They
say that by the time
they're 12-years-old
children will have
seen more than 8,000
killings on TV.
Bala
Kumar of Parents
Against Media
Violence said
"The
point is that they
[children] seem to
think that it's OK,
that it is not
causing them any
problems … It's just
entertainment,
there's no other
value. But it is not
so," he said. "They
are very wrong on
that. And there are
more than a thousand
reports of how the
media violence
impacts children."
On
their Web site,
Parents Against
Media Violence
quotes this fact
from the American
Academy of
Pediatrics:
"American children
between ages two and
18 spend an average
of six hours and 32
minutes each day
using media –
television,
commercial or
self-recorded video,
movies, videogames,
print, radio,
recorded music,
computers and the
Internet."
Just last weekend, my husband and
I were talking about how we missed some of the
original Looney Toons.
You know the ones — where Elmer
tries to shoot Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote falls off
the cliff and other characters take their chances
with explosives, fire, knives and iron anvils.
When it comes to kids and violence
on TV, I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle.
After a lifetime of being exposed to the television,
Internet and music, I am not an axe-murderer. But I
do believe that parents are responsible for setting
limits.
Even so, the research on the
subject is sobering, and to make the point, the
Austin chapter of
Parents Against Media Violence is hosting its
second annual 2.5k Walk Against Media Violence this
Saturday.
Walkers will meet at City Hall at
10 a.m. and then march up Congress Avenue to the
Capitol and then back to City Hall. The walk is not
a fund raiser and there is no registration fee. The
keynote speaker will be Sam Holt, assistant police
chief with the Austin Police Department.
The group points to studies that
indicate that by the time a child is 18 years old,
he or she will witness on television (with average
viewing time) 200,000 acts of violence including
40,000 murders.
And the group has six medical
heavyweights behind them — the American Academy of
Pediatrics, American Academy of Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry, American Psychological Association,
American Medical Association, American Academy of
Family Physicians and the American Psychiatric
Association.
They warn:
Children will increase
anti-social and aggressive behavior.
Children may become less
sensitive to violence and those who suffer from
violence.
Children may view the world
as violent and mean, becoming more fearful of
being a victim of violence.
Children will desire to see
more violence in entertainment and real life.
Children will view violence
as an acceptable way to settle conflicts.
