According to Kid’s Health, children and teenagers spend four or more hours a day watching television. That’s about 28 or more hours a week. Today, media has come to be a big part in our society and it seems television shows and movies have become more violent and racy. The problem is not television in general but how much time and what kids are watching. Children and teenagers need to limit how much television they watch and media needs to enforce who can and cannot watch their entertainment.

Media today seems like you can’t watch something that either involves profanity, violence and/or drugs. Almost every channel, there something inappropriate for. Children go to school and come home by four or five and most will head straight to the television. Prime time television is the time period where the most people watch television at the same time, usually between 6p.m. to about 11p.m. Over the years, prime time have changed a lot. It used to be ‘family time’ when it aired shows that was all ages appropriate. Now prime time television airs mainly shows that recommended for ages 14 and up.

With comparing The Brady Bunch and 90210, both shows aired on prime time have a huge difference in content. The Brady Bunch aired about 40 years ago was about regular family problems with a comedy but still appropriate. 90210 involves teenage pregnancy, consuming alcohol and drugs. This generation sees consuming alcohol and drugs as normal. Because drinking alcohol has become so common between teenagers, some parents justify drinking and hold ‘drinking parties’ so teenagers don’t have to sneak alcohol from parents and won’t have to drive home under the influence.

According to American Academy of Children & Adolescent Psychiatry study, children will see over 200,000 violent acts before they are 18. Specifically, children programming displays about 20 violent acts every hour. These studies have shown behavioral problems among young kids have increased over the years because of watching violent television. Some children will imitate the acts they see and use them against other kids.

University of Maine study shows watching too much television can lead to childhood obesity. Obesity in America have been increasing especially in young children and television a major factor. Since kids are spending their time watching television they are not getting physical activity.

Movies and television do put ratings on their entertainment to recommend what ages cannot watch. However, especially in movies, the expectations for those ratings seem to have lower and lower standards. For example, PG-13 movies seem to involve more and more violence with every movie that come out. The 1994 film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was the first movie to receive a PG-13 rating because the violence was considered a little bit too much for kids but wasn’t enough to be considered rated R. A recent movie, Piranha received a PG-13 rating but have people being eaten alive and the movie a little racy. When comparing both movies, Piranha seems so much more mature than Indiana Jones.

Children, parents and media need to consider what they are watching. We see some type of media everywhere we turn. At least make it have a good influence on us. Media needs to reevaluate what goes into our entertainment.