TV Violence

TV is probably one of man’s greatest achievements; the technology has given people the opportunity to receive worldwide news, entertainment, and sports.  The benefits that TV has brought to every home and every family has been immeasurable.  However, like any other “great achievements”, it also has its disadvantages; one such disadvantage that TV has put forward to a lot of its viewers, especially the vulnerable ones – the children, is that of TV violence.

TV violence is one of the biggest dilemmas that face many of the young minds, and accordingly the parents.  These days, children view TV at an average of three-four hours every day; it can be a very strong trick in the child’s shaping behavior and emerging value methods.  Regrettably, a great deal of today’s TV programming pursues violence in many forms, and sometimes it takes a while for the parents to realize that their children have negatively been influenced, evident in similar manners of the child’s violent behaviors or aggressiveness. 

Many studies have shown that TV affects children of different ages in many ways, reliant on the child’s attention span, processing of information, mental effort invested, and child’s individual life experiences.  These studies also show of several effects of TV violence to children and teenagers such as becoming numb or “immune” to the dismay of violence, progressively accepting violence as means of solving problems, imitating violence observed on TV, and identifying themselves with certain characters, victimizers and/or victims.

All-embracing viewing of violence on TV by children, oftentimes cause greater aggressiveness, and at times even watching one violent program increases fierceness in them.  In some cases where the violence is quiet realistic, unpunished or frequently repeated, they are more probable to emulate what they see.  Those children who have behavioral, learning, impulse control or emotional problems are much easily influenced by TV violence. TV violence’s impact on a child may instantly be seen in their behavior, but it may also surface in later years.  It may even affect teenagers whose family atmosphere has never shown tendencies towards violence. 

Let’s face the fact the TV violence may never be stopped, but you can stop it from entering you children’s minds through being involved.  Protect your children from the violence through paying attention to the programs they watch and set limitations on their time spent in front of the TV; don’t promote it by giving them TV inside their rooms.  Explain essential things to them about violence, and how it’s never the proper way to solve things.  People can actually do something to keep TV violence away from their homes, families, and children; all it needs is taking the first step – don’t welcome it into your homes.