Does the TV Increase Aggressive Behavior among Children - Report Example

Running head: Influence of TV on children Does TV increase aggressive behavior among children? Television is one of the popular visual mediaof the current world which influences people irrespective of their age, sex or community. Like most of the other medias, televisions also has merits and demerits. On one side it helps the people in knowing and seeing what is going on around them. On the other side, it spreads messages which may create violent or antisocial behaviour among public. Children are most vulnerable to the effects of television. Because of the immaturity in segregating the good and evil, children often become victims of television violent and sex related television programs. This paper briefly explains the increase of aggressive behavior among children due to television programs. Introduction University of Michigan health system, (2009) has provided some statistics about the influence of TV on children. The statistics published by University of Michigan health system, (2009) has showed that children between the ages of 2-5 spend 32 hours a week in front of a TV whereas those who between the ages 6-11 spend about 28 hours/week and 68% of 8- to 18-year-olds have a TV in their bedroom. Another interesting finding of the above study was that 53% of 7th- to 12th-graders are not obeying any rules about TV watching and most of the people watch TV during their meal time. In short, an average American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV he/she became the age of 18. Majority of the programs seen by the children contains violence and these violent acts go unpunished on TV which will provide enough motivation to the children for imitating such violence in their daily life also (University of Michigan health system, 2009) The above statistics clearly shows the influence of TV upon children and also the increased content of violence in television programs. At the same time there are different opinions about the influence of TV up on children in increasing their aggressive behaviours. University of Michigan professor L. Rowell Huesmann, argued that fifty years of evidence showed that the increased exposure to media violence may cause children to behave more aggressively whereas people like Jonathan Freedman of the University of Toronto, has questioned the argument of Huesmann (Media awareness networks, 2009). The influence of television on children need to be investigated thoroughly to arrive at a conclusion. Does TV increase aggressive behavior among children? University of Michigan health system,(2009), in their studies concluded that children see favorite characters smoking, drinking, and involved in sexual situations and other risky behaviors in the shows and movies they watch on TV. Moreover, they concluded that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed among children (University of Michigan health system, 2009). Children have a tendency to imitate others. They are not matured enough to identify the goods and evils. Whenever they see their favourite stars engage in some violent acts in television programs, they may develop the tendency to imitate them. For example, in most of the television serials or films, children are witnessing the destruction of evil forces by their adorned heroes. It is a common scene in many of the serials or films that the hero kills so many people (terrorists or criminals) with the help of a machine gun or using some other means. Such heroic acts encourage children to imitate such things in their real life also. The adolescent ages are periods in which children like to undertake risky activities. Children may perceive the acts of the heroes in the serials or films as genuine and legal because of their worship towards them. They may feel that whatever the activities the heroes are engaged in are right and imitation of such activities in real life might not bring any harm. Gordon, (2009) has pointed out the findings of a research published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine; direct TV watching by young children or exposure to indirect viewing in the household were both associated with increased aggression in small children. Both direct and indirect viewing had a significant effect on childrens aggressive behaviour (Gordon, 2009). It is not necessary that the direct television watching alone may influence the children in increasing their aggressive behaviour. Even the description of television program scenes by friends or colleagues may influence the children. Some studies have showed that television programs can affect the children not only psychologically, but physically as well. Media awareness networks, (2009) has pointed out that exposure to violent programs may increase the heart rate, respiration and blood pressure (Media awareness networks, 2009). The above physiological changes may stimulate the aggressive behaviour. It is a fact that high blood pressure often resulted in unexpected and aggressive behaviours even from the adults. Children who watch violent movies may experience a blood pressure rise temporary and the outcomes might not be predicted. Media awareness networks, (2009) have published the results of study conducted by some researchers in 1956. In this study the researchers tested 24 children in laboratory to compare the influence of TV watching on them. Half of the subjects were allowed to watch a violent episode of the cartoon Woody Woodpecker, and the other half were allowed to the non-violent cartoon The Little Red Hen. These researchers found that the children who watched the violent cartoon were much more likely to hit other children and break toys compared to other children who watched the non-violent cartoon (Media awareness networks, 2009) Moreover, Johnson et al (2002) also indentified significant association between the amount of time spent watching television during adolescence and early adulthood and the likelihood of subsequent aggressive acts against others in their studies (Johnson et al,2002). There are lots of studies which proved the links between violent behaviours of children and the television programs. At the same many other studies have failed to establish the connection between children’s violent behaviour and television programs. Feshbach and Singer (1971) found that adolescent and pre-adolescent boys at a residential school were more aggressive if they had a diet of non-aggressive TV programmes than if they had watched aggressive programmes (Chandler, 2004). But the above results cannot be taken as conclusive as many adolescent children are watching television just for enjoyment. Some of them may consider watching television just for killing the time. Such children may react indifferently if they are denied the opportunity of spending time in front of their favourite medium. Many people argue that it is essential for the current generation to watch television movies and serials in order to increase their creativity and to stay updated with the current trends in the world. But, it should be remembered that environment plays an important role in the development of a child along with heredity. Even a child born to a good citizen can become a criminal if he developed in an unhealthy environment. The opposite is also true. Sometimes children born to criminals and developed in unhealthy environments may become good citizens. In any case, it is an accepted fact that environment plays an important role in the child development and over exposure to violent television programs may bring more harm than good to the children. Conclusions Most of the studies have proved beyond doubt that television programs can develop aggressive behaviour among children even though few studies argued against it. Children, because of their physical and psychological peculiarities may not be able to differentiate between the good and evil during their childhood. They have the natural tendency to imitate their favourite stars. Moreover their increased energy always motivates them to undertake risky activities. Even though limited exposure to television programs may help the children in their development and studies, over exposure of violent television programs always create problems in their physical and psychological development. References 1. Chandler Daniel, (2004), Television Violence and Childrens Behaviour, Retrieved on 10 February 2010 from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/TF33120/tv-violence_and_kids.html 2. Gordon Serena, (2009), TV May Increase Aggression in Toddlers, US News and World Report, Retrieved on 10 February 2010 from http://www.usnews.com/health/family-health/childrens-health/articles/2009/11/02/tv-may-increase-aggression-in-toddlers 3. Johnson Jeffrey G., Cohen Patricia, . Smailes Elizabeth M, Kasen Stephanie, & Brook Judith S. (2002), Television Viewing and Aggressive Behavior During Adolescence and Adulthood Retrieved on 10 February 2010 from http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/5564/2468?tdate=5%2F31%2F2004&HITS=10&hits=10&fdate=10%2F1%2F1995&stored_search=&maxtoshow=&FIRSTINDEX=0&titleabstract=Television+viewing+and+aggressive+behavior+&searchid=1084470988836_8112&RESULTFORMAT= 4. Media awareness networks, (2009), Research on the Effects of Media Violence, Retrieved on 10 February 2010 from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm 5. University of Michigan health system, (2009), Television and Children, Retrieved on 10 February 2010 from http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/TV.htm Read More