A new research has been conducted by an Indiana University Professor titled, “Mean on the Screen: Social Agression in Programs Popular with Children”. This study analyzed the top 50 most popular television shows for children between ages 2-11. The study results showed that 92% of these programs displayed socially agressive behavior durring the program. On average it was recorder that there were 14 different accounts of social agression per hour or one incident every four minutes. Of these agressive social behaviors 78 percent were verbal and meant to hurt the self-esteem of the characters. 52 % were insluts and 25% was name calling. Other types included 10% teasing and 9% sarcasm. It was also noted that 86% of the agression was enacted in front of the character and not many incidents were performed behind the back.
This was the first study conducted of this nature and it is very eye opening to the way our culture praises the idea of violence outside of the law. This is a common theme in gangster movies or renege plots but does it really have any place being such a big portion of our children’s shows? I’m personally all for the idea of teaching them early but how early do our children have to be exposed to social agression? This evidently will lead to bullying among children and may even impede their learning process simultaneously. Parents should take caution in the context of their children’s television programs.
Some people may think that this issue is just being over-sensitive and trying to ban children’s shows, but think about how your child will pick up on these habbits and then imitate them in their school life. Many of these behaviors being portrayed are not excepted in schools with zero tolerance for bullying. Can the shows your children watch lead them to be socially agressive? To that question I ask, has your child ever worn your shirt and put on a tie to pretend to be like their father? Children learn through imitation, which is why I am cautioning parents to watch and think about what your kids watch.
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Popular Culture Class Blog 