Influence of Television Violence on Teens - Essay Example

Running Head: Influence of Television Violence on Teens Influence of Television Violence on Teens [Institute’s Influence of Television Violence on Teens Abstract Nowadays, one of the favorite recreational activities for the teens is watching television with their family, friends, and often alone. Television watching is not an issue, if it is watched for a limited time; however, when an activity or a hobby becomes addictive, it results in the creation of a concern towards it according to a number of theories related to adolescent identity development. The results of a number studies have shown that violent stuff on television creates a sense of aggressiveness in the teenagers; however, it is the responsibility of parents to monitor the activity of their children. Various organizations have carried out several studies related to the effects of violent media on teenagers, which has indicated that teenagers often get a negative impact after watching violent stuff on the television. In brief, the paper has tried to understand different aspects of effects of television violence that affect the teenagers in different parts of the globe. Influence of Television Violence on Teens Nowadays, one of the favorite recreational activities for the teens is watching television with their family, friends, and often alone. Television watching is not an issue, if it is watched for a limited time; however, when an activity or a hobby becomes addictive, it results in the creation of a concern towards it according to a number of theories related to adolescent identity development. Similarly, when the teenagers start watching television and especially violent media on television every time, it creates a sense of insecurity in terms of their behavior and future. In the year 1998, one of the faculty members of Simon Fraser University carried out a study on the teens that watch violent stuff on television. The results of that study showed that television violence made twenty-five percent of teens addicted to it. In addition, all those teens showed great changes in their behavior, which was not in a positive manner. (Kelly, 1999) Furthermore, a number of studies have shown that worse academic results are shown by the teenagers that watch violent stuff on the television according to the National Institute on Media and Family. It is indicated by the researches and theories related to adolescent development that violent stuff are preferred by more than seventy-five percent of teenagers that are interested in watching television or playing video games.. One of the schools in Texas carried out a study of teenagers that watch television, and it found out that teachers complained of frequent arguments from the students that were involved in watching violent substance on television at home. In some cases, teens were even involved in physical fights with their teachers and classmates that is a major concern of the schools, as well as, the parents. In specific, theories, particularly Erickson’s theory of identity formation and identity crisis has indicated that gender does not play a major role in the behavioral changes after watching violent substances, which is another major topic related to the effects of violent television that will be discussed briefly in this paper. It was observed that eighty percent of teenage girls that were involved in watching violent stuff on television argued with their teachers and classmates, as compared with the eighty-three percent of boys in the same category. Thus, it shows that gender does not play any role in such case. (Parker, 2004) The advent of television has prompted the researchers to go into the details of this medium of entertainment. In popular media, the topic of violence if quite controversial, as different people have provided different interpretations regarding the topic. For instance, one of the studies (Mattson, 2003) has indicated that when the development and learning process of an individual is slowed down due to repetition of a useless process, it is referred as a violent medium, such as violent television material, popular music, violent video games, etc. In this regard, the paper has tried to understand different aspects of effects of television violence that affect the teenagers in different parts of the globe. Recently, two different types of violent material on television were watched by the teens for a period of forty minutes. Increased activity and growth in the emotional arousal was observed in the teens that watched violent stuff on the television. On the other hand, teens that watched non-violent stuff showed normal activity of emotional arousal in their bodies. Amygdala is a substance in the body that is considered for the expression of emotional arousal, and activity of such substance is increased adversely at times of violence. Similar increment was observed when the kids were watching violent material on television. Therefore, it has been proved scientifically, as well as, psychologically that violent media do play a significant role in allowing the aggressive behavior of the teens, which is quite similar with the indications of the theory of cognitive and moral development by Piaget. (Evra, 2004) In order to understand the psychological results, the Indiana University School of Medicine has carried out a research study to understand the role of violent material of television in the creation of aggression and violence in the teens. In order to acquire such results, brains of kids that watched violent and non-violent material were scanned by the experts at the laboratory. Similar results were indicated by this study, as an increment was observed in the emotional arousal of teens that watched violent stuff with the help of brain scans. Moreover, brain areas that are used for the self-control and self-consciousness showed reduction in their activity, which showed that teens became more aggressive while watching violent stuff, which was agreed by a number of experts and psychologists. The results of such studies have shown that violent stuff on television creates a sense of aggressiveness in the teenagers; however, it is the responsibility of parents to monitor the activity of their kids. Habit of watching television cannot be restricted by the parents, as it may create a communication gap between the parents and children because of the present trend of video gaming in most of the teenage girls and boys. Most of the researchers and psychologists (Mattson, 2003) have indicated that adverse effects of violent stuff can be reduced, if the relationship of brain functions and television watching is monitored by the parents, as they spend the greater amount of time with their kids, as compared with the classmates, teachers, friends, etc. According to most of the psychologists, parents can play a crucial role in reducing the negative effects of violent television material by providing their children with alternative means of entertainment and discussions. On the other hand, appropriate material on television can be provided to the children according to their ratings. Still, most of the television material does not come with ratings, which is another major issue that has been criticized by the experts. At this stage, it is the responsibility of parents to make some research and then make a decision to allow specific television material to their kids or not. At times, watching of violent stuff on television cannot create negative effects, and it can often be allowed by the parents. In other words, violent stuff cannot be unconstructive, if the parents play a constructive role in lives of their teenage children. (Parker, 2004) Until now, the paper has discussed and analyzed some of the studies and theories that have been carried out for the understanding of effects of violent media on teens. It is observed that television watching often has positive impact on the kids, as it is indicated by the psychologists that manual handiness and computer literacy is improved by the wide utilization of television. A more realistic graphical experience is provided to the teenagers by the present information technology. (Kelly, 1999) Lives of a number of teenagers have become virtually qualitative with the help of television industry, which is improving every other day. However, it is shown by numerous studies that aggressive behavior of teens is adversely affected by the violent television material, which can be ignored by none. In specific, amount of time that is spent in watching television also affect a lot on the aggressive behavior of teens psychologically. In the year 2000 (Mattson, 2003), it was admitted by majority of the parents that no time limit was imposed for the television watching on their kids. It was also indicated by the study that content of the television is mostly unknown by the parents, which creates greater chances of aggressiveness and violence in the teens. In this regard, the Institute for Child Psychology has provided a checklist for the parents that observe aggressive behavior in their teen kids that put their time on watching excessive violent media. In this regard, violent signs can be identified by the parents and adequate steps can be taken to reduce the aggressiveness in the teens. In other words, it is very imperative that such teens should get proper counseling from their parents, as well as, the schools, as violent media affect their mental health and thus, appropriate addressing should be provided to the kids. (Kundanis, 2003) Nowadays, potential negative effects have been indicated by a number of health organizations that has created great concern from the parents. One of the researches (Kirsh, 2006) has shown that violent media are created according to a number of strategies that include child psychology, which helps the channels to attract the teenagers in an addictive manner. According to a child psychologist, teenage girls and boys are likely to get addicted to things that allow or facilitate them to portray and express their skills that are not recognized by others. Violent media provides a platform for the teenagers to express and share their physical strength that cannot be expressed in homes or schools. In this regard, parents and schoolteachers must give proper attention to every teenager, as they pass through an imperative phase of adolescent development in their lives. Additionally, it should be ensured that every student should be encouraged, and be counseled in times of need. It is observed that teenage girls and boys are more likely to get addicted to the violent media, when they are not provided any other source of energy such as sports, family discussions, co-curricular activities, etc. Nowadays, parents are very much busy, and they prefer babysitter to take care of their teen kids, in order to give time to their business or other activities. It is proved that more than fifty percent of teenagers do not get proper attention from their parents, which results in their endeavor to locate a new arena to express their inner feelings, which is one of the major concerns of psychologists and experts. The General Aggression Model is one of the effective methodologies that facilitate the understanding of aggressive behavior from the confrontation of violent media. A teen goes through a developmental process during his television watching, and different teens are affected on short-term and long-term bases. In this regard, impact of violent media can be reduced by the proper study and understanding of different strategies that can be implemented to eliminate the aggression from a teenage boy or a girl. Conclusion As earlier mentioned in the paper, it is very difficult to restrict children from television watching from scratch, as it has become very much popularized in the present era. However, the negative impact of television can be reduced by a number of steps that can be taken for the improvement of lives of thousands of teens. In this regard, rating of television material should be studied by parents, and equipment should not be installed in child’s bedroom. Moreover, teenagers should be allowed to watch television for a limited period, and media consumption should be monitored by the parents. Violent stuff on the television plays a crucial role in the negative development of teenagers, and therefore, it is imperative that parents and teachers should play an effective role in the reduction of negative impact of the violent media. It is hoped that this paper will be beneficial for the students, teachers, experts, and nonprofessionals in the better understanding of the subject. References Judith Page Van Evra. (2004). Television and Child Development. Routledge. Mark Paul Mattson. (2003). Neurobiology of Aggression. Humana Press. P. T. Kelly. (1999). Television Violence. Nova Publishers. Rose M. Kundanis. (2003). Children, Teens, Families, and Mass Media. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Steven J. Kirsh. (2006). Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence. Sage Publications. Steven Parker. (2004). Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 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