The steady diet of bizarre and extreme behavior that the media offer cannot but chip away at society's moral boundaries, breaking down the wall between right and wrong. Sadly, this is not happening enough today. Ironically, it is also so wide one can play on the wall and not have it be very dividing at all. Researchers estimate that the average American child will see 100,000 acts of simulated violence in media form by the end of elementary school. We show inconsistency in our values when we view programs in our homes with values or behaviors that we would deem socially unacceptable.
Many programs intentionally challenge previously recognized societal standards.
Too often, extramarital sex, homosexuality, and teen sexual activity are portrayed as the norm in movies, commercials, situation comedies, soap operas, and talk shows. Saturday Night Live and MTV thrive on their reputations for offending and mocking authority figures, religious viewpoints, and societal ideals. Commercials use myriad techniques to condition our attitudes and longings and to shape our goals and beliefs. Sexual images and prevailing stereotypes fill the ten to sixteen minutes of every hour devoted to commercial messages. Television peddles a world-view that is often in direct contrast with the lifestyle Christians are called to follow.