American children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily. While this statistic is incredibly alarming, it is not nearly as alarming as the fact that many of the shows watched by society's "future generations" are violent. In fact, statistics show that by age fourteen, the average American child has seen 11,000 murders on TV.

Why do parents try to avoid cursing in front of their children? Why are older siblings required to set the example for their little brothers or sisters? It is all because young children are IMPRESSIONABLE. Children mimic what they see…and if what they are seeing is three to four hours of violence every day, they are likely to become immune to, misunderstand, or become involved with violence. According to BBG Communications, forty-seven percent of television programs show a victim going unharmed, especially in cartoons, and seventy-three percent of those who commit crimes in those cartoons go unpunished. What does this teach society's younger generations? It teaches them that violence is not serious, that violence is not physically or mentally harmful, and that violent acts are not punished. These concepts, however, are not true and only influence today's youth to commit crimes; after all, these troublesome youths are usually the ones who believe that their crimes will not be punished or will not have any consequences, just like on television. It is only a matter of time before more young children face going to juvenile prison because they killed another child…while mimicking someone they admired on television. It is only a matter of time before many MORE children who see the distorted world of violence on television come to believe that violence is power…and, in a child's world where popularity means everything, will turn to violence in a time of need. The sad fact is that it has happened already, and it will not stop until violence on television is properly handled. Children who do not understand violence, who laugh when they see it on television, are immune to how deplorable violence is and, in the worst-case scenario, become a manifestation of it…oftentimes before they are even eighteen years old.

So how does society handle the crimes committed by today's youth? In order to solve this problem, it is essential that a bigger one be handled: the one relating to violence on television. We cannot expect today's youth to "know better than that" if they are being influenced by a distorted world of violence three to four hours a day. Violence on television, along with its continued prominence and support, is essentially the leading cause of crimes committed by today's youth, and this will only change when television itself represents the truth about violence in all situations.

About the Author:
With a history of employment ranging across various fields, Broderick Booth Goran has the experience to write fabulous content pieces on countless fascinating topics. The market can be complicated to navigate.  Some more information can be viewed at BBG.