Cultivation Theory: Exposure to Violent Programs Have Been Found to Affect Young Viewers

By: Keegan Hartman

As an individual who lives with a rare primary immunodeficiency, I am a “frequent flyer” and avid consumer of health and well-being outlets, such as websites like WebMD.com. I utilize this platform, obviously, to answer a vast majority of my personal health needs. However, this time around, I utilized their “Grow” website, a part of the WebMD platform catered to parents of the younger and newborn children. This week, I came across a study/report from WebMD’s archives that indicated just how significant consuming hours of television was for younger children, and how parents can prevent their young children from watching graphic television.

In this article by WebMD, they brought up a lot of great points surrounding just how much television American youth [can] consume on average:

“American children watch an average of between three and fours hours of television daily. Studies show extensive viewing of television violence may cause children to become more aggressive and anxious. Children who watch many hours a week of violent TV may become inured to violence and begin to see the world as a scary and unsafe place.” (Chakraburtty, A.)

This really embodies the premise of this week’s lecture and the “cultivation theory” as a whole. The more we consume the news and television shows, the more and more we exhibit certain fears, behold certain ideas/thoughts, and potentially the more vulnerable we are to displaying what we see. Youth, I feel, are the most vulnerable for “seeing” and “believing” what they consume. They are in the younger/earlier stages of their brain development, and depending on if they are being controlled and taught “right” from “wrong” by their elders, otherwise, they see no issue with what they are consuming and the actions being drilled into their minds. It comes down to the parents- as WebMD said in their article- to control what their children watch before they become a product of what is being shown to them.

Now, I don’t think children fully know the “first-order effects” of what is being presented unto them. I don’t think they can justify the “PROS” and “CONS” of carrying out an action. However, I think their actions, what they learn from what they consume, is/are dependent on the figure teaching them the actions. (IE: They do it because it is “cool”/Superman did this, and if he can do that, then I can- they are cognizant of just the “second-order effects”).

Chakraburtty, A. (n.d.). TV Violence — a Cause of Child Anxiety and Aggressive Behavior? Retrieved February 02, 2021, from https://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/tv-violence-cause-child-anxiety-aggressive-behavior#1