The Negative Effects of Media Violence on Children.
Turn on the television, it's there. Even a cartoon that a five year old watches is filled with it. Media violence. Movie plots often revolve around violence and television programs are making violence increasingly more popular. The witnessing of daily acts of violence is now taking a toll on the youth of today.
By the time a child turns 18, they will have witnessed 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence on television alone. Often times, these programs do not show the consequences of these acts of violence, either. Only five percent of children's programs depict the long-term consequences of aggressive behavior. In addition, 58 percent of the time the victims were not shown suffering from pain. Therefore, the children who watch these programs will think that there is no consequences for resorting to violence when trying to settle a conflict, as many of there movie and television heroes do. Moreover, they will think that by lashing out on someone, it will do the victim of their violence no harm. Children who are exposed to violence are more likely to assume that violent behavior is acceptable, has no consequences and will cause no suffering.
In today's society children spend approximately 28 to 32 hours a week watching television or going to the movies. This is the same amount of time they spend on an average week in school. Undoubtedly, this makes the media one of the most influential forces in a children's life because of the time spent in front of the screen. What children see and hear in a movie or television show, they are more than likely to imitate. In a study by epidemiologist Brandon Centerwall, who surveyed a group of men imprisoned for violent crime, he found nearly one-third of the felons had consciously imitated a crime technique that they saw in the media. The fact is children learn more about life through television than any other source.