It is everywhere you look. Turn on the television, it’s there. Go to a movie, it’s there. Even a cartoon that a five year old watches is filled with it. Media violence. Movie plots often revolve around violence and television programs are making violence increasingly more popular. The witnessing of daily acts of violence is now taking a toll on the youth of today.

By the time a child turns 18, they will have witnessed 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence on television alone. Often times, these programs do not show the consequences of these acts of violence, either. Only five percent of children’s programs depict the long-term consequences of aggressive behavior. In addition, 58 percent of the time the victims were not shown suffering from pain. Therefore, the children who watch these programs will think that there is no consequences for resorting to violence

In today’s society children spend approximately 28 to 32 hours a week watching television or going to the movies. This is the same amount of time they spend on an average week in school. Undoubtedly, this makes the media one of the most influential forces in a children’s life because of the time spent in front of the screen. What children see and hear in a movie or television show, they are more than likely to imitate. In a study by epidemiologist Brandon Centerwall, who surveyed a group of men imprisoned for violent crime, he found nearly one-third of the felons had consciously imitated a crime technique that they saw in the media. The fact is children learn more about life through television than any other source.

An additional negative effect of media violence is the probability of the children becoming more aggressive later in life. In a study by The American Psychological Association, homicide rates more than double

Some topics in this essay:
Violence Children, Psychological Association, Brandon Centerwall, media violence, negative effects, acts violence, television movies, violence television, negative effects media, effects media, programs consequences, children watch, front screen, children spend,