Critics Often Charge That Tv Portrayal of Violent and Sexual Themes Powerfully Affects Its Viewers, Especially Children. How Much of a Role Do You Think Tv Plays in the Socialization Process? Does It Affect Everyone to the Same Extent?
Introduction
Humans are affected by the technology in this century. Television is the most common and popular component of media in every single family. Over 90% of families have at least one television set in fact. The influence of television is implantable and unavoidable. The TV station often produces the portrayal of violent and sexual themes to attract the viewers’ attention. However, these varieties of content are harmful for children’s development. TV should take its responsibility in the socialization process.
Analysis
Television is a good invention to deliver the information and provide entrainments, and open up a new world for children. Most of children interest at the television set because it provides the voice and colorful video to attract their attention. Base on the cognitive development published by Jean Piaget, human experience the world by their senses in sensorimotor stage (between 0-2 years old). That’s why children are attracted by the TV easily. An average American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV by age 18. Children cannot justify the difference between reality and fantasy .The variety of violent and sexual programs makes them more vulnerable to learn from and adopting as reality. Children have not enough knowledge and brain development to build up the critical thinking. Another famous scholar George H. Mead published that children experience the society through imitation. They try to take a role of others without judge and seem like a sponge to absorb the information by the media and their surroundings. A research conducted by the University of Otago found that children watch TV more than 5 hours per day in average; at the age of 26, the proportion of criminal event and illegal behavior will increase more than 30%. The length of time spent on TV are determined the children behavior when they grown up. It also proved that the influence of TV is implantable and the children are mainly affected by the violence and sexual plot. Some TV station may argue that parents should take the responsibility at all. How comes the TV station can produce the violence and sexual plot regularly and ignore the social influence with a PG (Parental Guidance) logo only? Parents and TV station should take the responsibility both undoubtedly.
In the aspect of parents, they need to choose which varieties of TV programs are suitable for children. Educational and positive content are needed for children developing their brain