The scenario is one that is repeated, day after day, with alarming regularity, in every corner of the so-called civilized world: seemingly average teenagers erupt with acts of violence, and in the aftermath, those around them continue to ask themselves what went wrong. More importantly, they also ask if there is something that could have been done to stop everything before this tragic climax. With prevention and the development of violent tendencies in teenagers in mind, one factor that is frequently cited as a negative influence on teenagers is television violence. In this paper, the various effects of television violence on teenagers will be explored, and upon conclusion of the paper, a better understanding of the many facets of the topic will be gained.
             How and Why Teenagers Watch Television
             Before addressing the violence aspect of television, and exactly how this affects teenagers, it is important to first understand exactly how and why teenagers watch television in the first place.
             Long before the teenage years, children learn to watch television not through an active effort of learning specific skills that must be honed through deliberate effort on the part of the child, but rather through passive intake of television content (Gunter, et al, 1997). What this means in the simplest terms is that the television, with its wide range of sounds and multitude of various images, is something that captures the attention of developing children due to their need for visual and audible stimulation. This stimulation is constantly administered to the child, for example, when parents realize that placing the child in front of the television keeps them occupied, and more importantly for weary parents, quiet (Potter, et al, 2000). With this "intake factor" of television in mind, it is easy to see how the negative and positive portion of television content can shape the mind of a child.
             For the teenager, perhaps as i...