2nd Opinions piece

Violence on television

Television has become so much more accessible and affordable through out the years in America. With more people owning a TV their have been many television programs added. Are all of them good though? In my opinion television has become an unpleasant experience for me in the most part. There are always the good show I want to watch like "The Voice" and "Once Upon A Time", but all the shows on TV have become very gruesome and violent. 

Whenever I turn on the TV and look through the channels there is always a TV show or movie titled with something like murder, drugs, or sex. Most parents don't want their child to be exposed to these things and myself as a child, I don't want to be exposed to them. How are the parents supposed to protect and make sure their children aren't exposed to this if the children can pull up shows on their cable TV that have all of that stuff in them? 

Now there are television shows that are directed towards kids like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and etc., but even the show on these channels are becoming more grown up and made for older children. 

I was at home the other day and started watching TV with my younger sister who is 6 years old. I started watching the show and abruptly I was concerned about what was being said by the characters on the show. They were talking about dating and making disgusting jokes that I thought were very inappropriate for a child to be watching. Then I noticed how young the actors were and I was very displeased that for the young age of about 8-12 what they were talking about. I wasn't even sure if they knew what they were saying.

Television can be a great way to waste some time, get detracted, relax, and get your kids or siblings out of the way for a while, but its not have as enjoyable to watch now that you have to be worried about what is going to come on next and what channel the TV is on when you turn it on. 

TV is not only a problem for little ones, but also for adults. There are so many shows on air now where the people are naked. "There is Dating Naked" and "Naked and Afraid". There private areas are blurred out, but thats still not okay for television. People think it is morally wrong for people to know and have seen these types of things, but how can they expect people to have not seen these types of things when they are all publicized everywhere.

Not only is there an issue of inappropriate things being aired, but there is also very violent conditions being shown. I just happened to be watching the movie "Into the Blue" on TV, and in this movie a girl  named Sam gets handcuffed to her friend that was shot multiple times and killed in front of her. Sam is trying to save her boyfriend who the bad guys are going to kill, but she is handcuffed to her dead friend. Sam looks for  a way to get out of the basement on the boat she is locked in, but she can't move while she is handcuffed to this dead guy. Sam looks around and finds a machete and then all the sudden she grabs it and chops the dead guys arm off, so she can get out of the basement. Now this was not to graphic luckily, but even the idea of this is very inappropriate for children and even tweens to watch.

I'm not trying to say that TV is bad and that all somewhat inappropriate and violent shows and movies should be cancelled. I'm just saying that people need to be careful and aware of what they and other people around them are watching. I also think that Television programs should not air as many things that most people would not want their kids to see. There are many solution to these problems, for example television companies should be careful of what they air and they should not air things that have a certain rating. Another solution could be allowing viewers to block certain channels, so they don't end up running into things they do not want to see.

 Television is a great invention that completely changed our lives, but it all depends on how people choose to use these great possessions for good or bad. I believe that all things can be used for the good of humanity if people think about others while they are also thinking about themselves.