Now in days violence is all around us. It's in the streets, it's in our daily news, its even in our living rooms. Do you realize that as you are reading this, someone out there is dying a brutal death, a baby is being mistreated and someone is getting raped? In a world where everything is at the extent of our reach how are we ever going to stop violence? As you read along, you will come across my beliefs on media being one of the sources but not the primary cause of violence.


Television came out in 1927. In 1948 prime time scheduling began and there were only four television networks available. “In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television and that 10% of people were mainly wealthy. By 1960 the percentage had grown to 90%. Today 99% of homes have a television and most of the children have one in their bed rooms". If most children have a television in their room then who’s controlling what they are watching?

I think the problem here isn’t the media having an influence on the children but the parents who allow their children to watch anything at anytime they want. I agree with television having some sort of an influence on small children but it’s up to the parents to teach them how to distinguish the difference between the media and reality.

In the early days programs such as The Queen's Messenger was aired on WRGB in 1928. In the fifties shows like The Adventures of Superman, I love Lucy and Death Valley Days were very popular. Now in days shows like The Bad Girls Club and Seducing Cindy are well known. Everyone relies on television for their source of information and entertainment. Television has become a significant part of our everyday life. It's utterly impossible to imagine life without it.

Back then shows like Leave it to Beaver and I Love Lucy were very innocent compared to The Bad Girls Club. The Bad girls Club is a huge example of what television has turned into. It’s a reality show with a bunch of “Bad” girls terrorizing the house, fighting in clubs, and having sex with different guys. It’s on during the day and certain times at night. It just proves how kids are able to watch something like this and actually think it’s OK. The parent’s might not notice what their kids are watching since it’s on the Oxygen channel. Kids are imitating what they see and then we wonder why the rate of teen pregnancy has gone up.

There has been a lot of controversy about the violence in T.V shows. Violence and nudity is shown in a lot of video games, television programs, ads, films and music lyrics. Some people feel that there is too much violence exposed in the media. Many scholars believe that T.V is the number one cause of the rise in violence. Turn on your T.V at any time of day and you can bring a murder scene right into your living room. Most likely, as many Americans, you've grown accustomed to it and even expect this to happen. Now watch it through the eyes of a child and think about how common it is for us to watch violence on any program. What do you think a child would absorb from the media if we view violence as "normal"? Many studies have made the claim that the media is the main cause of violence.

"Scientific research is clearly showing that watching violence makes people more violent – and not just at the time they watch the violence, that is, not just on the school yard as children, but years later, as adults. Many of us are already concerned about our society and our culture today – what happens when this generation grows up?"said Sen. Sam Brownback. If the main cause of violence comes from the media then what do we do, Throw out our television?

To answer that question, I personally believe that as grown ups we should be able to separate the media from reality. I never heard of an adult going on a killing spree just because he saw it on t.v. It is more believable for a young kid to get influenced by t.v, especially if the parents don't teach him/her the difference between reality and the media. Regardless of the negativity associated with children watching television there are people who believe television is good for kids. According to an article written by Carey Bryson, She writes how healthy viewing habits can be beneficial to children that watch t.v. "Three quarters of parents do not feel guilty about their child watching television and when appropriately managed and supervised, believe it or not it can have a positive influence in a child's life," according to psychologist Tanya Byron.



Most surveys and articles I've come across are comparing kids who watch a lot of t.v to kids who don't watch it all. Obviously most of the kids who don't watch a lot of t.v come from families who can afford to keep their children occupied in different activities. As a way to really acknowledge the differences between kids who watch a lot of T.V and kids who watch a minimal amount of educational programs researchers would have to run an experiment over time. There is no way most of these studies are completely true if experts are comparing kids who live in very different environments. Kids who watch a little to no T.V have all sorts of fundamental things to do that have nothing to do with the impact of television and as a group they belong to families much wealthier than those who watch hours and hours. In order for experts to really examine the influence of T.V on kids they would have to do a long term test on two kids who live in the same type of environment, stick one of them in front of the T.V for hours a day (which I doubt any parent would allow) and the other kid would go along his/her normal everyday no-t.v routine. Then, I would agree with the media having a negative influence on kids.

Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro, two economist from the unversity of chicago conducted a recent study for long term affects on television and children. They proved that television can affect children in different ways depending on where you lived and when you were born. If you were born in 1948 and lived in Denver when television became popular in 1952, then your brain would be less "damaged" then a kid born in Seattle, 1948 (where TV had already begun broadcasting ).They also compared test scores within the same city for kids born at different times and found no distinction between their test scores and education.

Gentzkow and Shapiro got ahold of the 1965 test score data for 300,000 kids. They looked for any major effects of television exposure and found that there were no vital test-score differences between kids who lived in cities that were exposed to TV earlier than others. When it came to homework and drop out rates there were no changes at all. If anything, the data revealed a small positive improvement in test scores for kids who got to watch more television when they were young. Also, kids who spoke English as a second language benefited a little and did well on test scores based on reading and common knowledge.

Since the main concern here is the influence of television on young kids then I believe parents should limit the amount of time kids watch t.v. They should interact more with their children. Children mimic what they see and can spend more than thirty two hours weekly in front of the t.v, while only spending thirty in class. If the children are watching t.v more than they are learning, then they are bound to be influenced by it. Parents should keep their child occupied with productive activities. There are activities that don't require spending. It's a matter of being creative and taking a part in your child's learning. Another option parents can consider is keeping the television out of bedrooms. This would limit the amount of time spent on watching t.v and would also keep the parents aware of what their children are watching. But like I mentioned in the beginning television can have an influence on children but it is not harmful if the parent's are aware of what the kids are watching.

Film paper

(I want to finish my paper today. Going over my notes I took while watching the movie is helping me with writing the paper. I plan to watch the movie again(or at least try) and come up with a conclusion)


In this paper I would explain how lighting, setting, special effects and the style of acting is portrayed in the film Sunrise. The film came out in 1927 by F.M Murnau. It is the considered to be one of Murnau's best work because of it's cinematography techniques. Sunrise was the first and only film to win the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best picture award in the category of "Artistic Quality of Production".
F.M Murnau wanted this movie to be powerful (as it is) he tied in human qualities, relationships, psychological issues and society. Sunrise relies on the visuals to show a story. Special effects such as superimposition is the scene in which the woman from the city was layered to appear above the husband, this represents the woman constantly invading the husbands manipulated mind. Her face in the sky reminds him of the evil scheme to kill his wife. While the husband is having his secret rondevous with his mistress. The music and Crosscutting technique is used to cut back and forth showing the woman in the fast paced, busy city, while the music in the back ground is exciting and loud. The camera shifts back to the wife who is home crying over the baby. The music is melancholic and low. The contrasting and constant back and forth shots of the "tramp" and his wife add to the adverse relationships that makes up the theme in the film.
(to be finished)

The goal for this week is to gather up as much info as I can to start a rough draft. Today I watched Leave it to Beaver. I never watched the show before. I really liked it. It's shocking how life during that time was so different and innocent. Compared to T.V shows now in days it's so graphic and revealing. People didn't curse as much in shows back then. Now it's the complete opposite people curse so much on T.V. I want to find out when and why T.V transformed into what it is today.

Blog_11

What did you say you were going to do?

I said I was going to look for a claim and research information on why I believe my claim is correct. My claim is that I believe only certain types of T.V shows have an effect on children. I believe most adults are able to seperate the real world from the media.

What did you actually do?
What I actually did was research resources and sites to look for information based on my claim.
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/
I found a video which I thought was interesting on site
http://www.evolver.net/node/35563
Also another article I found in site
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/violence.html
http://www.cybercollege.com/violence.htm
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-f012.html

Blog 10

Why I said what I said to Joshua.
As my response to this post of the dodge cars I mentioned a couple of things. For instance I spoke about his ideas and his way of expressing his view of this ad. He compared the cars to the military. I thought that, that was a great observation and comparison. He wrote that the military consist of leaders and action. In this Ad it is obvious that the middle yellow car is in charge. The cars are said to be extremely fast and full of force. Another interesting observation was the quote he included that was said by Bush. “You are either with us or against us”... It’s also included in the Ad as well.
Why I said what I said to Johannes....
I like the Ad he picked. It shows how women are being used. I would like for him to expand on the whole gender issue. I want to know more of his opinion and whether he thinks it's fair that women are often being shown as sex objects to sell products.

Blog 10

Why I said what I said to Joshua.
As my response to this post of the dodge cars I mentioned a couple of things. For instance I spoke about his ideas and his way of expressing his view of this ad. He compared the cars to the military. I thought that, that was a great observation and comparison. He wrote that the military consist of leaders and action. In this Ad it is obvious that the middle yellow car is in charge. The cars are said to be extremely fast and full of force. Another interesting observation was the quote he included that was said by Bush. “You are either with us or against us”... It’s also included in the Ad as well.

Blog 09

1) Thesis- A statement, a fact that you are later trying to prove in an essay.
For example, if you chose a topic on children and the internet. Your thesis can be,
The internet is dangerous for children to use.
Then explain why. Back up your statement with facts to prove your thesis.
http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/thesis.html
2) Research- A search for facts on a topic. A search for knowledge, enlightenment. While researching topics you can use the internet or books. You can search for biographies, topics, terms, quotations etc…
3) Argument- A verbal altercation, dispute, disagreement. An exchange of verbal opposition.
4) Claim- To establish something is true or factual, a right to something. “He claimed his property”
5) Reasons- To agree with someone, a cause, belief, action, conclusion. “The reason why this happened is because….”
6) Evidence- An indication, Proof of an action.
7) MLA citation- Acknowledge information used in a research paper by writing author’s name, title, page.


For the media midterm assignment we are being asked to investigate the phenomenon of television and the effects it may have on children. We must research the demographics of these towns and the type of programming that existed during that time. We must compare and contrast children who watched a lot of T.V to those who did not have access to the T.V.
In my opinion I think there is a huge difference between children who are glued to the T.V then to those who don’t. Instead of watching T.V I think parents should keep their children occupied by doing educational and productive activities. Watching too much T.V can affect the mind in a negative way, especially young minds. It can lead to lack of vocabulary, education, laziness and even obesity. I think this midterm is going to require a lot of research and statistics. I am going to look for information on the internet, magazines, news articles, books, etc…