TV Encourages Disrespect...And Violence
By Christopher
Gildemeister
Recently,
shocking stories involving violent actions by teens and young children
against schoolteachers have been reported in the news. While television is
not directly responsible for this behavior, it and other forms of media have
helped shape a cultural acceptance of violence and disrespect for authority.
On March 28th
in Waycross, Georgia, school
officials at Center Elementary School learned of a plot by a group of eight-
and nine-year-old students against their teacher. The students allegedly
brought a broken steak knife, a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, ribbon, gloves
and a crystal paperweight to school to use in a planned attack on teacher
Belle Carter. According to news reports, the third-graders had hatched an
elaborate plan involving a division of roles. One child's job was to cover
windows so that no one could see outside, while another was supposed to
clean up after the attack.
While of course
it is common for children to resent being disciplined by a teacher, and for
even young children to fantasize about revenge, the elaborate detail this
plot entailed implies adult knowledge. Most third-graders do not naturally
possess so thorough a knowledge of criminal intent as to plan the use of
items like handcuffs and duct tape. Nor do most have sufficient knowledge of
crime scene investigation to know enough to wear gloves, block windows and
clean up blood after committing a crime. It is hardly likely that the
students gained such knowledge from other children, their parents or books
they were assigned in school or read in their own free time. Where then
could they have gotten such ideas – and the detailed knowledge necessary to
carry out such a plot?
A week later,
at Reginald F. Lewis
High School in Baltimore, art teacher Jolita Berry was attacked and beaten
by a student, classmates simply watched the attack, and one recorded the
assault on a cell phone and later posted the video of the attack on the
Internet. The attack occurred when
the teacher told a female student to sit down and behave; when threatened,
the teacher told the student that if attacked she would defend herself.
Since the
1970s, television has portrayed teens and children as acting in an insolent
manner towards adults, while parents and teachers are repeatedly portrayed
as bumbling idiots undeserving of respect. Meanwhile, television has become
tremendously more violent (as was demonstrated by the PTC’s 2007
study of TV violence); and with such graphic violence now
being
specifically targeted at children and teens, it can come
as no surprise that young viewers are apparently imitating what they see.
It is in the
interest of society to encourage civility and decent, non-violent behavior
in children and teens. Media bosses claim that this is solely the job of
parents. But in today’s media-saturated world, with so many media outlets
available to children, parents cannot possibly monitor everything their
child may see or hear…particularly when those controlling the media appear
hell-bent on inundating viewers with violence. While media bosses trumpet
program ratings and the “V-chip” as solutions, they continue to show
ultra-violent programming during prime time, thus exposing children and
teens to unnatural levels of violence. If those controlling the media were
truly interested in the psychological and emotional health of America’s
children, not to mention the health of American society, they would take
greater steps to ensure that children and teens were not exposed to such
content.
Common sense
tells us that children, even those approaching adulthood, lack adult
judgment and require parental and societal supervision. Science has
discovered the physical mechanisms which explain why children and teens
stand in greater need of protection, especially from the influence of the
media.
Brain-imaging
research has shown that the brains of teenagers differ from those of adults.
Scientists previously believed the brain reached 90% of its adult size by
the age of six, and that the brain finished developing by age 12. But teams
of researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health and the University
of California have learned through magnetic resonance imaging that the brain
continues to mature during the teen years, beginning a final push around 16
or 17. Thus, the key part of the brain that affects judgment may not be in
place until men and women reach their early 20s. They also control
decision-making, risk perception and impulse control. Until their brains
mature, teens rely heavily on the amygdala, a brain region which is
responsible for "gut" reactions including "fight or flight" responses. "The
frontal lobes were the last to develop…These brain regions control
inhibition, rash actions, rage and anger," said UCLA brain researcher Paul
Thompson in 2005.
This is why the
American Psychological Association adopted a resolution in August of 2005
recommending that violence be reduced in video games and interactive media
marketed to children and youth. The resolution noted that decades of
research indicate that exposure to violence on television and in video games
increases aggressive thoughts and behavior and angry feelings among youth.
Research on media violence also revealed that perpetrators go unpunished 73
percent of the time in all violent scenes. Based on their findings, the APA
recommended that the entertainment industry link violent behaviors with
negative social consequences.
“Showing violent acts
without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of
resolving conflict. Whereas, seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can
inhibit aggressive behavior.” -- Elizabeth Carll, PhD, co-chair of the
American Psychological Association’s Committee on Violence in Video Games
and Interactive Media, American Psychological Association press release,
August 17, 2005
Teens
themselves recognize the power media has to influence their behavior: a
survey in 2002 by the Kaiser Family Foundation of 15-to-17-year-olds found
that 72 percent of them believe that sex on TV influences the behavior of
their peer groups.
Television,
film and other media serve to legitimate what they portray, making it seem
acceptable and even attractive to the viewer. This is especially true for
children, who are still in the process of learning about the world.
Television and movies act as templates for young people, defining for them
what is normal and desirable. Once, it might have been possible for someone
to avoid the negative impact of media imagery by “just changing the
channel”; but today, media is ubiquitous, and its influence is
inescapable…and undeniable.
Media owners may continue to deny the
immense power of the instruments of influence that they control; but survey
after survey, study after study, scientific investigation and common sense
all point to the obvious. The media serves to define the world, especially
to younger viewers, and to shape their thoughts, opinions, choices and
behavior.
Obviously,
television is not solely responsible for society’s ills. But the influence
that media, and particularly television, has over youth is not to be taken
lightly, especially given youth’s greater vulnerability to suggestion and
encouragement. At a time in life when they are particularly susceptible to
external stimuli and are still developing their capacity for self-control,
America’s youth deserve to be protected from influences which have the
potential to make them unhappy, and to be encouraged in their efforts to
make healthy choices.
The childhood
and teenage years are a gift, during which the promise of life lies ahead.
Our children and teens deserve to have those years filled with optimism,
encouragement and hope, not rage and disrespect for others. The PTC urges
media leaders to look a little further than their bottom line, consider the
potential harm their programming is doing to society…and the good they might
do if they acted more responsibly.
