An Impression for the Ages

An Impression for the Ages

The younger generations of children today have heard their elders talk about how society has changed. And this quite frankly this is an irrefutable fact. The entire way we live today is vastly different then it was as little as twenty years ago thanks to continual technological innovations. Computers have helped our society become filled with information that is up to the minute, especially when it comes to the media. Computers have also had tremendous affects on our children and their capability to learn. Many people believe that the children in today's culture are by far much smarter then children of past times. True children today seem to be more knowledgeable about the ways of the world, but is there truly any validity to this belief? Could it possibly be that we as a media-crazed society are neglecting to notice that we are allowing our children to be exposed to material such as sex, drugs, and violence at the ages in which they are the most impressionable? The following paragraphs discussing frightening children, violent media content, parenting, and government responsibility should reveal some insight as to what is going on in the world of children and parents when it comes to media entertainment.

It is no secret that television has become a monstrosity of a business. It is has become a cutthroat as any other business in the world with each broadcasting company fight for sponsors which ultimately lead them to fighting for ours and our children's time spent in front of a television set. Everybody is chasing the almighty dollar and throughout the years programming content has continued to push the envelope to try and retain the viewers' attention. The programs being aired today are much less restricted by the FCC guidelines compared to fifty years ago. Largely due in part to having to compete with private broadcasting companies on cable and satellite in which the FCC has no jurisdiction over. And with the aid computer aided graphics design everything about the shows we watch today are aimed at realism and making the audience feel as if they were there. This principally holds true for action programming which typically contain a great deal of violence, death, and destruction. The broadcasting of violence on television has been a topic of national concern since it first aired, and has been growing ever since. Compounding the issue is the fact that children are watching on an average of twenty-eight hours of television a week and sometimes ten hours on Saturday and Sunday. Before a child's eighteenth birthday they will have watched twenty five thousand hours of television. Most of the television programs viewed will be violent and contain killings.

Parenting plays an extremely important role on how much a child will be exposed to violence by the type of environment and manner in which they are raised. Parents are faced with the reminders in the media that child spanking issues faced in the 1950's such as chewing gum in class, talking without permission, and not cleaning their rooms have been replaced with more serious issues such as drugs, suicide, violence, and teen pregnancy. These issues can and will scare parents into believing that parenting styles and methods are much more important today than they were in the past. Television programs have also changed with the times. Television has moved from the quaint and simplistic humor of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver to more controversial and brash entertainment such as Married with Children, The Simpsons, and The Osbournes. It is no wonder why parents today are looked down upon for having uncontrollable children (Long 121). Some programs aired are considered by many to be educational, but due to their graphic material can prove to still have negative affects on children who are not of age to fully understand the content.

In Great Britain there are children calling a Child Help Line because the child is terrified of what they just saw on television. In one such instance a child be the name of John was watching a television program where someone died of AIDS and the program showed all the side effects they went through before dieing. The person on the show got sick real bad, lost their hair, became weak and could not walk, and was always taking medicine. Even though John was only nine years old and not sexually active or participating in any drug activities, he called the helpline in a panic and could not calm down because what he had seen. John is only one example of a growing number of children growing up terrified of sex and AIDS. AIDS was the number one reason children were calling the help line. Sixty six percent of children ages eleven to fifteen were worried about getting AIDS as apposed to bulling or doing well in school (Cornell 2). With those numbers in mind is our media pushing sex on the children at an early age? Children between ages eleven to fifteen should not be worrying if they are going to be catching AIDS there are too many other things kids should be involved in other than sex that young.

Many parents say that they are looking for ways to reduce their children's exposure to violence and sexually suggestive material, but is this truly the case? According to an American Psychological Association Task Force on Television and American Society children leaving elementary levels will have seen approximately eight thousand killings and more than ten thousand other acts of violence, and studies continually find that these viewings are detrimental to children's healthy growth and development (Ni 85). Yet the school systems do not allow violent programs to be viewed in the classrooms, and most of the children of working parents attend daycare of some fashion. The daycares do not allow children to view violent programs due to government regulations similar to those in the school systems. So when are these children watching the programs? At home! Studies find that most of the children are viewing the violent programs at home while the parents are busy cooking, cleaning, and do nightly chores around the house. The built in babysitter in the television keeps the children occupied so the parents have time to get these chores done around the house. While the parent is busy they have no idea what the child is watching on television. They may see a carton the child is watching but most parents don't take the time to sit down with their children to watch the programs they enjoy and find out exactly what the content of the programs are. Many parents are naпve to the fact that today most of the cartons aired; even on public airways contain violence. The language and graphic content in the shows today are truly harsh and even though it is animated the violent nature of these programs have the same effect on the child. If parents would take the time to watch their child's