>How does violence on TV affect the young?
>Is TV a bad thing for children? Should we stop them watching all television before a certain age? What are your thoughts?
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Battison's Blog 
>Any and every experience affects those who experience it. If you bring up a child in an environment where war, crimes, rape and pillage are everday occurences then that child will think that those things are 'normal'. Similarly, if a significant amount of time is spent watching television programmes that show life in a certain light, then the child will begin to believe that that view of life is more 'true' or widespread than it really is.Does this mean tv is bad for the young? No. However I would say that the younger the child is the less they should watch. This is because everything affects you a lot more when you're young, and on average television does not show life as it really is. So tv is simply teaching children the wrong things. As part of a balanced life in which the child takes part in many different activities tv is fine. But too much watching would make a child imbalanced. However too much of any one activity will do this to an extent, so my argument is that all activities need to be balanced when children are young to give them the widest possible experience of life upon which to build.
>Yep, I'd agree with that wholeheartedly. I also think that the watershed hours are effective and worthwhile forms of policing.
>Yes I think the watershed hours are good too. Though I'd disagree with some of the choices of what's put before and after the watersheds. You can watch something with tons of violence and nudity nowadays before 9, and yet have to stay up late to watch something completely free from violence and nudity just because of a few swear words. I happen to think the only situation in which swearing is wrong is when it's offensive. Now you could of course say that swearing will always offend some people. But even if you do, seeing someone drop something and say "Shit!" is a lot better than seeing someone punched.