Create a 5 page essay paper that discusses Television, Music and American Children.Download file to see previous pages... According to statistics, “the average American child will witness approximat

Create a 5 page essay paper that discusses Television, Music and American Children.

According to statistics, “the average American child will witness approximately two hundred thousand violent acts on television by the time they reach the age of eighteen (Gunter 13)”. “eighty-four percent of music listened to by children and teenagers is vulgar and contains an alarming amount of violent images (Jennings &amp. Thompson 128)”. Due to this constant subjectivity, children are gradually becoming more desensitized to violence and are more aggressive. The younger that a child is, the easier it is for them to be influenced by various aspects of their environment. Everything that they witness in the world is open to them for interpretation and for their own personal use. As children are incredibly impressionable, they look up to the teachers in their lives to determine what behaviors are or are not appropriate, and these decisions are based on what the leading authoritative figure in their life has to say about it. These teachers include parents, television, and music. the latter two teachers have a stronghold over children, providing them with images and words that children deem to be appropriate to reenact since it is entertainment that is available to everyone. Once something is shown on television or is said in music lyrics, children automatically feel that the actions and behaviors have been condoned, prompting them to use the actions themselves. What is seen or heard in media is considered law to most children, or at least a collection of possibilities for their own behavior. The former teachers, that is the parents, need to start intervening and making a bigger impact on the lives of their children, ultimately becoming the reigning authority figure for behaviors and attitudes. The images on a television show are automatically approved of by children simply because they are being allowed to view the images. They receive approval to view and accept these images not only from their parents who allow them to watch certain television shows, but by media and society in general, since they allow the shows to be made available to everyone in the public. The more that children are allowed to watch shows that display violence and aggression, the more information that they are going to take from them. If Character A kills Character B and is not reprimanded, which happens more often than not, then “children will determine that violence and aggression is the key to getting what they want without getting into trouble (Liebert &amp. Sprafkin 94)” and solving issues that they may face in life. Though children are also capable of learning violent behavior from friends or family, a huge chunk of it is learned from television shows. If they are faced with confrontation, there is a good chance that they will respond in an aggressive way that they have adopted when they witnessed it on television. If a parent does not police their children’s television viewing, the majority of television shows are available to be viewed by anyone. As long as a television is without a parental block, or a parent in the same room, and a child has access to a remote control, they have the ability to view a plethora of violent and negative images. There are television channels and shows that cater to younger audiences, but children are still capable of accessing television shows that they should not be watching. All it takes is for a child to be channel-surfing when they come upon an image of a man being murdered or a woman being raped.