Television is harmful to society. It makes people less intelligent. Statewide assessment programs conducted in Rhode Island (1975-76), Connecticut (1978-79), and Pennsylvania (1978-79) surveyed thousands of children and came up with remarkably similar results: the more television children watched, the worse they performed in all academic areas (Kelemen 1).
Television makes people become violent. "Virtually all independent scholars agree that there is evidence that television can cause aggressive behavior" (Violence In The Media 19). And last television ruins good morals. In a five year study of 732 children, "several kinds of aggression, conflicts with parents, fighting, and delinquency, were all positively correlated with the total amount of television viewing" (Anderson 1). People also watch an incredible amount of it. "In the United States, children spend more time watching television that they spend at school, and adults spend more time watching television than they spend on any other activity except for sleeping and working" (Bushman 1).
It has been said, by many people, since television was invented that, "T.V. makes you stupid," and according to a 1982 gallup poll, 49% of Americans believed that excessive television viewing was the cause of poorly educated people. Watching television is addictive and is a harmful thing to do. "It encourages people to sit passively, rather than engage in more active or thought-provoking pastimes." It takes away reading and doing homework from students. This is shown even in early times. "According to Robert Hornik, in the 1960s, approximately 15 minutes of homework time gave way to television each week," and since television was introduced, time spent on non-academic reading has dropped by an average of 24 minutes a week (Borrowdale 1). Just the presence of a television in a home takes away from homework time. Findings of Harvard investigators showed that children from homes with no television were 11% more likely to do homework on weekdays and 23% more likely to do homework on Sundays. There is also evidence that a television set in the home lowers reading skills. "In 1962, Japanese researchers published findings that reading skills declined among Japanese fifth to seventh graders as soon as their family acquired a television set." Another thing that makes television so harmful to intelligence is that it makes people think that television can make you smart. "Television programs almost never advocate reading books and lend the impression that one can get all the knowledge one needs from watching T.V." (Kelemen 1). so people end up watching all of the television that they can because they think that it is making them smarter when it is really just making them less smart. With adults, their vocabulary mostly comes from the newspaper. "A 1994 study found that the 15% decline in adults’ vocabulary at most educational levels in the United States was closely related to a decline in newspaper reading. According to the study, the decline in newspaper reading was largely the result of increased television viewing" (Borrowdale 1), so television negatively affects adults as much as youth and children. An example of how television affects youth is found in the scores of IQ tests of tenth graders. "The more television tenth graders watched, the lower they scored on IQ tests." For children television has a noticeable effect also. In 1979, in New Orleans, first graders who watched a lot of television in their preschool years earned lower grades than those who watched less (Kelemen 1). "An international assessment of 13-year-olds' mathematics and science abilities revealed that the more time students spent watching television, the poorer students performed on science and mathematics tests," and, a study by the NAEP found that 17-year-old students who watched less than one hour of television the previous night answered 69% of mathematics questions correctly, and those who watched three hours answered only 59% correctly (Borrowdale 1). Television is a great cause of stupidity in society but, actually credits itself with making people smarter. Television is a hazard to the brain and to any of its skills.
Violence is also an extremely harmful and strong effect of television. The most likely reason that violence is such a strong effect of television is because it is so common. The National Television Violence Study's authors conclude that not only is television violence common, but it is also frequently presented in ways that could harm viewers (Media Violence 17). It is also common for People to watch violent television. "According to the Neilson Index, the average American child watches 18,000 television murders before he or she graduates from high school." There are also very few shows that do not have violence presented in them. "Findings indicate that more that 80% of all television programs contain violent behavior and that the average television program includes more than five acts of violence" (Tucker 1). These percentages do not change much when you have only a few programs that emphasize non-violence themes. "Only 4% of violent programs emphasize an anti-violence theme" (Media Violence 20). Another supporting fact is that most violent programs contain a very high concentration of violence. "In 1993, the most violent prime-time shows exhibited as many as 60 acts of violence per hour" (Kelemen 1). One very bad thing about television is that the consequences of violence are hardly ever shown. "The negative consequences of violence are not often portrayed in violent programming" (Media Violence 20). Programming that neglects to show the consequences of violence is very common. "Perpetrators go unpunished in 73% of all violent scenes" (Media Violence 19). With these kind of programs being shown so much, a person might get the idea that violence is an effective way of dealing with conflict. "When violence is presented without punishment, viewers are more likely to learn the lesson that violence is successful" (Media Violence 20). Children’s programing gets the worst of this programing often having characters being seriously injured and still getting up and being fine. "Childrens programs are the least likely of all genres to show the long-term negative consequences of violence (5%), and they frequently portray violence in a humorous context (67%)" (Media Violence 21). The worst way that television violence affects people is making them desensitized to violence. It makes violence a regular so that people are not as shocked when they see it in real life, sometimes even making people think that violence is ok. The National Television Violence Study's authors argue that programs rarely show negative consequences of violence and television characters who use violence often go unpunished. Violence presented in such a context can desensitize viewers to violence and can even encourage violent behavior (Media Violence 17). After these ideas that violence is ok settle in a persons mind over his/her childhood, he/she might have grown into a violent lifestyle. Leonard Eron and Rowel Huesmann found that children who watched significant amounts of TV violence at the age of eight were consistently more likely to commit violent crimes or engage in child or spouse abuse at the age of thirty (Anderson 1). Emotional pain is an effect of violence that is rarely shown in television violence. "Only 16% of all programs portray the long term negative repercussions of violence, such as psychological, financial, or emotional harm." Physical pain is also a rare thing in TV violence. "47% of all violent interactions show no harm to victims, and 58% show no pain" (Media Violence 20). The ratings on television shows can be an attraction to boys, and the more highly rated TV boys watch, the more violence they see, and the more violent they become. Research from the National Television Violence Study discovered that for kids making decisions without their parents supervision, labeling can be a "magnet," not a deterrent. Basically the labeling of the television is an attracting thing to boys.
Researchers said, "we found that 'Parental Discretion Advised', PG-13, and R ratings significantly increased boys' interest (Marin 61).
Alternatives to violence in solving problems are not often given in television programs. Violence is often not condemned on television. "Very few violent programs place emphasis on condemning the use of violence or on presenting alternatives to using violence to solve problems" (Media Violence 20). Violence is a real effect of television. In nearly 1000 studies, all but 18 found that screen violence leads to real violence, 12 of which were funded by the television industry (Anderson 1). The bad effects of violent television are very obvious. Until 1973, TV had not been able to reach a Canadian town and was going to be able to soon. After TV was introduced to that town the rates of physical aggression went up 160% while rates in other towns that already had TV stayed the same (Kelemen 1). Violent programming is a leading cause of murder in the United States. "Without violent television programming, there might be as many as ten thousand fewer murders in the U.S. each year" (Violence In The Media 21). Violence is a great and harmful effect of television on society, and the findings of this are very significant.
Bad morals are a big overall effect of television. The drinking of alcoholic beverages is a big problem in television programs. "The 1982 report of the Surgeon General revealed that alcohol is the most consumed beverage on prime time television shows." Alcohol outnumbers any other drink on television shows. "Television characters drink alcohol twice as often as they drink tea or coffee, 14 times as frequently as soft drinks, and 15 times more often that water." Even in the early 90's alcohol on television was common. "In 1990, there were 8.1 drinking references or portrayals per hour on prime-time" (Kelemen 1). Alcohol is usually portrayed in television as hard liquor, so the shows are supporting drinking alcohol to get drunk, not just for a beverage. "52% of all identifiable alcoholic beverages on television are hard liquor, 22% are wine, and 16 percent are beer" (Tucker 1). Advertisements on television are also abounding in alcoholic beverages. "The average U.S. citizen also sees 100,000 television advertisements for alcoholic beverages before age twenty-one." Also television viewing time is directly associated with alcohol consumed at a later age. "New Zealand researchers in face discovered a direct correlation between frequency of television viewing among 13 to 15-year-olds and quantity of alcohol consumed at age 18. Researchers from the University of The Rochester School of Medicine in New York replicated the New Zealand findings with a random sampling of 14 to 16-year-old U.S. teens" (Kelemen 1). An unreasonable number of close relationships on television have violence involved, this leads to poor marriages and spouse abuse. "Nearly 33% of all close relationships on TV involve conflict or violence" (Tucker 1). Sexual content is as frequent if not more frequent that the drinking of alcohol on television. Sexual content on television is a leading cause of sex before marriage. A 1995 poll of children ten to sixteen years of age showed that more that 2/3 said they were influenced by television; 77% said TV shows too much sex before marriage and 62% said sex on television and in movies influences their peers to have sexual relations when they are too young. Sexual material on television has also risen over the last decade and is at an all time high. In a study The Parents Television Council held comparing television in 1989 and 1999 the findings were: "on a per hour basis, sexual material was more than three times as frequent in 1999 than in 1989." Many Americans believe that TV has too much sex and has had a decline in values. A survey held in 1994 found that 75% of Americans felt that television had "too much sexually explicit material." Moreover, 86% believed that television had contributed to "a decline in values." Children recognize the problem that television leads to in values. "A 1995 poll of children ten to sixteen years of age showed that children recognize that "what they see on television encourages them to take part in sexual activity too soon, to show disrespect to their parents, to lie, and to engage in aggressive behavior" (Anderson 1). Television also leads to a decline in pursuing a good career. "The more TV a child watched, the lower status the job he eventually wanted to pursue" (Kelemen 1). Another thing that television has hurt in society is the rate of foul language. "In the 1989 to 1999 study the rate of foul language was five and a half times higher in 1999 that in 1989 (Anderson 1). Television has made morals decline dramatically in society because of its bad examples. It has caused a lot of young generations to decline in their morals.
Television is a great harm to society. It has caused our society to become stupid, to become violent, and to decline in morals. Television is a bad influence on people, and has become a leading problem in society.
