Children Watch Many Hours of TV Resulting in Negative Effects

Children are watching television excessively. Television is usually present and many children have them in their rooms, making it easy for viewing.

"Two-thirds of zero-to-six-year-olds (65%) live in a home where the TV is on at least half the time or more, even if no one is watching and one-third (36%) live in 'heavy' TV households, where the television is left on 'always' or 'most of the time.'"

The chart below shows what children of ages 0 to 6 do on a typical day. The use of any screen media is 83%. Although this information was conducted in 2003, it shows how often small children are utilizing electronic media.

The National Institute of Mental Health has identified three major effects of seeing violence on television:

* Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
* Children may be more fearful of the world around them.
* Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others.

The following link shows what kinds of violent programs children are watching on television:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-violence#

The video below shows characters from CW's 90210. Both girls were involved in a fight. Children who view these kinds of shows will probably develop aggressive behavior. The development of aggressive behavior will also depend on other factors such as environmental and parental. However, lots of research show a strong link between violence portrayed on TV and its effect on children.

Good and Bad Characters

It seems like media wants to immediately portray the "good" guys and "bad" guys. Even though cops and criminals can both commit justifiable violence, the cops usually seem like the "good" guys. The "bad" guys usually have no one that cares about them, often have nick name, and receive very little sympathy from the viewers. Children are more likely to have the view immediately. They make judgement about who the "good" and "bad" guys are.



In this clip of Spiderman the movie, the "bad" guy is the green goblin. He is wearing a scary mask and costume. Viewers will be able to distinguish between the "good" guy and "bad" guy. The green goblin has a weird, dark, and deep voice. His whole demeanor is frightening. Viewers don't feel sympathy towards the green goblin because he is "bad."

No Consequences

Another formula to the portrayal of violence is that there are "no consequences."
There is hardly any bleeding involved, although there are guns and fighting involved. The hero usually wins and on TV shows, the hero hardly ever gets in trouble for violent actions. The hero is usually correct in one way or another when committing violent acts. Programs on television that depict violence will hardly ever show a main character lose an arm or a leg. Main characters will also be spared and will not get killed on screen. The "bad guy" is usually the one who gets shot, killed, or burned. The hero can really be as violent as they want to be.

Although some television programs contain a lot of violence, it will doesn't really show the outcome of such violence. A study released by the Center for Media and Public Affairs in June 1999 states that though television may show a lot of violence, it rarely shows its outcome. "We found that despite the high volume of televised violence, viewers rarely see it causing adverse effects," states the report. The report found that acts of violence, such as murder, rape, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, occurred once every four minutes on the major TV networks. However, it notes that "no physical harm was shown three quarters (75 percent) of the time violence occurred on broadcast series and over two-thirds (68 percent) of the time it occurred on cable programs. A mere 7 percent of violent acts on broadcast shows and 4 percent on cable resulted in fatalities."

Children will get the idea that heroes, for example, will be justified for their violent actions. Parents should really be aware of these portrayals. "Good" characters are getting away with hurting others through violent acts.

Involvement of Violence to Develop Plot

The basic formula for the portrayal of violence in TV, movies, and video is that it "drives the storyline." Violence is usually involved in the story and certain programs on TV, for example, include a crime, murder, or punching, fight scenes to develop a plot and story. Viewers, such as children, are motivated to watch these programs because it keeps their interest level high. Viewers understand that the storyline is based on these violent acts, and without these acts, there would not be much of a plot involved.

An example of violence in a movie that "drives the storyline" is in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Children will probably be eager to watch this sequel because they own the toys and have seen the previous movies. This film contains violent action scenes that are extreme for children's viewing. Although the violence occurs mostly with the robots, the film's human characters are constant danger, and the explosions are continuous. Unfortunately, the storyline involves this kind of violence and children will be drawn to watching the film.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen contains explosions and gunfire that affect humans, as well as combat between robotic (but intelligent) figures. Bodies are seen flying everywhere due to explosions and battle. The film contains destruction, as well as pushing and shoving.

This chart was obtained from the The National Cable Television Association's National Television Violence Study. It shows that "across the three years of this study, a steady 60% of TV programs contain violence . . . [and] much of the violence is glamorized, sanitized, and trivialized." From this chart, you can see that the percent of programs with violence has increased from year 1 to year 2 and 3. It also shows a percent increase in violence portrayed in realistic settings. One can also see that "bad" characters who go unpunished increased from 37% in year 1, to 39% in year 2, and 45% in year 3.

It is evident that violence is portrayed even in rated G films such as Snow White. The storyline involves depicting violence. Children at very young ages are seeing these cartoons and even parents don't realize that violence is being portrayed.

This video demonstrates the use of violence in other cartoons such as Tom & Jerry and Bugs Bunny. These cartoons contain blood, use of weapons, fighting, pushing, smacking, fire, and explosions.