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ESSAY SAMPLE ON "TV, VIOLENCE AND CHILDREN" |
TV, Violence, Children
Children from the ages 6-11 spend more time watching television than they do in the
classroom. The level of violence that they see on prime time television is about five
violent acts per hour and the level of violence on Saturday that includes cartoons
morning programming is about 20 to 25 violent acts per hour. At this rate, the average
American child will see 8,000 murders before they finish elementary school!
As a child sits in front of baby-sitting television, her eyes are glued to the viewing
of shoot em' up rip em' up kind of entertainment. We have to remember that the
entertainment media plays an extremely powerful role in the formation of values and
morals, to all youngsters' minds of all ages, all socioeconomic levels, and all levels of
intelligence. These programs "play" with kids' minds; these programs have a tremendous
negative effect on our children. We, as a society, must save our future and take an
active role in protecting our children from the violence on our television.
Television cartoons often feature dehumanized characters, such as Transformers and the
Ninja Turtles, who engage in the destructive acts of violence by fighting our real life
social problems. With acts of violence, kids learn to think that's how they should solve
their problems. MTV's Beavis and Butt-head encourages fire, smoking, foul language,
drinking and stealing. With these bad attitudes seen depicted as normal on TV shows
kids are lead to believe it is cool be have that type attitude Is this what we really
want our society, especially our younger generation, to believe?
If we truly thought that television had no impact on viewers, why would companies spend
billion of dollars on television advertising? If commercials have an effect, then so do
the shows that the children watch. For example, youngsters mimic many of the violent
acts that they see such as Beasvis and But-head. One day, a five year old boy watch his
favorite cartoon, Beavis and Butt-head, and sees the characters pull one of their famous
arson stunts. And the result, he sets his own house ablaze and his younger sister is
killed.
Children do learn from television especially when they lack direct exposure or first hand
experience with violent grotesque acts. These do take a toll on children and the way they
will view life as they grow up. I know some who that are sweet, innocent, full of
dreams, hopes, laughter, and life. These kids have learned about there environment from
their parents, not by watching television. When I am a parent, I will not show programs
with bodies flying around the room and blood spurting ever where. At this point, the
parents' role must be to watch television with their children so they can help children
understand that violence hurts people physically and emotionally.
Our society should take a long hard look in the mirror; the values of today's youth are
reflections of the values of their elders. We should remember the words of the father in
Harry Chapin's song "Cat's in the Cradle" when he comes to realize his son "He's grown up
just like me. My boy was just like me."
Violence on the television is a very real problem is our culture. We most see that it
only causes negative effects on our society. It is hard to tell if the problem is the
media or if the problem is in our values as a culture. We must help turn back the
growing culture of violence as quickly as possible. The human toll on our society is too
great to look the other way.
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