Despite decades of research, there is a perception that the research evidence on TV violence is unclear and contradictory. This perception is incorrect as far as I can see and in this essay I intend to give you as much evidence to back up the fact that yes television has an effect on children. The main issues revolve around the extent of exposure to violence and the field studies that I have come across while researching this subject demonstrate the effects of this viewing on the attitudes and behaviour of children.
             Children begin watching television at an extremely young age, sometimes as young as six months, and are ardent viewers by the time they are two or three years old. Watching television can prevent young children from acquiring important developmental skills, and can actually promote aggressive behaviour in them. Some important skills that toddlers cannot be developed in front of a television set. Television gives them dialogue to listen to as well as a visual representation of the action to imitate. In " Understanding Child Development" Rosalind Charlesworth says that this kind of imitative play cuts down on a child's need to think for its self and the use of his/her own play ideas. I can remember when I was younger television was never big in my house, It was more there as a last resource, instead we would turn our garden into a jungle or a circus and create our own little world of thought. Anything was preferred over sitting in front of a box in a stuffy room. I guess it was just the way I was brought up, but nowadays the romantic image of children out playing on the streets has been replaced be a fluorescent flicker from the sitting room window. Also something else I have observed while doing this essay is that children seem to be growing up a lot quicker these days then when I was young, which is not all that long ago but there is still a sizable difference. Children as young as eight and nine are no lo...