On an average, kids today watch nearly four hours of television everyday. Four hours spent daily on anything is a powerful device to change and shape behavioral patterns and the one’s value system. If you consider the content matter available on television today, this can be truly frightening. Most shows on TV – even those targeted towards children – contain some amounts of violence. Let’s not even get started on the shows that are aimed at a more ‘mature’ audience. Certain private TV channels and satellite TV shows walk a very fine line when it comes to what is considered acceptable for a general audience.
There are hundreds of studies that have already been conducted on the effects of violence on TV and children’s behavioral problems. Results have proven that children who are exposed to violence on television on a regular basis may soon become immune to various types of violence and fail to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable forms of behavior.
According to a report issued by the National Institute of Mental Health, children exposed to TV violence may become desensitized to pain, may behave in harmful or aggressive ways to others. Alternatively, some children may turn more fearful and retreat into a shell as a result of anxiety and depression caused by TV violence. Another study also showed that children who watch longer hours of television on a daily basis are less affected by TV violence than those who watch television sporadically. This indicates that children over time become immune to violence and violent acts.
A simple analysis of TV programs over the last twenty years shows a significant rise in violent acts and scenes of violence even in prime time programs. According to a report issued by the Center for Media and Public Affairs ‘that in one 18-hour day in 1992, observing 10 channels of all major kinds of programs, 1,846 different scenes of violence were noted, which translated to more than 10 violent scenes per hour, per channel, all day.’ that in one 18-hour day in 1992, observing 10 channels of all major kinds of programs, 1,846 different scenes of violence were noted, which translated to more than 10 violent scenes per hour, per channel, all day.’
The impact of TV violence on children may manifest itself immediately or may even develop years later. Reports show that sometimes even watching a single violent episode may be enough to affect a child negatively. And while TV violence is not the only cause of behavioral problems in children, it is definitely contributes to the problem.
As a parent there are several things one can do to reduce the effect of TV on children. These include:
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