Impact Of Television's Ethics In Our Society

Television may appear to be another form of entertainment and nothing more, but its influences on our society are shocking. As consistent viewers of TV, certain ideals appeal to certain age groups, those ideals can easily make it into someone’s ethics.

Modern Television plays a major role in shaping society’s ethics, though its often paid no attention to, the affects can be seen everywhere, whether they’re bad or good. A common influence TV has is on teens, we often consider lust as a sin, yet it’s being broadcasted around teens, changing how they see sexual intercourse and the opposite gender. For parents, an impact that is the most clear, is change in behavior, but it’s not changing their behavior rather that of their children. Though it might seem like television isn’t ethical, there are certainly programs that introduce good morals and help others connect to society. Younger audiences are more likely to be influenced, therefore TV could potentially shape who they become. Teenage boys and girls are being heavily affected by the sexual content they’re exposed to from TV.

According to the article, “Does Watching Sex on Television Influence Teens’ Sexual Activity?” the writers mention that teens who watch more sexual related content often end up looking for, or having sexual intercourse before those who aren’t exposed or don’t watch as much sexual content. Teens are easily influenced by their surroundings; it would only be natural for a teen that is exposed to constant mature content to change their view. Depending on what kind of sexual content they watch is also an important factor, teens might be exposed to somewhat educational content, but most teens don’t watch for educational purposes. TV music also plays a major role on how teens view sexual activity, an article, “What effect does music TV have on the sexual behavior of teenage boys and girls?” published by Springer, states, “…sexually active youth of both genders, after watching music TV, think their peers are sexually active too.” This mindset can be dangerous because most music videos aren’t educational would potentially lead to higher teen pregnancies along with the spread of STDs.

Music TV can also be misinterpreted, as most appear to favor dominant men and portray women as objects. Teens are mostly drawn towards sexual content because of the change in their maturity; therefore children would be attracted towards ideals that mostly relate to what they are taught, like behavior and character. Children are most affected ethically by television, since they’re always in the process of learning and developing social skills. A study published by the AACAP, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found that kids watch an average of four hours of TV a day, with that in mind they also stated, “Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see.” Watching violent programs can cause children to grow aggressive. Aggression in a child’s behavior can be dangerous if it goes unpunished, because of the possibility of those emotions staying with them as they grow. Children being exposed to more extreme content also comes with the risk of them being desensitized to violent behavior, Victor B. Cline discusses this issue in his article, “How do Movies and TV Influence Behavior”, when he suggests, “…a possible emotional blunting of the individual to violence witness or even a potential “turning off” of conscience and concern in the presence of violence. The idea appears to be ridiculous, yet this issue can be seen in today’s society, as kids see more violence they become numb to it. It’s possible that society would view violence differently in the future, which would heavily affect victims as most people might ignore things such as domestic abuse. Although the effects of violent TV is dangerous for kids, there is also TV that broadcast good morals, such morals are a necessity for the future of our society, and these shows allow us to understand society as an individual.

TV ethics aren’t just picked up from the youth; some of these ethics are targeted to specific groups, like ethnic groups or families. The book, “Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication”, which was published by the University of Minnesota, the author describes the success of popular sitcom Ellen, and its effect on society as the first sitcom lead by a gay actress, stating, “…both the actress and the show furthered the quest to make homosexuality acceptable to mainstream audiences.” Ellen is a perfect example of how big of an impact TV has on society’s ethics, by showing acceptance and kindness to humanity in a show, people were able to accept it into our society and spreading the act of kindness, even if someone’s right is your wrong.TV ethics don’t just teach society new ideals, some help improve on ethics that are already present through the eyes of another character, or as Abby Norman describes it in her article, “The Psychology of Fandom: Why We Get Attached to Fictional Characters”, by saying, “In our brains, empathy lives in a little lobe called the right supramarginal gyrus. When we interact with other humans, we use ourselves as something of an emotional yardstick to try figure out how they’re feeling…On a neurobiological level, our experience of consuming fiction is actually very real.” As people relate to these characters, people often pick up and improve on ethics that the specific character might share in common. These ethics that characters on TV share is incredibly important on people’s ethics, therefore affecting every individual aspect of society. It’s fair to say that TV mandates society’s ethics, whether society seeks lust or kindness is decided by the viewer.

Television has become a major part of today’s society shaping the viewer’s ethics individually, may it be; young, old, straight, or gay, everyone is prone to some sort of ideal projected my modern television. The millions of programs that are broadcasted through television have a huge impact on our ethics as a society.