Violence in the Media and Social Behavior: Film and Television

Violence in public media such as television and film is often labeled as a prominent trigger of violence and aggression in youths. Other factors however, such as youths watching programs or films that are rated for children older than themselves, household stresses such as abuse or living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area and inherited genes, in particular mental health problems should receive considerable deliberation when it comes to claiming that violent television and films are the leading cause of violent youths. Every child s upbringing and environment is as unique and as impressionable as their personality, and it is personality that dictates the ways in which someone may feel, think, respond, communicate, behave and relate. Therefore, is it fair and accurate to blame violent media for the violent, aggressive and destructive youths of today?

Countless studies have been conducted both to confirm and disprove this question, the results being varied and contradictory in numerous ways, therefore deeming them somewhat unreliable or only reliable in regards to the group of people that were studied. It is still a well known fact however that children and teens (particularly in well-off countries such as Australia, U.S. and the U.K.) watch a great deal of television and movies. The average number of TV sets per household in the U.S. is 2.24, the TV is turned on for an average of 6 hours and 47 minutes per day 250 billion hours of TV is watched annually by Americans and 6 million movies are rented daily. (TV Free America n.d. [online]) These statistics show that the average child watches a great deal of television, rather than socializing or being active which can be hazardous to health and well being both physically and psychologically. The average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. ; Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms--two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching. (TV Free America n.d. [online])

Reference List Free TV America n.d., Television & Health [online] Available from: http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html [Accessed: 29.05.2009]