Essays

Media Violence in Children's Lives During the past decade, America has witnessed an alarming increase in the incidenceof violence in the lives of children. On a daily basis, childrenin America are victims of violence, as witnesses to violent actsin their homes or communities, or as victims of abuse, neglect,or personal assault. The causes of violent behavior in societytire complex and interrelated.

Among the significant contributors are poverty, racism, unemployment, illegal drugs, inadequate or abusive parenting Practices, and real-life adult models of violent problem-solvingbehavior. At the same time that there has been anincrease in number of reported violent acts directed at children, thereli.is beer. An increase in the amount and severity of violentHi Is observed by children through the media, including television, movies, computer games, and videotapes and anincrease in the manufacture and distribution of weapon-liketoys and other products directly linked to violentprogramming.

In response. Governing Board appointed a panel of expertsto guide the development of initiatives and resources to assistteachers and parents in confronting the issue of violence inthe lives of children. This position statement addresses oneaspect of the proble — media violence — and is the first in aseries of projects the Association plans to address thisimportant issue. We have chosen to address the issue of mediaviolence first because, of all the sources and manifestations of violence in children's lives it is perhaps the most easilycorrected.

The media industry ought to serve the public interest andought to be subject to government regulation. Theresponsibility of adults and of public policy to protect childrenfrom unnecessary and potentially harmful exposure to violencethrough the media and to protect children from televisioncontent and advertising practices that exploit their specialvulnerability.

Television and other media have the potential to be veryeffective educational tools for children. Research demonstratesthat television viewing is a highly complex, cognitive activity,during which children are actively involved in learning.Therefore, supports efforts to use media constructively toexpand children's knowledge and promote the developmentof positive social values.

Supports measures that can be taken by responsible adultsto limit children's exposure to violence through the media isan important details Such efforts include but are not limitedto legislation requiring reinstatement of guidelines forchildren's television by the Federal CommunicationCommission, including requirements for videotapes andelimination of television programs linked to toys, legislationlimiting advertising on children's programming, and standardsfor toys to ensure that they are not only physically safe butalso psychologically safe legislation enabling the developmentof voluntary television-industry standards to alleviateviolence in programming, specifically exempting such effortsfrom  anti-trust regulation, promotion  of moredevelopmentally appropriate, educational programming thatmeets children's diverse needs for information, entertainment,aesthetic appreciation, positive role models, and knowledgeabout the world, development and dissemination of curriculumfor teachers to improve children's critical viewing skills andto teach nonviolent strategies for resolving conflicts,development of resources to assist parents in the constructiveand educational use of media with their children.

During early childhood, the foundation is laid for futuresocial, emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Duringthis formative period, young children are particularlyvulnerable to negative influences. In most instances, childrenhave no control over the environmental messages they receive.Up until age seven or eight, children have great difficultydistinguishing fantasy from reality, and their ability tocomprehend nuances of behavior, motivation, or moralcomplexity is limited.

This special vulnerability of children necessitates increasedvigilance to protect them from potentially negative influences.Parents are ultimately responsible for monitoring theirchildren's viewing habits; however, parents cannot beomniscient and omnipresent in their children's lives. Parentsneed assistance in protecting their children from unhealthyexposure to violence.

Therefore, limits must be placed on the content ofprogramming directed at children. Restricting violence inchildren's programming should not be considered censorship, any more than is protecting children from exposure to pornography. Likewise, industry standards to limit violencein children's programming should be developed as action takenin the public interest. Rationale this position statement is basedon research examining the amount of violence present in themedia as well as the effect of exposure to violent programmingon children's development. Data clearly indicate that violencein the media has increased since 1980 and continues to increase.

In addition, there is clear evidence to support the negativeimpact of viewing violence on children's development. Howviolent are the media for children? The problem of violence inthe media is not new but has become much worse since the Federal Communication Commission's decision to deregulatechildren's commercial television in 1982. For example, air timefor war cartoons jumped from 1-1/2 hours per week in 1982to 43 hours per week in 1986. Children's programs featured18.6 violent acts per hour a decade ago and now have about26.4 violent acts each hour (Gerbner, 1990).

Adults need to recognize that the content of programminghas changed, and as a result the potential for negative effectson children's development is greater. Next to family, televisionand other media may be the most important sources ofinformation for children, rivaling the school as a principal factorinfluencing their development. How do violent media affectchildren's development? Research consistently identifies threeproblems associated with heavy viewing of television violence: Children may become less sensitive to the pain and sufferingof others; they may become more fearful of the world aroundthem; and they may be more likely to behave in aggressive orharmful ways toward others.

Exposure to media violence leads children to see violenceas a normal response to stress and as an acceptable means forresolving conflict. Of great concern to early childhoodeducators is the negative effect of viewing violent programsonchildren's play. The importance of children's imaginativeplay to their cognitive and language development is well documented Research demonstrates that watching violentprograms is related to less imaginative play and more imitativeplay in which the child simply mimics the aggressive actsobserved on television (NIMH, 1982).

In addition, many media productions that regularly thatregularly depict violence also promote program-based toys,wich encourage children to imitate and reproduce in theirplay the actual behaviors seen on television or in movies. these situations, children's creative and imaginative play is undermined, thus robbing children of the benefits of play for their development.

In their play, children imitate those characters reinforced for their aggressive behavior and rehearse the characters' scripts without creative or reflective thought. Children who repeatedly observe violent or aggressive problem-solvingbehavior in the' media tend to rehearse what they see in theirplay and imitate those behaviors in real-life encounters.

In short, children who are frequent viewers of mediaviolence learn that aggression is a successful and acceptableway to achieve goals and solve problems; they are less likelyto benefit from creative, imaginative play as the natural meansto express feelings, overcome anger, and gain self-control.Recommendations What should policymakers andbroadcasters do?

The reinstitution of FCC standards establishing limits onviolent depictions during hours children are likely to watchtelevision. Standards would also control the degree to whichviolence is depicted so as to be perceived by children as anormal and acceptable response to problems, as equated withpower, as leading to reward or glorification of the perpetrator.An additional strategy would be to develop a parentalguidance rating system for network and cable television,videotapes, and computer games similar to that established for movies.

The self-regulating code of the National Association of Hroadcasters was a responsible position of the televisionIndustry toward young children. As an immediate action, lawsprohibiting the adoption of such voluntary standards asviolations of anti-trust regulation should be repealed. Industrystandards should also limit advertising during children'sprogramming in recognition of children's inability todistinguish the advertising from programming content andto prevent acts of aggression or violence being separated fromconsequences by intervening commercials.

Studies show that children up to eight years of age areless likely to learn the lesson of a program when ads intervenebetween an anti-social act and its consequences. Finally,broadcasting standards should prohibit product-basedprogramming and feature-length programs whose primarypurpose is to sell toys, especially when those toys facilitateimitation of violent or aggressive acts seen on television.

Children are unable to evaluate the quality and play value of such products depicted on television. Program-based advertising creates in children an insatiable desire for these.single-use toys; children start to believe that they can't playwithout the specific props seen on television. What can teachers do? early childhood teachers have a responsibility to assist children' In developing skills in nonviolent conflict resolution, to assist children to become critical viewers of all forms of media and encourage the constructive use of the media forinstilling positive social values.

Teachers need to be aware of what is currently beingbroadcast to children and to inform parents of the impact ofviolent media on children's development. Unfortunately, the effect of deregulation on the quality of children's televisionhas made it necessary for teachers and parents to be morevigilant that they would have to be if the government andtelevision industry acted more responsibly toward children.

Teachers can work with children when themes of televisionviolence appear in their play to facilitate more appropriate problem solving and or creative, imaginative play.Teachers should inform parents when negative or violentthemes appear as a regular part of their children's play andsupport parents in their efforts to monitor children's viewinghabits. As professionals, early childhood educators shouldshare their knowledge of child development and the effectsof violent media viewing with legislators and sponsors ofchildren's programming. It is the professional responsibilityof early childhood educators to advocate for moredevelopmentally and educationally appropriate programmingfor children Teachers need to recognize that media are also apowerful teacher- that can and should be used constructivelywith children.

Contrary to popular belief, television viewing is not apassive activity; children are mentally active during televisionviewing. The use of media as an educational tool should notbe rejected because much of commercial television currentlylacks educational value or promotes violence. Instead, earlychildhood professionals should advocate for policy thateliminates violence and improves the educational value ofmedia, and should use media constructively in their work withchildren. What can parents do?

The absence of government regulation of children'stelevision has made parents' job more difficult, necessitatingmore parental monitoring of what children see on television.This unfortunate situation places additional, unnecessarypressure on parents. Even when industry standards aredeveloped, parents are responsible tor monitoring the qualityand quantity of the media to which their children are exposed.Standards will make the job easier, however. In the meantime,parents can watch television and other media with theirchildren and evaluate the shows together.

Children do not interpret programs the same way adultsdo. Adults need to talk with children about what they observethrough the media, to find out how children are interpretingwhat they see and to help clarify misinterpretations.Parentscan designate an approved list of media options for theirchildren and give children choices from among approvedshows. Parents need to be aware that much of what childrenwatch on television is not specifically intended for children. Ithas been estimated that only 10% of children's viewing timeis spent watching children's television; the other 90% is spentwatching programs designed for adults.

Parents can assist children in finding alternatives toviewing adult television. In addition, parents can usevideotapes of high quality children's programming and publictelevision when commercial alternatives are not available. Asconsumers, parents should recognize and use their influencewith sponsors of children's programs. The primary purposeof commercial television is not to entertain or to educate butto sell products.

Parents can communicate with advertisers on programsthat are valuable, as well as sponsors of programs that areviolent. Parents can also help their children become educatedconsumers and involve them in writing complaints tobroadcasters and companies that use violent images in anattempt to sell toys and other products. As taxpayers, parentscan encourage their legislators to adopt policies to protectchildren from media violence.

Conclusion The prevalence of violence in American societyis a complex social problem that will not be easily solved.Violence in the media is only one manifestation of the largersociety's fascination with violence. However, mediaviolenceis not just a reflection of violent society, it is also a contributor. If our nation wishes to produce future generations ofproductive adults who reject violence as a means of problemsolving, we must reassert the vital role of government inprotecting it’s most vulnerable citizens and, together, work tomake media part of the solution.