College Proposal Essay Argumentative Television Violence and Children

The invention of the television has changed the world. News, sitcoms, cartoons and movies all appear with just the point and click of a remote control. With hundreds of TV channels at your fingertips, there is no end to what can be viewed. It is no wonder that cable and satellite providers have built in parental controls. Violent and aggressive acts are not hard to find on TV. Many times it is children who are watching these acts. Some people believe that such viewing habits directly affect kids. They believe children will imitate what they see, and become aggressive themselves. They also believe children will become desensitized to acts of violence. Without being able to relate to the negative impact violence creates, children will not use restraint regarding their own behavior. Others believe that lessons and morals can actually be taught in correlation to watching some aggression on television. They claim that since the bad guys perform the majority of the hostility, it teaches children that bad people commit bad acts. They further argue that since it is usually the good guys that save the day, children will learn to identify with the heroes in the story (Media Violence 53). There is also the point of view that aggressive children choose violent shows. It is the child's predisposition that creates his or her own negative behavior, and not the TV shows they are watching (Van Erva 63). Is violence on television creating a society filled with aggressive youth?

As a mother of four children I am interested to know if children who watch violence on television become more aggressive. I observe my own children's negative behavior, and wonder if it has anything to do with what they are seeing on television. Is there hostility toward one another just sibling rivalry, or is it a direct result of something they have viewed?

I know that violence and or aggression appear in the majority of television shows in one form or another. Children's television shows are no exception. The majority of households in America own a TV, and there are stations that are specifically created for young viewers.

I need to research the opinion of professionals regarding the affects of television violence on children. I would like to find out how they arrived at their conclusions, and what recommendations they endorse. I also need to look at statistics concerning television viewing and crime rates. Learning how much TV children view on average, and what shows are popular is another aspect I want to research further.

Works Cited

Media Violence Opposing Viewpoints. California: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Print.

Van Erva, Judith. Television and Child Development. 2^nd ed. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1998. Print.