Television Promotes Violence

Television has changed our lives since its invention and it continues to do so, even today. Most of us have a favorite TV show or cartoon and many ideas or beliefs are drawn from these programs, especially by younger people.

Television influence

To say that television promotes any one specific act or idea would be biased and incorrect. While it may be responsible for the promotion of some degree of violence, it is not the only thing it can do. Television has many educational and informative aspects as well.

A television is nothing but a tool, to be used for whatever purpose the controller desires, of course, effects that were not intended can happen and that is why we now have the idea that television promotes violence.

Interests

It is fact that people are interested in many different things, it is knowledge of these interests that script writers and producers utilize to structure their programming to capture their target audience. People are interested in violence across all age groups and genders, it fascinates us all to some degree.

Males are particularly more attracted to violent acts but it is important to remember that the way violence is depicted on television is very different from a real life experience. For example, much of the blood and gore is edited, or poorly shown to the audience in these programs, so committing a violent act may seem more attractive than the reality would be.

Why it promotes violence

Crime fighting and hero type programming is quite popular on television and a large part of crime fighting involves violence, both on television and in real life. The problem arises from the way law enforcers and heroes are portrayed. Directors present the acts of violence committed by the hero characters in a good light and it’s believed that this can mislead people into seeing violence as a good thing. This is especially true for young kids, who are prone to hero worship and imitation.

As a society we have control over the things that we expose ourselves to and this includes television programming. While it may be hard to completely remove television from our lives, we can be conscious of the fact that the scenes displayed on television are meant only for entertainment, not to be copied. We must take extra care to ensure that young children are aware of this while providing guidance concerning their choice of television programs.