From the cartoon Coyote blowing up the Roadrunner to bloody crime dramas, there is no dearth of violence on TV. Many kids are likely to witness that violence. Two hours of TV per day is the norm for kids 6 and under, the Kaiser Family Foundation says, which jumps to four hours per day for kids age 8 to 18. Even two-thirds of toddlers and infants watch a TV screen about two hours each day.
Exposure
Unless your kid is tuned in to "Sesame Street" or other educational programs, he is going to see plenty of violence on TV. Healthy Children notes that kids who watch about four hours of TV daily will see about 8,000 murders by the time they are done with elementary school. By the time the average American kid hits 18, Kids Health says he will have seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV.
Sources
Gritty crime dramas or made-for-TV murder mysteries are not the only place your kid sees violence on TV. Television news--and even cartoons--are both rife with it. "Shockumentaries," touted as real-life documentaries of violent scenes on the street, added more violence with their debut in the 1990s, Healthy Children says. Some violent programs billed as reality shows, like "Cops," also add to the bloody mix.
Numb and Normal
Such an inundation of violence has many effects on kids. Kids become numb to the true nature of the horror, Kids Health says. Rather than something awful, they also see violence depicted as a way to get what someone wants. They can also start to believe that such violence is a normal part of daily life, or even a glamorous part of daily life, Healthy Children adds, especially when it's reinforced by reality shows and the "shockumentaries."
Imitation
Kids tend to imitate what they see, and that definitely holds true with TV violence, Healthy Children says. Even if parents teach their kids that violence is not the way to deal with things, the message gets lost amid the shooting, kicking, fighting and bloodshed on TV, Kids Health says. Kids Health also warns that TV heroes are just as violent as TV villains, thereby reinforcing the message that violence is OK.
Fear
Fear is another factor for kids who watch violent TV, Kids Health points out. The younger set do not yet understand the difference between reality and fantasy, and thus believe everything on TV is real. Even reasoning with the kids may not help and they can start having nightmares or a number of other behavioral problems. Kids a bit older understand they are watching fiction, but they can still become afraid. They can also start to believe that the violence and horror they witness is something that can happen to them.
