Media Violence's Effect on Children

Media influence encompasses the Internet, newspapers, books, and most prevalent of all- television. In 1950, only ten percent of American homes had a television but by 1960 the percentage had grown to ninety percent. Today ninety-nine percent of homes have a television; there are more homes with televisions than telephones ("Facts About Media Violence and Effects on the American Family"). Media influences our thoughts and actions. The barrage of violent material Americans are subjected to on a daily basis must affect them somehow.

Media violence bombards people throughout their lives enforcing the idea that gore is awesome, it is right to kill characters who annoy you, and how to get away with it. The average American child watches television twenty-eight hours each week. Fifty-four percent of American children have a television in their bedrooms, where their viewing choices can remain unobserved for a level of violence and secretive from their parent's knowledge ("Facts About Media Violence and Effects on the American Family").

English: Media Violence live in Winston Salem, NC ...

Saniresch shooting for children’s television pro...

Published by the American Psychiatric Association,...

Though when adults watch children's programming it often seems like the shows are nothing but warm fuzzy thoughts and hugs; in fact children are getting a daily dose of violence.

Television is programming children from almost day one that violence against others is fine because in cartoons death is not permanent. Though one may think that adult programming is much more violent and graphic than child programming, statistics show that there are twenty to twenty-five acts per hour on Saturday morning-the high time for children's cartoons- as compared to a mere three to five violent acts per hour in prime time programming mostly meant for adults. Sixty-six percent of children's programming demonstrates violent acts. By the time the average American child reaches adulthood, at the age of eighteen, they will have viewed approximately 200,000 acts of violence on...