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Violence portrayed in the media
Effects of television on people
Effects of television on people
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Recommended: Violence portrayed in the media
Psychology of Television
Today many people think that television is the cause of violence in today’s youth. Many have pondered that television disturbs traditions as well as interferes with the minds of adolecened children who can not yet comprehend the truth of fiction and reality. Thus television has become a widely talked about controversy, mainly because of the fatal incidents that have been occurring during the past couple of years. Questions are being raised and people want answers. What kind of effects does the television have on human beings?
In today’s society the public is interested in the detailed information about the content of television. Persons who work in the media are often concerned with what the television portrays and why it portrays the way it does. Even though they know that their shows are representative to their viewers tastes and not that of the “real world.'; Although this information is not acknowledged as fiction or non-fiction it is still portrayed and processed information by the viewer. One must be able to realize, “How this information is different from everyday life?'; By mocking a family, situation, or community, distortions and biases occur on the television when these subjects are compared to “real life.'; Still unsure of these problems the majority of humans watch even when they don’t understand – why?
Television is a medium of novelty, with each new season bringing new shows with dreamier characters and more enticing situations. These shows are successful because they challenge one’s wisdom if he or she were in the same situation. This is the reason why people are starting to question and be afraid of the pushed boundaries of television. With the dramatic increase of violence in today’s world the programmers are filling ones mind of not wisdom, but the dark escape of violence which makes up the viewers mind for them. The definition of physical violence is stated as these two presented:
Any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animated being or group of beings. (National...
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... which audience members are said to be “recruited';. Thus, the individual “learns to recognize itself in a series of subject positions...which are the positions from which discourse is intelligible to itself and others (Academic Press, 103). The viewer is not compelled to take a position even though there are different ones offered by the program. In either case it would seem that the logical effect remains within the discourse and does not translate directly to the viewer. The simple answer to the objection is that the reader will not be able to make sense of what he or she sees other than identifying with.
Now that you know some of the ways that television programs can cloud your mind, try and be more observant when you or your little one is sitting in front of the television. You are watching more than “just some thing on TV.'; Television today is getting more violent and graphic, and that is not the worst of it. Programmers are playing with a young child’s mind – with my mind, and even with yours. People just don’t realize it, or they choose to ignore it, until something drastic happens.
Everyone’s seen the classic cartoons. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around a bend, only the Roadrunner turns, but our comedic--and usually stupid--villain doesn’t. So, he falls from a height of what looks like about 500,000 feet, only to become a small puff of smoke at the bottom of the canyon. After all, if what happens to you when you fall from that height were to have happened to Mr. Coyote, that would have been a very short lived cartoon series. Maybe this example is an exaggeration, but the idea is the same: violence comes streaming into our homes every single day through our TVs not to be viewed, but to be devoured. It’s been proven that sex and violence sell. For those of us who can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, the effect of TV violence is miniscule. But for our children--who think when the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers come to the local shopping mall, that it’s the biggest event since Bert told Ernie he snores too loud--the violence seen on TV seems like a logical reaction to life’s problems. And that’s a problem within itself. The impact of televised violence on children is only a slice of the pie that is the problem with the endless stream of violent acts on TV.
In today’s society, everything is a debate and argument over what some see as acceptable and others view as worthless nonsense. The entertainment industry, television to be precise, is no exception. From reality television to documentaries, each viewer has their personal opinion on what they crave to see on the screen.
Television with its far reaching influence spreads across the globe. Its most important role is that of reporting the news and maintaining communication between people around the world. Television's most influential, yet most serious aspect is its shows for entertainment. Violent children's shows like Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and adult shows like NYPD Blue and Homicide almost always fail to show human beings being able to resolve their differences in a non-violent manner; instead they show a reckless attitude that promotes violent action first with reflection on the consequences later. Contemporary television creates a seemingly insatiable appetite for amusement of all kinds without regard for social or moral benefits (Schultze 41). Findings over the past twenty years by three Surgeon Generals, the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence, the American Medical Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other medical authorities indicate that televised violence is harmful to all of us, but particularly to the mental health of children (Medved 70-71).
Television plays a big role on violence. Most of us watch television daily. And what do we see daily on television? The news, about our world surrounded by violence? Movies, that only show shootings, death, and more violence? Even cartoons are violent, like the Simpsons, south park, and even Tom and Jerry, shows specially for our young audience. ...
“Nowadays in the modern world, society if affected by more things we can think of. Society is affected by movies, TV shows, TV reality shows, magazines, and books. A report was recorded over a six-month period about Television shows and daily news broadcasts. From September 1, 1999 through February 29, 2000; The Grand Rapid Institute recorded and viewed a few programs and at the end of the month the Institute tallied up the number of letters sent after a recorded program and it showed how unfair the programs were and how people became a democracy to let them know” (TV News 1).
The effects of television violence and children can vary according to the child. There are various effects, both physical and psychological, that can occur. First of all, the child, through his years of watching television, may develop the concept that violence is a way to solve problems. The watching of these television shows is where most of the children pick up this aggressive mindset they have. It is to be said that eighty percent of what you learn when you are a child, is from what you see. That in it can become very dangerous to the child in many ways.
The cast members of each of the shows were put into situations that were constantly enforcing racial stereotypes, done on purpose by the producers. In the essay, the author argues that media makes the viewers have a struggle in what they choose to believe. She also states that society participates
Television is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that people's perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpretation, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricks that play a major role in the case. Research, experimentation, and actual media coverage has pinpointed actual methods used for deceptive advertising. Television influences society in many ways. People are easily swayed to accept a belief that they may not normally have unless expressed on television, since many people think that everything they hear on television is true. This, however, is not always the case. It has been observed that over the past twenty to thirty years, normal social behavior, even actual life roles of men and women and media, regulatory policies have all been altered (Browne 1998). Media has changed with time, along with quality and respectability. Many Americans receive and accept false information that is merely used as an attention grabber that better the show's ratings and popularity. Many magazines and Journal reviews have periodically discussed the "muckraking" that many tabloid shows rely on to draw in their viewers. This involves sensationalizing a story to make it more interesting, therefore increasing the interest of the audience. "Along the way, all sorts of scandalous substance and goofy tricks appear, but not much mystery in the logic," (Garnson 1997). People often know that these shows aim to deceive them, but still accept the information as truth. Many times, people have strong opinions on certain topics. Yet, when they are exposed to the other side of the argument, they may be likely to agree with the opposite view. As Leon Festinger said, "If I chose to do it (or say it), I must believe in it," (Myers 1997). This is an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which pertains to acting contrary to our beliefs. Television influences many people to change their original beliefs. It has the viewers think that the majority of other people hold the contrary idea. Once these views are presented, people have the option to hol...
Children daily see hundreds of violent acts on television. Most parents notice the obvious acts of gore and try to avoid those types of shows; however, what parents do not realize is that cartoons contain just as much, if not more, violence per episode. When parents see shows such as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” for example, they seem more comical rather than violent, and do not grab the parents’ attention. However, children are more prone to being frightened by violence due to the fact that they are much more literal than older children and adults (Drinka 1).
Television news, due primarily to its obsession with crime and violence, definitely has a negative impact upon our society. TV news broadcasts use dramatic, usually violent stories and images to capture and maintain an audience, under the pretence of keeping it informed. This overabundance of crime and violence on TV news inflate the public's fears for personal safety. People, for the most part, believe that TV news is an accurate reflection of reality. They become frightened of the cities they live in, and fear that criminals will harm them or their loved ones. Graphic coverage of wars, bombings, murders and natural disasters can quite possibly lead to nightmares or even depression.
There are many facts that show how children are affected by television. The most obvious is the effects that television has on the brain. 'Television interferes with the development of intelligence, thinking skill and imagination.';(LimiTv) A huge element of thinking is taking from what you already know and deciding how it applies in different situation. School makes you do this, but television does not. Michael and Sheila Cole, sociologist, say that 'Children socialized to learn from television had lower than normal expectations about the amount of mental effort required to learn from written texts, and tended to read less and perform relatively poorly in school.';(Development of Children 24) Which means that it takes very little effort to follow a television show and kids are raised on television believe that it takes less effort to learn from television rather than books because they have been 'spoon-fed'; information by television. 'Opportunities for a child's imagination to develop are also denied by habitual viewing.'; (Neural Activity and the Growth of the Brain) Children need some unstructured time to allow imagination skills to form by thinking about a book or story, a conversation, or an event.
Society has been bombarded with violence from the beginning of time. These concerns about violence in the media have been around way before television was even introduced. Nevertheless, there have been numerous studies, research, and conferences done over the years on television, but the issue still remains. Researchers do acknowledge that violence portrayed on television is a potential danger. One issue is clear though, our focus on television violence should not take attention away from other significant causes of violence in our country such as: drugs, inadequate parenting, availability of weapons, unemployment, etc. It is hard to report on how violent television effects society, since television affects different people in different ways. There is a significant problem with violence on television that we as a society are going to have to acknowledge and face.
... for children. Children are exposed to 20,000 advertisements a year. The average child watches 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. By the time children graduate from high school, those numbers more than doubles. Furthermore, television is shown to influence attitudes about race and gender. Pro-social and anti-social behaviors are influenced by television.
Television has become one of the major entertainment providers in our modern life. It sits in the living room of about almost every home in the world and it is the one thing that most people like to come home to after a long day of work or school. Not only does it give us something to laugh or get scared at but it also provides us with valuable information about what is happening around our local community and around different places in the world. But, as good as this sounds, Television may be affecting us without even realizing it. Being one of the major distractors in today 's society, it gets us attached to its content in which a lot of people spend a lot of their time watching. Being thus, watching too
By the time a child reaches the age of one, they see about 200,000 acts of violence on television. (Nakaya, 3). The Media has been becoming more and more violent over the years. A poll in an issue of Times Magazine, from 2005, showed that 66 percent of Americans think that there is an abundant amount of graphic acts of violence on televisions (Nakaya, 18). People are exposed to thousands of acts of violence through video games, television, and movies. Many studies show that media violence increases violent behavior in in humans. Studies show, violent video games, and graphic television have physiological effects on children. The government has very few regulations on media violence. Some people believe the government shouldn’t limit content because others might be insulted by its material. Media violence is such a broad topic and has such a large presence in daily lives, so we cannot simple get rid of it. The Federal Communications Commission stipulates, “By the time most children begin the third grade, they will have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a television set.” Even though the government shouldn’t censor the media, Media violence is becoming a serious issue because it is becoming more violent, it makes people behave violently, and it has little regulations.