Do television and media influence violence in kids and teens?

Question

Media and Violence, television influence.

Answer 1

Personally, I don't think that media entirely influences violence in kids and teens. If that were the case, then every single person in the world that watches television would be violent and I don't think that all of those people could be classified as violent. I watched television as a child and teen and I am not a violent person. I think it has a lot to with the environment that children are raised in and how involved parents are in teaching their kids. There have been studies that have proven that prolonged television and video game exposure causes aggressive behavior in children. I think that if parents monitor what video games and television programs their kids watch, they can limit the amount of violent material they are exposed to - or they could even throw out television programming altogether. That still leaves movies, but if parents know what their kids are seeing and talk to them about it afterwards, i. e. explain that a violent scene was something that people should never do, then they are helping their children understand right from wrong. If parents just let their kids watch whatever they want to, play whatever video games they want to, and never talk to them or explain that there are some things that you just don't do, then yeah - that kid might turn out violent. However, there also another side of that coin. Some children who grow up never watching any violence in television or movies end up violent in their adult life. Regardless, I am a parent, I don't watch television anymore, I don't miss it, and my son won't watch television because I think it rots your brain, makes you lazy, and makes you think a certain way regardless of the violence on television.

Answer 2

I don't beleive so. Violent television shows and movies have been around since the advent of movies, and it has just been recently that things have become worse for children. One cannot look for a causal effect in a vacuum. There are many factors in today's society which combined have caused an increase in violence among children and teens.

Answer 3

A new study conducted by the National Institute on Media and the Family concludes that watching lots of violence on television and playing violent video games not only makes kids more physically aggressive, but it also makes them meaner and more distrustful. The report found a correlation between kids’ exposure to high levels of TV and video game violence, and what researchers called “relational aggression”—behavior that includes name-calling, making threats and spreading rumors.

Answer 4

According to most studies (and the results seem logical to me) television/movies/video games that show and glorify violence make children (and adults) less sensitive to others' pain. If you see enough people get beaten up in make-believe situations, when you see someone get beaten up on the street, it won't shock or horrify you. I guess it's like anything else you get too much of. If you ate lots of candy every day for several years, you wouldn't be that impressed by a chocolate bar.

Answer 5

Yea, especially if they are always watching violent shows or playing games with violence in them. It just shows the kids that it is an okay way to live and it's okay to treat others like that. Plus there are studies that show the effects on kids that were more violent after spending too much time in front of the tube.

Answer 6

absolutely.....but children with decent parents have parents screening what they are watching and have parents that demonstrate real life for them. They have real role models. Children without decent parents can be overly influenced by television and not understand reality. It is common with children in poverty. But this is not a media problem...rather it is a societal problem.

Answer 7

That really depends on how much television is watched, or how much media is exposed to the particular person. It also depends on the particular person's tendencies, emotional habits, genetics, and environmental influences.

Answer 8

so does the newspapers, the school books
the dictionaries, the Bible
tv is the BEST Weapon Of Mass Destruction
a weapon dat is slowly extinguishing a race
a race ruled and destroyed by men
tv is assuring me dat soon enough
after they have all killed each other
dat I can finally live in harmony
with Nature without the chatter of the black box
black and white

Answer 9

Let me speak to you as a retired mental health professional and a "retired" parent. Yes. If you have any doubt of it at all, you'll lose your doubt after having been a parent, and then you'll find that all the respectable "studies" agreed with you long ago. God Bless you.

Answer 10

Absolutely. They develop and carry into their extended adolescence (up to 30 years old now, is it?) the attitude that anything that is disagreeable to them gives them the right to "kill" it--with words, with social attacks, and sometimes with violence.