The Effect of Television Violence on Children

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The Effect of Television Violence on Children

Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems

and shaping behavior; The violence that children are constantly

subjected to on television can have very harmful affects if not

monitored carefully. More and more often parents are using television

as a means of entertaining their children when they are unable to, and

the amount of television that children are watching is a growing

concern in our society. While a large part of the concern is the

quantity of television that young people are viewing, a more pressing

issue is the quality that is offered to them. While cartoons may seem

to be harmless and humorous, that is not always the case. A good

portion of the violence that is on television is captured in Saturday

morning cartoons, when children are most likely to be captivated by

them. This proves to be highly dangerous with young minds because some

children at tender ages are unable to understand or grasp the concept

of reality versus fantasy. This leaves children at risk of

understanding cartoons to be real life and 'copy catting' their

heroes, that were praised for their actions.

As society begins to realize the full impact of violence on television

for young children they are starting to work towards making parents

more aware of what their child is viewing while they are out of the

room. Because every child and every household is different it is

difficult to measure how a single child will be impacted, by viewing

excessive violence on the screen. This is why it is imperative that

parents are the ones to take responsibility for what their child is

viewing as t...

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...re as other times it may take some simple explaining to help

the child understand that what they are seeing is not real. The key is

for parents to take an interest in their children's viewing habits and

to sit down and discuss what they are watching and the implications of

what they are seeing as well as monitoring the amount of time that

they are spending in front of the television set.

Without proper control, the television can be a very powerful and very

suggestive and dangerous mode of information. The violence that

children are constantly subjected to on television can have very

harmful effects if not monitored carefully. What kind of world would

we live in we all solved our problems by pulling out a sword and

fighting to the death, or kicking our opponents until eventually they

disappeared into a cloud of dust?

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