Protecting Children from Exposure to Violence in the Media Children and adolescents in the United States are exposed to violence in increasing numbers each year. This may seem like an obvious statement, but consider the following: The average child watches 21 to 23 hours of TV per week. This means that by the time this child reaches 70, he will have spent 7 to 10 years in front of the television. And considering that Saturday morning children's television regularly broadcasts 20 to 25 acts of violence per hour, it's no wonder that the average person has seen approximately 200,000 acts of violence before the age of 18. And while tragedies like Columbine cannot be explained simply by blaming media violence, it currently appears to be one of the most easily corrected contributing factors. The entertainment industry has maintained the position that there is no link between the media and real-life violence. Yet, hundreds of scientific studies have concluded that not only is there a direct connection, but that children repeatedly exposed to this type of violence lose the ability to discriminate between real-life and entertainment violence and tend to accept the violence as acceptable. . way to solve even complex problems. The solution to this problem is a bit complex due to the multiple parties involved. Healthcare professionals must inform their patients and the public about the real effects these media messages send. The entertainment industry should ...