Does watching violence on TV cause one to become violent?

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: SammySon

well in all honesty it has some postive points. seseme street among others are good for kids

Ever hear of books?

its a tool that parents can use in many ways to help teach their kids about society. TV is part of mainstream culture wheter or not you like it or not.

Teach them about society? Mabey if they went out and experienced it instead of sitting in their 8-4-2.5 colonial in suburbia watching TV, they would get a better grasp on REALITY.

Seems as if you watched too much in your day.

sounds like someone is a runaway. hahaha

 

[ClueLis]

I killed three people last week. Does that count as "violent"?

 

[Vic]

People who say that TV (and video games) makes people violent miss the obvious fact that humans were violent before the relatively recent invention of TV (and video games).

 

[MikeO]

I've been watching violence, horror, gore and all kinds of fvcked up sh1t since I was a kid and I didn't become violent serial killer.

 

[0roo0roo]

ugh, just mention how hitler didn't watch tv, was a vegitarian, and didn't smoke or drink alcohol. he loved art, wanted to be a painter, read books, wrote his own book. he was an angel.

not having tv is bullsh*t, shutting out your kids from society. there are many good things on tv, history channel, pbs, discovery etc. learning happens in many ways, not only off the page. being in tune with the rest of society is also benificial, bringing up a buncha little weridos isn't good.

sure eating too much will make you fat, but the solution isn't to stop eating all together.

 

[Schadenfroh]

wheres the poll?

btw, no

 

[Amused]

Funny how many of the same people that swear tobacco advertising glorifying smoking causes kids to smoke and endanger their own lives will vigorously deny that violence and/or sex glorified in media will influence kids at all. They are also the same people that decry any depiction of smoking in movies as influencing kids.

It seems to me there's a bit of intellectual hypocrisy going on here.

 

[Ionizer86]

My psychology teacher has a good point: it's become socially very acceptable to have violent stuff (TV, movies, etc). He thinks it's gone too far, especially considering how pr0n isn't as acceptable (how many parents would be ok with their kid watching pr0n on TV?).

He said that he'd much rather his son/daughter be watching pr0n than watching violence, and that he'd much rather his son/daughter be making love to someone than killing somone.

His real point after this interesting comparison is that he thinks neither should be socially acceptable, and that they really need to start scrapping all that violence from TV, movies, etc. His logic is pretty cool though 🙂

 

[OrganizedChaos]

Originally posted by: PipBoy
I believe that certain people can be desensitized to violence by watching tv, playing video games, etc. to the point that it will affect their real lives.

ding ding ding BINGO we have a winner!!

 

[Kappo]

For the ones saying that we were violent prior to television:

Check the ratio of how many violent crimes were commited PRIOR to the information age and after.

In general, I do not think that it is viewed violence, a game someone played, or music they listened to. I think it is how it is portrayed in society.

A good example of this is how society expects females to dress like porn stars at the age of 12. They show people wearing next to nothing on mainstream television and put these people on a pedestal. Then people wonder why the age of beginning sexual activity is barely in the teens now. Could it be because society and media as a whole are putting younger and younger people in these types of situations? Or could it be that most parents are crap and let thier children do whatever they feel like?

The thing about violence is that most situations have a good guy and a bad guy. It is very clear who is who and that the bad guy is simply getting what he deserves. If you idolize the bad guy, and mainstream media starts putting shows that the bad guy wins, I believe that you will see an upswing in violence with that target audience (over time). I think that The Sopranos has opened this can of worms, and considering the popularity, I think it will become more and more common to see the bad guy portrayed as a hero.

I have a 10 year old child that lives with me. He is not allowed to watch ANYTHING violent, no sex related shows or situations, etc. For the people that think that is a sheltered existence, fine. Keep this in mind; he will not always be sheltered. He will learn on his own in time. We all did.

I think 95% of all the problems in teens today is a parenting issue. Parents are lazy. They think that their child is ALWAYS right, and if that child isnt, they will STILL cover for them. Everyone wants to blame someone else. People today have zero concept of hard work, determination and applying themselves. The parents buy $40k cars for their kids for graduating HIGH SCHOOL. Pathetic.

Now, mine plays Quake, Call of Duty, BF1942 and many other games that involve violence (GTA series is a bit much, so no going there). He has had almost zero behavioral problems, and never been in a fight in his life. He watches scary movies and movies where stuff gets blown to bits. But it is up to ME to decide what he can and cannot be exposed to.

If parents would just ATTEMPT to make judgements that suited the child, this would not be much of an issue, but they turn on the "electronic babysitter" and let them do whatever they want. If you children learn thier values from the television expect alot of problems. Our media is created for idiotic people who have zero morals (Jerry, Friends, Any new dating show, etc...). If they learn from television instead of the parents taking the time to sit down with thier children and TALK to them, what else could one expect?

As an FYI: if your kids sit down at the dinner table with the parents and no television on and no other distractions at least 3 times a week they are 45% LESS likely to have problems with drugs, crime, and sex.