An issue that has many Americans in uproar is the possibility that aggressive behavior and destructive acts are caused from television violence. The battle for limiting television violence has been an issue since the 1970s. Evidence has shown that television violence has caused aggression in children and adults. Also this exposure to television violence has desensitized society to real-world violence, and alters youth's perception of violence. Television violence should be limited because of the effects it has on America and the world.
Since 1946, when violence was first introduced, there were changes found in the behavior and perception of children and adults exposed to television violence. There is now solid evidence to suggest a relationship between exposure to violence on television and aggressive behavior. Researchers have found that children are more physically and verbally aggressive immediately after watching violent television and movies (ACT). The percentage of violence portrayed in television programs has been at sixty-one percent for the last couple of years and only four percent promote an anti-violent theme (Media Awareness Network). Over fifty percent of the programs on television today contain violent scenes and actions. The most shocking statistic of violence affecting society is that those who have watched less than an hour of television a day, 5.7 percent had committed a violent act that resulted in serious injury (ACT). The percentage increases to 18.4 percent for just three hours of daily watching, that is more than three times the percent for just one hour (ACT). Studies of the content analysis of prime-time output on seven New York City channels showed that there were 3,431 acts and threats of violence observed (Gunter, p13). Unfortunately not everyone can distinguish fact from fiction. Seeing violence on television desensitizes the viewer to violent acts (MAN).
