Midterm paper draft

Im not tooo sure if whether or not i go off topic or if I'm changing my arguments, i thought i had everything laid out, until i started writing. I feel like i kind of don't know where I'm heading...so help?! ....oh and also not sure if I'm citing correctly, i DON'T want to be accused of plagiarism !!

Lizzette Reyes
Dr. Lucca
Media and Society
April 29, 2010
Mid-term Research paper
Realistically speaking, how many people in this day and age do not own a television set in their homes? Except for the extremely minute percentage of the population that do not own a television set, TV has become more than a source of entertainment for a countless number of people in America and around the world. Day by day we sit in front of the screen and allow ourselves to be induced and polluted by the irrelevant absurdity that gets aired. One might think that with all the obvious nonsense being televised, people would not be as susceptible and get pulled into watching it, but that’s not the case. To top it all off, the content being put into the television shows are only worsening and in effect, worsening our societies as well. TV strongly influences child development and eventually follows into their adolescence, affecting their perceptions on what is acceptable and provoking certain behavior. Among the many things watched on TV, the most popular shows tend to be the ones that aren't as necessarily appropriate for a particular age group. Specifically, materials containing comedy for a mature audience and or aggressive or promiscuous behavior. Studies have shown that aggressive and criminal behaviors have some kind of relation to having watched an excessive amount of television, especially from mostly watching violent programs. Despite the fact that there is a strong correlation between violent behaviors and spending too much time in front of the TV, there are several other factors that we cannot ignore that also pertain to a person growing up and becoming violent, like parenting skills.
Television was first widely introduced and distributed in the 1930’s and its creation was a vast success among plenty. Almost half of all households had a TV, and in the 1950’s, when color TVs came out, its popularity rose. The majority of the first television programs were comedy based like “Candid camera” or “I love Lucy” and very few were of any other genre. Eventually shows like “Lone ranger”, “Gunsmoke”, “Bonanza” and “Alfred Hitchcock presents” made its way in and broadened the range of television shows. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has been around since the beginning, and was first organized to help prevent “indecent” material from being broadcasted to the public. The average hours, in which “appropriate” material was displayed, typically ran from 6am-10pm. There was some kind of censorship that was functional and there barely were any problems of unacceptable programs or material being aired. So where did it all go wrong? Society used to be so worried about sending out the wrong messages that even in shows like “I love Lucy”, the married couples would sleep in separate beds. Today, married couples are typically portrayed as not giving a damn about each other and having affairs with other people. The problem with that is that this is what us viewers find entertaining. No one wants to see anything “pure” anymore, everything has to have some kind of drama or thrill in order to keep us watching. Research shows that 44% of kids tend to watch different shows when parents are not around, and the most popular show amongst 9-12 year olds is “Desperate Housewives”(Facts and TV statistics), which in fact is not a kid’s show at all.
In addition to that, basically almost everything has some connection to sex. Even the advertisements and commercials are sending out messages that would be considered inappropriate for certain age groups to see. Marketing through commercials is the primary way to gain the customers’ attention. Back when there were very few TV shows to occupy time, it was the companies’ time to sell their products. One really popular ad that ran for about 18 years was for Winston cigarettes, “Winston tastes so good, like a cigarette should”(television advertisement). Eventually cigarette ads along with subliminal messages were banned from being aired. Again, what is the reason for allowing even worse material being released to the public today? There really isn’t an explanation as to why the content in TV shows have only worsened, but it is nonetheless affecting its viewers, specifically the younger ones.
The mind of a child is the most delicate thing, making the process of its development a very crucial time. Everything and anything a child interacts with will in due course have some sort of effect on them when they reach their older stages. A child in the toddler stages have not yet formed their sense of personal identities, therefore sitting them in front of a TV will cause them to imitate the behavior they see and lead them to think that that’s how they should be as well. Too much TV, even if educational, has the possibility of affecting the child’s brain development and even cause future problems, like developing ADHD (television and children). In relation to adolescents, TV is also a huge part of their generation and has influential effects on them, even if they are supposed to be more “advanced” than a child. Most teenagers understand that what they are seeing is fictional, but things such as reality shows can blur their own sense of reality even in the slightest way. Television can produce various effects on a group altogether; however, other aspects should be taken into consideration. Parents and society can take the easy route and point their fingers at TV and solely blame their child’s behavior on it, but truthfully TV is not an almighty brainwashing machine. Although an excessive amount of television can actually become a bad influence, other factors including their environment, natural tendencies, and other forms of media other than television may play a role in developing violent behavior.
“Not every child who watches a lot of violence or plays a lot of violent video games will grow up to be violent. Other forces must converge…” (L. Rowell Huesmann). One of the many debated points in psychology is the idea of nature vs. nurture, the idea of someone’s hereditary genes affecting their future personality and behavior, versus the environment they were raised in. This varies widely amongst each and every individual across the globe, therefore, making it almost impossible to merely blame only one facet out of countless possibilities. For example, someone who was abused as a child can possibly grow up to be violent or abusive themselves. The same can also happen to a child that doesn’t have both parents present, or witnessed a crime at a young age, or had been bullied at school. These scenarios can have a similar to an equal effect on kids just like the television is supposed to have. More possibilities could be that the child might even have a sort of mental illness or something like bipolar disorder, which can cause the child to act out without really having another cause or a sense of consequences for their actions. In relation to violence, “the biggest lesson we have learned from brain research is that violence is the result of a developmental process, a lifelong interaction between the brain and the environment” (Ramsland). This further emphasizes the idea that every interaction we have in our lives, not just solely watching TV, can play an important role in our future development.
Ultimately, it also all comes down to parenting; parents are the ones with the most control over their child’s matters until they are of the right age or responsible enough for their own actions.