Violent TV Argument

As the parent of an 8 year old, my priority is to make sure I raise my child right. Young children are easily influenced by the media whether it’s on TV, the internet or even video games. Children are very likely to imitate behaviour that they see. Many studies back this up, one of which, is the Bandura (1961) study. In his study, Bandura had children observe an adult show aggression towards a Bobo doll and other toys. He found that children significantly showed aggressive actions that imitated the model that the child observed. Female children showed significantly more verbal aggression whereas male children showed significantly more physical aggression. Either of these types of aggressive behaviors can become detrimental to a child in his/her life later on.
Children that are consistently exposed to watching violent television become more likely to accept the violence as a way to solve problems. They can even imitate the behavior themselves and gradually become more aggressive in their lives. Parents should pay attention to the things their kids watch on TV and see on the internet. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t be exposed to violence, instead they should see what it is and be taught that it is wrong. The real world outside of TV and video games is unfortunately filled with violence and children who have never seen violence will go out in the world unaware of the problem, but if we teach them right from wrong they will have a better understanding and make good decisions.
Therefore, my child will not be allowed to watch violent movies or play play violent video games. Instead, if we watch the news or a movie and there is a violent scene, they will be told that violence is wrong.