Sex and Violence on Television Today and the Impact it has on Children
...-based Parents Television Council. They claim that a study that was conducted by PTC analysts who reviewed nearly 200 hours of “family hour” programming (8-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 7-8 pm on Sunday) during the 2000-’01 television season found that incidents of violence and foul language during the first hour of prime-time television have increased 24 percent and sexual references are less frequent but far more vulgar (MSNBC). This shows how different the results of basically the same study that was done at almost the same time can be based on who conducted the study. The first study was performed by the Center for Media so of course they are going to say that sex and violence are declining on television. In contrast, the second study was conducted by the Parents Council and they obviously found the opposite that there was too much sex and violence on television. This could make the reader confused as to which study, if any, is correct and who to believe. The two groups’ views on sex and violence are shown to be much different by the results of their study. Although people may view sex and violence differently, they still effect the viewer. One may wonder what type of effect these violent shows can have on children. According to the American Psychological Association (or APA), seeing violence on television has three major effects on children: Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, they may be more fearful of the world around them, or they may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others. Children who watch a lot of television are less stimulated by violent scenes than children who only watch a little; in other words, they're less bothered by violence in general and less likely to see anything wrong with it. One example: in several studies, those who watched a violent program instead of a nonviolent one were slower to intervene or to call for help when, a little later, they saw younger children fighting or playing destructively (APA). Sex may sell, but for marketers, it may only sell you short. According to a new study in the Journal of Applied Psychology, individuals who watch television programs that feature strong sexual references or violence are less likely to remember commercials. The memory loss appeared in adults of all ages and genders. In fact, the audiences who liked the violent and/or suggestive shows and those who didn't were just as likely to forget the ads (Violence on TV). In essence, the research concludes that the most popular shows are the worst places for commercials. The simplest explanation is that people who watch a sexual program are thinking about sex instead of the ads and people who watch a violent program are thinking about violence, not laundry detergent or soda pop. If you don't pay attention to the ads, you won't encode them into memory. This current wave of concern about television violence seems questionably timed. The violent action shows that had great success on television a decade or so ago such as The A-Team, Magnum P.I., Miami Vice have largely disappeared. The few crime shows left are simple dramas like Law & Order and NYPD Blue, which have little excessive violence (Violence on TV). The flourishing sex talk on network sitcoms is a far more alarming trend. Many shows talk about sex as if it is a simple act that means little to nothing. For example, the television show Friends has characters that openly talk about having one night stands and sex on the first date. Other shows, such as The Sunday Night Sex Talk, talk about sex in such detail that it can become uncomfortable to watch. These shows can definitely have a large effect on the choices that teens make in relationships. Critics have been concerned since the early 1950s about the amount of sex, violence, and graphic language on television and the impact that it has on our culture. Their concerns have led to repeated calls to regulate objectionable content. Pressure for wholesome children’s programming finally resulted in the Children’s Television Act in 1990 (Straubhaar and LaRose, 221). This act mandated that television broadcasters serve educational and informational needs of children. However, Congress provided no definition of what could be considered as educational content, and the FCC was afraid of breaking the free speech rights of broadcasters so they wrote rules so general that even shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could be considered educational. This act obviously had little to no effect on the amount of sex and violence on television. The latest attempt to stop sex and violence from being viewed by children is the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Straubhaar and LaRose, 222). The act requires that every new television set sold in the United States includes a “V-chip” that enables viewers, particularly parents, to block programming using an electrically encoded system. Less than ten percent of parents actually use the V-chip, although half do consult television ratings to decide what their children can watch (Straubhaar and LaRose, 222). These television ratings have six different levels: TVY-All children, TVY7-Directed to older children, TVG-General audience, TVPG-Parental guidance suggested, TV14-Parents strongly cautioned, and TVM-Mature audiences only. Morality is affected by things other than what the youth sees on television. Home life has far more of an impact than any TV show could ever have. Parents need to take the responsibility to make sure that their children aren’t watching a show that is too graphic for them to handle. They could watch television with their child or limit their television time to make sure th...