Violence in the Media: Entertainment or Corruption?

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As television has become increasingly popular over the past few decades, it has allotted researchers a large amount of time to collect data and explore many aspects of this wonderful, yet harmful invention. It is safe to say that almost every household in America has a television, and it is on and used for multiple hours a day. The vast variety of different shows to watch is outstanding; shows about food, homes, the news, imagination, reality, horror, action-thrillers, the list could go on and on, there is always something to watch for everyone. However, is everything on television appropriate for all of its viewers? The answer to that question is up to the reader, but may they be informed of the effect violence on television has had on children, and will effect those children for the rest of their lives.
The television has become such a common household appliance that it goes unnoticed and is often underestimated. A normal American household has the television on for more than 7 hours a day, and children ages two to eleven spend an average of twenty eight hours a week viewing (Murray, 1994). This means that during one year a child will spend over one thousand hours watching TV, which over half of children report is unsupervised and has no time restraints (Murray 1994). During these endless hours of watching TV, many programs, particularly children’s involve violence. Sixty percent of all TV shows shown during prime time viewing hours incorporate some from of violence (Tompkins, 2013). Over years of research there as been a large debate as to whether violence on television has impact on its viewers, especially children, and there is a proven correlation. Overall this research has concluded that children who have viewed thi...

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Van Evra, J. (2007). School-Age Children, Impact of the Media on. In Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media (pp. 739-742). Retrieved from Gale Virtual Reference Library database.
Violence in the Media — Psychologists Study TV and Video Game Violence for Potential Harmful Effects. (2013). Retrieved December 27, 2013, from American Psychological Association website: http://www.apa.org/pi/vio&tv.html
Violent Video Games - Psychologists Help Protect Children from Harmful Effects. (2004, June 8). Retrieved December 27, 2013, from American Psychological Association website: http://www.psychologymatters.org/videogames.html
Vitelli, R., Ph.D. (2013, July 22). Television, Commercials, and Your Child. Retrieved December 27, 2013, from Psychology Today website: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201307/television-commercials-and-your-child

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