Television Violence
Television was invented 50 years ago, but it was not popular at that time. In today’s world, every family has at least one television in their home. Because the modern media is more pervasive, children have more opportunities to be exposed to bad information. Many parents are very concerned about how the media influences their children’s behavior. On the other hand, media provides benefits for children, such as education and entertainment. Therefore, the government should regulate violent action on television, at the same time; parents have a responsibility to guide children on how to analyze good or bad ideas in the media.
Television violence influences children’s behavior. According to the research from NYU Child Study Centre “children's television contains about 20 violent acts each hour and . . . children who watch a lot of violent television are more likely to have altered attitudes and behavior”. Also, if children do not receive guidance from their parents, they “may take from aggressive cartoons the message that ‘aggression works and wins’” (qtd. in NYU Child Study Centre). For example, some children always turn their toys into weapons; especially it mostly happens for boys. One of the reasons is that they receive the message from cartoons. Many cartoons tend to present violence, i.e. Superman and Spiderman. Studies by George Gerbner, Ph.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown that “children who watch a lot of television are more likely to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place” (American Psychological Association 249).Although most cartoons present a hero who punishes bad characters and saves peace in the world, it can use another way to present the punishment to the bad characters instead of fighting with them. Therefore, children get a wrong message that aggression toward others can solve their problems.
In addition, psychological research has shown “children may become less sensitive to the...