TV Violence Explodes

According to a new report from the Parent's Television Council, a Los Angeles based media watchdog group, TV violence is rampant. "The television season that began in the fall of 2005 was one of the most violent in recent history-an increase of 75% since the 1998 television season."

Wow. Guess who is most impacted by our television-watching habits? Children. TV violence is a bit of paradox in that social science studies have proven that repeated television violence leads to delinquet behavior in children. Yet, adults routinely turn on such violent shows as CSI, etc.

Here are some more major findings from the report. These numbers represent the increases in violence on television since 1998:
1- Violence increased during the 8:00 p.m. hour by 45%.
2- Violence increased during the 9:00 p.m. hour by 92%.
3- ABC has experienced the highest growth in violent programs-nearly 309%!
4- ABC' s short lived program, Night Stalker was the most violent show in the 2005-2006 season.
5-Every program airing on NBC in the 10:00 p.m. hour contained at least one instance of violence.

Finally, the "v-chip" technology, heralded as the anti-dote to television violence, has made little difference the number of children watching violent programs.

As adults, we need to review what we watch and remember that our kids are not prepared to watch what we do...