of behavior, motivation, or moral complexity is limited. This special vulnerability of children necessitates increased vigilance to protect them from potentially negative influences.

EFFECTS OF VIEWING VIOLENCE.

The nation’s first major study on the effects of TV violence was a 1972 U.S. surgeon general’s report that confirmed that televised violence, indeed, does have an adverse effect on certain members of our society.

MAJOR and Direct

-Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others (‘desensitization’ to violence)

-Children become fearful of the world around them

-Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others

–Media violence can be especially damaging to children under age 8 and their families because they cannot readily tell the difference between real life and fantasy and stresses the caregivers.

-Direct anti social behavior as a result of simulating the acts seen on television.

-Immediate phobias due to what is seen on screen which makes them fearful  of the world around them.

– In their play, children imitate those characters reinforced for their aggressive behavior and rehearse the characters’ scripts without creative or reflective thought. And it has to be well understood that creativity and reflective thought are part of the criteria for assessment of children in school as part of their national curriculum and these provide them chances to score higher. Thus there are chances that the childs school results drop.

MINOR and Indirect

-Children who watch a lot of TV are less aroused by violent scenes than are those who only watch a little; in other words, they’re less bothered by violence in general, and less likely to do anything wrong with it. One example: in several studies, those who watched a violent program instead of a nonviolent one were slower to intervene or to call for help when, a little later, they saw younger children fighting or playing destructively.

-More likely to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place( feelings of phobia and discontent which are generally unusual at an early age)

– ‘Children who watch the violent shows, even ‘just funny’ cartoons, were more likely to hit out at their playmates, argue, disobey class rules, leave tasks unfinished, and were less willing to wait for things than those who watched the nonviolent programs,’ says Aletha Huston, Ph.D., now at the University of Kansas.

-Research also indicates that TV consistently reinforces gender-role and racial stereotypes.

-Children will view violence as an acceptable way to settle conflicts

– Research has shown that children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV are more likely to be overweight.

-Young individuals become comfortable with physical aggression and even arousing them to violent action, it can make others increasingly fearful of being victims.

-Lack of interaction with family members or peers who in turn would provide mediating influences in the child’s development.

– Direct antisocial behavior in children which indirectly causes violent and criminal behavior when older.

– Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others

– Long term Exposure to media violence leads children to see violence as a normal response to stress and as an acceptable means for resolving conflict in the years to come and this behavior it is reported can continue into adulthood.

– In these situations. children’s creative and imaginative play is undermined, thus robbing children of the benefits of play for their long term development.

Conclusion

The prevalence of violence in American society is a complex social problem that will not be easily solved. Violence in the media is only one manifestation of the larger society’s fascination with violence. However, media violence is not just a reflection of violent society, it is also a contributor. If our nation wishes to produce future generations of productive adults who reject violence as a means of problem solving, we must reassert the vital role of government in protecting its most vulnerable citizens and, together, work to make media part of the solution. .