Violence In Television

5 Pages 1271 Words

Do the television shows children watch today negatively affect the way they act? The television shows of today differ very extremely from the ones of ten years ago. Ten years ago shows like “Leave It To Beaver”, “The Brady Bunch”, “The Facts Of Life”, and “I Love Lucy” were popular because they were very funny and the characters encountered everyday problems which were solved peacefully and fairly. These televisions programs encouraged children to go about their problems peacefully and kindly. Whereas, the shows of today paint an extremely different picture. The television shows of today don’t have a lesson to be learned in the end. Almost every show made today to entertain children is filled with violence. For example, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Angel”, “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”, and “Bevis and Butthead” are all shows children watch because they are exciting but the whole point of the show is to kill the bad guy not to settle anything peacefully. Children that do not have the ability to distinguish right from wrong watch these shows then act out in ways they see actors do because they think “if its alright for them to do it then it’s alright for me to do it”.
In the average home, a television is on for almost half of the time the family is awake. It is estimate that children watch about 22 hours of television each week. (American Family Physician) Most of the shows these children watch are filled with violent acts that cause them to act violently themselves. In December of 1993 a young ten-year-old child after watching an episode of Bevis and Butthead went into his two-year-old sister’s room and lit her baby crib on fire. This did not only burn down the house, but it also gave the boy serious third degree burns and killed his two year old sister. (Mark Variety) This proves that the shows these children watch have issues in them that the children do not understand yet and will act out b...