Television, Music and American Children - Research Paper Example

?Television, Music and American Children American children in this day and age have a need for television and music that is bordering on a dependency. Seldom does a day go by that children do not watch television or listen to their music players or to the radio. This amount of subjectivity to media is bound to influence the thoughts and emotions of these children. While this could be beneficial to the well-being of children if television shows and music were always positive and intellectually stimulating, this is far from the reality that we must learn to face. According to statistics, “the average American child will witness approximately two hundred thousand violent acts on television by the time they reach the age of eighteen (Gunter 13)”; “eighty-four percent of music listened to by children and teenagers is vulgar and contains an alarming amount of violent images (Jennings & Thompson 128)”. Due to this constant subjectivity, children are gradually becoming more desensitized to violence and are more aggressive. The younger that a child is, the easier it is for them to be influenced by various aspects of their environment. Everything that they witness in the world is open to them for interpretation and for their own personal use. As children are incredibly impressionable, they look up to the teachers in their lives to determine what behaviors are or are not appropriate, and these decisions are based on what the leading authoritative figure in their life has to say about it. These teachers include parents, television, and music; the latter two teachers have a stronghold over children, providing them with images and words that children deem to be appropriate to reenact since it is entertainment that is available to everyone. Once something is shown on television or is said in music lyrics, children automatically feel that the actions and behaviors have been condoned, prompting them to use the actions themselves. What is seen or heard in media is considered law to most children, or at least a collection of possibilities for their own behavior. The former teachers, that is the parents, need to start intervening and making a bigger impact on the lives of their children, ultimately becoming the reigning authority figure for behaviors and attitudes. The images on a television show are automatically approved of by children simply because they are being allowed to view the images. They receive approval to view and accept these images not only from their parents who allow them to watch certain television shows, but by media and society in general, since they allow the shows to be made available to everyone in the public. The more that children are allowed to watch shows that display violence and aggression, the more information that they are going to take from them. If Character A kills Character B and is not reprimanded, which happens more often than not, then “children will determine that violence and aggression is the key to getting what they want without getting into trouble (Liebert & Sprafkin 94)” and solving issues that they may face in life. Though children are also capable of learning violent behavior from friends or family, a huge chunk of it is learned from television shows. If they are faced with confrontation, there is a good chance that they will respond in an aggressive way that they have adopted when they witnessed it on television. If a parent does not police their children’s television viewing, the majority of television shows are available to be viewed by anyone. As long as a television is without a parental block, or a parent in the same room, and a child has access to a remote control, they have the ability to view a plethora of violent and negative images. There are television channels and shows that cater to younger audiences, but children are still capable of accessing television shows that they should not be watching. All it takes is for a child to be channel-surfing when they come upon an image of a man being murdered or a woman being raped. Even if they do not remain on that channel, that image will be imprinted into their young brains. There are also television shows that reveal torture or violence between younger people, which a child or teenager can find easier to relate to, which can leave behind a more profound effect. Even if the violence is between adults, most children are raised to look up to adults to be role models. If all of these people are engaging in violence, all a child is going to know when it comes to reacting to situations is violence. The more that they see these horrific images, the more that it becomes okay for children to copy them. Music in these modern days is no less aggressive. Very little music exists anymore that is decent enough for a younger audience, leaving children with an almost non-existent variety of music to pick from. Also, the music that is available for teenagers and young adults contains subject matter that proper adults can barely handle. Lyrics are riddled with stories of violent crimes, many of a sexual nature, or of drug abuse or sexual promiscuity. Once again, children and teenagers are being given images of lifestyles that they should have nothing to do with, no matter how old they are. Furthermore, children and teenagers are placed in situations where the music has the potential to control them. They hear the lyrics, understand the situation that is taking place, and yet have nobody else to tell them that what they are listening to is inappropriate and should not be reenacted under any circumstance. Just like television, music becomes the leading authority. Just like television, music is easily accessible to anybody with a computer, a radio, or a personal music player. If children and teenagers can get their hands on it, they can control it. Very little stands between them and delving into these destructive worlds that can leave a lasting negative impression on them. Unfortunately, unlike television, it becomes harder for an adult to monitor the music that their children and teenagers listen to, especially if the music is kept on a personal media player, which the individual child or teenager is usually the only one to use. Though the television shows and music should not exist, or at least be harder to access, the bigger concern is that children and teenagers have “a mediator to explain the importance of not copying what they see or hear in media (Steyer 104)”. As previously mentioned, the major consequence of children being subjected to negative and violent television shows and music is that they can adapt the same behaviors and attitudes for themselves. Without a mediator, children and teenagers use the violent and aggressive behaviors that they are subjected to as behaviors to play dress-up in. They try the violence and aggression out in a real life setting and if it allows them to get what they want, they will continue to behave violently and aggressively. If they get caught, or if a parent or a teacher steps in and tells them that what they are doing is wrong, they stand a chance of learning that the behavior is inappropriate and force themselves to find another means of fixing their problems. However, this does not happen as much as it should. It is because of “a lack of intervention between adults and children and teenagers that there is a correlation between increased violence and aggression in children and teenagers and violence and aggression in television shows and music (Traudt 59)”. Children and teenagers are becoming too used to turning to violence to solve their problems that violence in people under the age of eighteen has drastically risen over the years. Today’s television and music are reflections on the social issues that exist in some American communities. Murder, fights, rape, sexual abuse, and other forms of violence and aggression are not subjects of fairytales, but of real life experiences. While many of the shows and music that contain these subjects do so to make it known that events like these happen in the real world, many of the stories tend to veer off into a fantasy where people do not get reprimanded for their behavior. Instead of being arrested or at least yelled at that they have done wrong, many people in television and in songs who commit some sort of crime or violent act walk away from the incident without so much as a slap on the wrist. Teenagers may know better and understand the type of punishments that await them, but the younger children just see the lack of punishment in the show or song as part of the violent behavior. If the person in the show did not get in trouble, the child believes that they will not get into trouble either. Television shows and songs may reflect the goings-on in real American societies, but they need to be more factual if children and teenagers are actually going to learn from them, especially for as long as the younger audiences are able to gain access to them. The best way that parents can intervene between their children and the possibility of them adopting violent and destructive attitudes is by monitoring what their children watch and listen to and by teaching their children the difference between right and wrong. The various forms of media are entertaining, but children and teenagers need to understand the differences between fact and fiction, media fantasy and real life. Parents need to step in and point out that certain behavior is not meant to be copied in a real life setting; they should also divulge into the punishments that can occur should a child or teenager resort to violence or aggression. “Parents need to start taking a more active role in the entertainment that their children engage in (Vered 44)”. Youth today is learning the majority of their behaviors from media, but it should be their parents and other trusted adults that they look up to in these matters. Violent and aggressive television shows and music have negatively impacted today’s youth, and there are no signs of it stopping, subjecting each generation to more horrific and graphic images. Each negative image that children and teenagers see or hear become imprinted into their memories, where they remain until the child finds a use for them. This has caused an increase in violent and aggressive behavior among children and teenagers. Fortunately, there is a cure for this, and it comes in the form of proactive parents. If children and teenagers have their entertainment policed by their parents, and if their parents are willing to step in and continue to teach their children right from wrong, children and teenagers will be able to learn how to respond to situations with a clear head and a positive outcome. Works Cited Gunter, Barrie. Children and Television. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997. Print. Jennings, Bryant, and Susan Thompson. Fundamentals of Media Effects. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print. Liebert, Robert M., and Joyce N. Sprafkin. The Early Window: Effects of Television on Children and Youth. 3rd ed. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Print. Steyer, James P. The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children. New York: Atria Books, 2003. Print. Traudt, Paul J. Media, Audiences, Effects: An Introduction to the Study of Media Content and Audience Analysis. Boston: Pearson/Allyn And Bacon, 2005. Print. Vered, Karen Orr. Children and Media Outside the Home. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. Read More