Television Standards

Cartoon illustration showing today's view on profanity

Throughout the past couple decades people’s morals and values have gone down consistently. Bad language, violence, and sexual content are more excepted then ever now, and this is due to people becoming more immune as they watch television. Television has changed drastically from the “Leave it to Beaver days” and the same can be said about people’s outlook on these social issues and self-morals. The kids today are not being taught was is real and what is fiction on television, which makes them very susceptible to being consumed by the poor content being shown on the television. Due to the continually declining standards of television, Americans’ values have changed for the worse and things need to change.

Violence

Although there are groups and originations established to yield what our children are watching on television, their efforts are in vain. There are over 200 channels available by some of the basic cable providers. That means there are at least 200 chances per half hour to view something potentially dangerous to a child’s proper growth and development. According to Kidshealth.org, “Kids and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen” (p.1). Even the eight to fifteen local channels provided on the television seem to have some content that is immoral by some standards. Television is a huge part in kids’ day-to-day lives, and they are very influenced by the content they view. In result of the social exception to the poor language, violence, and sexual content allowed to be seen on the television, the Federal Communications Commission has implemented ratings for shows. But that is only a guideline to follow, not to mention that parents are not with their children all day long. Children are free to watch television at free will unsupervised for some period off time throughout the day. Mortimer B. Zuckerman, author of the eye opening essay ‘Television Violence Contributes to Juvenile Crime’ states, “TV Guide looked at 10 channels on one normal 18-hour day and found 1,846 individual acts of violence—and every hour of prime time carries six to eight acts of violence” (p. 2). Violence is seen as funny today, and the gruesome images that are available at our children’s fingertips is incredible. In the past cartoons similar to Tom and Jerry were pushing the boundaries, that show was about a cat chasing a mouse, and Tom’s zany attempts to catch his nemesis. Now, there are shows such as Dragonball Z, although completely fictional, this show is very violent. Zuckerman continues to say, “By the age of 18, according to one estimate, a youngster will have seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders” (p. 2) . The images and scenes that once horrified a previous generation’s youngsters now is found as entertainment by today’s young eyes.

Here are two cartoon characters fighting to the DEATH

By watching “reality TV”, children and teenagers are diluting their mental receptors that indicate which is right and wrong. Writer of ‘Young Viewers Are Drawn to Reality TV’, Suzanne Martin, expresses, “About half of tweens (53%) and teens (43%) like to watch reality television so they can talk to their friends about it” (p. 3). This information shows that about four of every eight kids watch these shows just to talk about them with their peers, it does not include the amount of them that watch the shows for their own appeal, but never the less, all the viewers are seeing the same images. One of the most famous reality shows is the Real World. In this show each episode usually show at least one “hook up” (or sexual content), countless uses of profanity, and the occasional verbal or physical fight. These are scenes that are not necessary for young audiences to view, yet the FCC has only rated this show “TV-14”. That means they have deemed this particular show acceptable for fourteen year olds to watch. I for one being in my last year of my teen ages, find much of the show very explicit difficult to view. Although this show has shined a light on two things for me, one being that it is rated far too low for television. And two that the my generation that is being portrayed on this show has little to no morals or self values. MTV, the endorser and owner of this show does however throw in the occasional “goody two shoes”, but this person is usually seen very little on the show, for they are not as outrageous as the other hellions associated with on the show. Children are becoming more and more consumed by adult content, making them lose out on their innocents.

A scene from MTV's Real World, and one of it's cast members
Sex
Sexual content is also a factor on the audience of today. According to the Parents Television Council, “ABC's Desperate Housewives is the most popular broadcast-network television show with kids aged 9-12 according to Nielsen stats” (p. 1). This statistic is amusing to me because the show is well-known for its racy dialog and sexy situations not suitable for children of this age group. One of the shows biggest stars Eva Longoria plays the part of a woman who is applauded for her infidelity with her gardener. Is this content really what you would want for your child to view, not to mention this show airs during prime time. The consumption sex by our youth is making them believe that it is alright to dress, act, and be “sexy”, when it is not, they are kids. There is a time and place for these ideas and it is not until adulthood. For whatever reason, kids are able to view things they are not mature enough to view. This in turn makes them immune to these images and situations. Our society as a whole is going to fall apart at its very seems if something is not done to stop this. About 80 percent of America believes there is too much violence on television. (Zuckerman p. 2) Please talk to your children and teach them what is acceptable to watch and what is not. This one on one chat might be the factor in their lives that keeps them on the straight track to succeeding.

An image depicting today's censoring standards, which are apparent to still showing the image

Work cited

"How TV Affects Your Child." KidsHealth - the Web's most visited site about children's health. Web. 27 Oct. 2009. http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html.
"Sex, Violence, and Profanity in the Media Fact Sheet, TV Statistics - Parents Television Council." Parents Television Council - Because Our Children Are Watching. Web. 25 Oct. 2009. <http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/facts/mediafacts.asp>.
Martin, Suzanne. "Young Viewers Are Drawn to Reality TV." At Issue: Reality TV. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Ohio University. 28 Oct. 2009 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010307222&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=athe17405&version=1.0>.
Zuckerman, Mortimer B. "Television Violence Contributes to Juvenile Crime." Opposing Viewpoints: Juvenile Crime. Ed. A.E. Sadler. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Ohio University. 28 Oct. 2009 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010149217&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=athe17405&version=1.0>.