FREE ESSAY ON INFLUENCES OF TEENAGE VIOLENCE

INFLUENCES OF TEENAGE VIOLENCE

Influences of Teenage Violence
Does the entertainment industry influence teen violence? Many experts say yes to this
question. One person who says yes is President Bill Clinton; We cannot pretend that there
is no impact on our culture and our children that is adverse if there is too much
violence coming out of what they see and experience. In the entertainment industry there
are several factors in which influence teenage violence. The single most prominent factor
is television. Violent television has been shown to influence teenage violence. Another
factor influencing violence by the entertainment industry is violent music. Violent music
is shown to affect teens in many ways such as social behaivor.
Some violent television programs, such as South Park, encourage violence. Violent
programs on television lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch
those programs (APA). This is suggesting that violent television programs influence
teenagers. The National Television Violence Study (NTSV), conducted from 1994 to 1997,
confirms previous suspicions that violence is often portrayed in a contextual manner.
This same study also found that more than 70 percent of the bad guys receive no penalty.
Furthermore, the NTVS concluded that 40 percent of the violence was perpetrated by
attractive (hero) role models (Shifrin). If you have violence hidden within the program
you are promoting or encouraging violence. When the bad guys commit crimes and then
receive no penalty you are basically saying you do the crime you don't do the time.
Additionally, when you use attractive heroes or heroines to battle crime, using violent
methods you are promoting that violence is the right answer for the do-gooder when
violence should not be an answer. 
Television is emotionally and psychologically harmful to teens. Television is the number
1 leisure activity, noted Shifrin. Watching so much violence on television causes
children to think that the world is a mean and dangerous place (APA). A teen or child
spends more time with the television rather than talking to parents, writes Moody. It is
a known fact that teens or children who do not talk with their parents are
psychologically unstable. Kaufman pointed out; viewing large amounts of TV violence can
contribute to promoting a view that violence is a commonplace in everyday life as well as
creating a heightened fear of being assaulted on the street. This is a direct result of
emotional and psychological instability. Watching excessive amounts on television has a
direct mental affect on people as a whole. Being mentally unstable is a fact that leads
to, even triggers teenage violence.
Violent television programs add to teenage violence. A viewer learns more than aggressive
behavior from televised violence (NIMH). A study funded by CBS reported that teenage boys
in London, according to their own accounts of their activities, were more likely to
engage in serious violence after exposed to television violence (NIMH). The CBS study
shows a clear correlation between TV violence and teenage violence. TV violence that is
glamorized, trivialized and sanitized teaches that violence is a solution (Shifrin). To
teach violence as an answer to a situation is simply adding the teenage violence. The
child applies to a real-life situation the kind of solution he has seen used on
television (Freedman). Freedman is saying when a child is confronted he or she goes back
to what they have learned from watching TV; in some cases children using what they
learned off the TV is very violent. Its a fact that we learn from doing something over
and over, so its the same for watching violent situations over and over. Teens learn them
and react in a violent manner. TV programs influence teens, therefore TV influences
teenage violence.