A 16-year-old boy confines himself in his room, captivated for hours by the violently graphic Playstation game Duke Nukem, while rocker Rob Zombie shouts obscenities from the stereo. In a nearby cabinet is a video collection, including the violent movie Fear.com. Should this boy's entertainment preferences be cause for alarm? .
The question is not new, but the 1999 slaughter of 12 students by fellow Columbine High students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold has added necessity to the search for answers. The Littleton, Colorado teenagers reportedly immersed themselves in the same situation described above.
In many peoples' living rooms, there sits an outlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television. The children who view it are often pulled into its realistic world of violent scenes with sometimes disturbing results. Much effort has gone into showing why this glowing box, and the action that takes place within it, mesmerizes children. Research shows that it is definitely a major source of violent behavior in children. The statistics prove time and time again that violence and television viewing do go hand in hand. There are measures that can be taken to prevent the children from ever being exposed to such things. The entertainment industry should be held accountable for the images they choose to air. Our government needs to pass stricter regulations and harsher censorship on the content, shown on television and movies.
Research shows the truth about television violence and children. Some are trying to fight this problem, while others are ignoring it, hoping it will go away with the pizza boxes in yesterday's trash. Still, others do not even seem to care. However, the facts are indisputable. The testing all point to one conclusion: television violence causes children to be violent, and the effects can be life-long.
One study done by R.D. Singer in 1971 suggested that watching television actually decreases the amount of aggression in the viewer.