TV violence functions as a crude attentional device against viewer distraction.

Evidence

High-decibel action is also a means of attentional control. Viewers are not all that attentive to what is being shown, with a host of distracters around them competing for their notice. While watching television they are talking, thumbing through reading material, snacking, walking around, dozing off, or doing any number of other things. Broadcasters try to capture and hold viewers’ attention through fast-paced physical action with rapid scene changes on the screen. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 953

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the audiovisual/attention theme in The Soundscape and One Square Inch of Silence — distraction as a design target.
• STORYSTEM: A broadcast director character who resists the violence mandate until fired could anchor a workplace drama.