How Watching Television Affects Anxiety Levels in Children

How Watching Television Affects Anxiety Levels in Children
How Watching Television Affects Anxiety Levels in Children
Introduction
There is increased evidence that the media plays a crucial role in evoking children’s emotions and fears, as well as increasing anxiety. According to Wilson (2008), “Research shows that most preschoolers and elementary school children have experienced short-term fright reaction to the media,” (pp. 93). In a survey conducted on more than 2000 elementary children, findings indicate that exposure to more than six hours of television each day puts them at a higher risk of presenting trauma symptoms (Wilson, 2008). In addition to the aforementioned survey, a study on 500 parents of elementary school children indicated an increased difficulty falling asleep and anxiety for children who watched television just before bedtime (Wilson, 2008). Television affects levels of anxiety in different ways especially on children. One of the ways is increasing their fears. This depends on the type of content and the age of the child. Another way is reducing their physical activities that results in low esteem. In addition, other effects such as lack of sleep due to fear of what children view in the television increases their anxiety.
Inactivity
Today, people are exposed to television more hours than before especially with technology that allows one to do things at home. For children, this is no different and games have changed from outdoor to indoor (Parfitt, Pavey & Rowlands, 2009). Majority of children are not getting enough time for physical activities. Studies indicate that children are spending more than six hours in front of the television, watching programs that might not be appropriate for their age. As a result, other things in their life such as playing outside and engaging in physical activities have greatly reduced, leading to sedentary lifestyles (Wit, Straten, Lamers, Cuijpers & Penninx, 2011). Exercising and engaging in physical activities are among some of the important factors that help people reduce their anxieties and cope better with life. It allows ones body to function well, which in turn helps in dealing with different emotions. For children, physical activities play a huge role to their emotional and mental development. Research has indicated that more than 505 of children are not getting enough physical exercise in a day, which has been cited as a contributor to their lack of wellbeing. Frey, Benesch and Stutzer (2008) explore whether watching television makes people happy. They find that due to its immediate benefits compared to negligible immediate costs, many people find it quite tempting to watch television than to engage in other activities. As a result, those without control over their own behavior are likely to watch more television (Frey, Benesch & Stutzer, 2008). In addition, they find that people who watch too much television especially those with opportunity costs show lower satisfaction in life and a higher material aspirations and anxiety (Frey, Benesch & Stutzer, 2008). As indicated, physical activities in children enhance their development both mentally and emotionally, not forgetting their social behaviors. In addition, studies indicate that physical activities allows children to concentrate better at school, engage in better relationships with others and show lower levels of depression and worries. In addition, watching television more than necessary is associated with lower social acceptance, higher loneliness and behavioral problems especially in terms of aggression. Increasing physical activities improves social behavior such as showing kindness to others and making more friends. Biddle and Asare (2011) explore how physical activities can improve the wellbeing of a child by conducting a review on other articles that reported on chronic physical activities with one or more mental outcomes. One of their finding was that physical activity had an effect of reducing depression and anxiety. In addition, it had the effect of improving other mental conditions such as cognition and self-esteem. Improvement in these areas has the ability to keep levels of anxiety at a minimum. Evidence proved that routine physical activity is consistent with a positive mental wellness (Biddle & Asare, 2011).
Therefore, by hindering children from engaging in physical activities, television increases the level of worries, depression and anxiety in children. This is one way in which watching television increases anxiety in children. While children are engaged in viewing television, majority do not have control over the time they view television. Rather, most will continue until the intervention of an adult. If this does not happen, it is likely children below the age of 12 will continue viewing television for long hours. This can be at the expense of other responsibilities such as doing their homework and engaging in physical activities. Through increased inactivity, television affects the levels of anxiety in children between the age of 2 and 12.
Television Content Although watching television can increase levels of anxiety, not all programs will cause the same effect. Programs that elicit different kinds of emotions affect levels of anxiety in different ways. According to Wilson (2008), different television content will have different effects on children depending on their age. For young children, programs with violence and scary characters raise their fears, consequently increasing their anxiety. For preschool children that have not understood the difference between fantasy and reality, the visual and auditory features of a program seem to have a great effect. Such children frightened by characters and events that appear scary visually because they do not pay attention to their motives. In contrast, older children with a better understanding of fantasy and reality are frightened by scenes involving violence and injuries. Their ability to understand fantasy and reality makes them able to know which television scenes can happen in reality, such as getting hurt by something. This can increase their fear towards such events or scenes that could happen in reality. Such children of age eight to twelve are likely are more affected by news considering they understand it is reality. Violent news such as terrorism can increase fear in children between these ages. Exposure to news such as the Oklahoma City bombing has been fond to increase fear and anxiety in older children who are able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Increased anxiety in children is characterized by intense helplessness and fear, especially when the danger or catastrophe reported on television is near their place of residence. Children who watched or read the news presented more symptoms of post-traumatic stress more than a year later after the bombing (Wilson, 2008). Similar finding were reported in the September 11 attack especially those that were affected. However, this is likely to affect older children who can identify and distinguish between reality and fantasy. A part from tragic news, other program such reality shows and advertisement can increase the anxiety in children depending on the content. For instance, too much emphasis on thin television models affects young girls who want to emulate them (Anschutz, Engels, Becker, & Van, 2009). Recently, young girls are changing their diet in order to look thin, which is the idealized size (Anschutz, Engels, Becker, & Van, 2009). This increases fear in young girls who are worried of becoming fat all the time. It can reduce their self confidence and esteem as well (Anschutz, Engels, Becker, & Van, 2009). In addition, some of the programs can increase the aspirations of children, prompting them to ask for things they see on television. Everyday the media airs advertisements on goods for children. This results in low satisfaction for children whose parents cannot afford to buy them everything they see on television (Collimore, McCabe, Carleton & Asmundson, 2008). Therefore, by directly increasing fears in children, television affects the levels of anxiety in children. Television watching can also contribute to long-term fear through conception of social reality. According to Wilson (2008), “… people who watch a great deal of television will come to perceive the real world as being consistent with what they see on the screen,” (pp. 95). An area in which children believe is depicted in television is violence. Majority of media programs show violent scenes in their shows, on a daily basis, which makes children perceive the world to be dangerous. This not only affects children, but also adults who also believe television is a depiction of reality. Children who were able to understand content such as abduction are more worried when they watch shows with such content. Through emphasis on one topic, the media is able to cultivate behaviors in children that can be avoided with reduced screen time. Such fears contribute to more anxiety in children.
Lack of sleep Watching television can also lead to lack of sleep especially in young children due to mental excitement elicited by viewing the screen especially for young children (Cain & Gradisar, 2010). This has the same effect on adults, who stay up late watching television. The same way, young children find it hard to fall asleep when watching television. This is due to the level of excitement achieved by television. Lack of enough sleep for children has negative effects that can impact on their development. In this case, lack of sleep can be an indication of anxiety or fear from watching television in children. More evidence indicates that children who watch television before going to bed experience more nightmares (Schredl, Anders, Hellriegel & Rehm, 2008)
Method
The research will involve two experimental groups of children that will be exposed to violent television content for a period of two weeks during holidays when they are at home. The first group shall consist of children between the ages of two to seven years. This group will have not less than 200 children. It will be exposed to content with violent and scary characters. The other experimental group will have children above the age of seven years, with not less than 100 participants. The experiment will also involve another group with children engaging in vigorous physical activity on a daily basis. It will contain children between the ages of 2 to 12 years. This group should be exposed to mild and positive television content for not more than three hours a day. The group will not watch television before bedtime. This should be the control group, containing 200 or more children. Parents should be involved in order to ensure cooperation. Observations will be carried out at home, with parents citing the behavioral changes they see in their children. Some of the observations parents can note are whether their child is able to sleep well after watching television before bedtime. For the control group, parent should observe whether their child has any difficulties falling asleep in the evening. In addition, all parents should observe whether their children are able to engage in meaningful social engagement outside their home. Interviews with children will be undertaken to ask about their fears and worries.
Conclusion
Conducting this study is likely to highlight more evidence on the effect that watching television has on children’s anxiety. As discussed, there is evidence that television watching in children increases their anxiety depending on the content of the programs (Comer, Furr, Beidas, Babyar & Kendall, 2008). In addition, there is significant evidence that children at different ages are affected by different kinds of television content. For young children below the age of eight years, visual and auditory aspects of the content increase their fears, where they are afraid of characters with scary looks and scary sounds. Children above the age of eight years are affected by scenes with violence and other negative content that could happen in reality. This is due to the ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. However, majority of the research conducted has not been conclusive (Anschutz, Engels, Becker, & Van, 2009). The evidence is limited and not strong enough to make generalizations. Therefore, conducting this study would be important in providing more evidence on the topic. By conducting this research, one can expect to find a relationship between the anxiety of children and television watching. In the study, the group exposed to watching television with violent content is likely to have more anxiety than children who watch positive programs. Violent and tragic content within the shows is likely to elicit more fears in children compared to mild content. For the control group that will have limited television time but engaged in physical activities are likely to have very low anxiety. In addition, this group is likely to have a more satisfying relationship with their peers and other people (Collimore, McCabe, Carleton & Asmundson, 2008). The experimental groups are likely to experience more effect from television that increases anxiety. Some of them include lack of proper sleep, enough physical activity and other emotional issues. Considering that television increases anxiety by increasing these factors, it is likely that the experimental group will show signs of these factors. On the experiment concerning the amount of television, the groups exposed to more than six hours of screen time is likely to develop certain behaviors as suggested by the cultivation theory. They are more likely to believe that what they see on television is a conception of the real world (Biddle & Asare, 2011). This could lead to poor social behavior and withdrawal from normal relationships with other people. If the expected results are found from the research, it can be used in many ways to ensure the wellbeing of children in regard to their development. Firstly, the result can be used to determine the amount of television time that children should have. Secondly, the result can be used to show how much television affects children’s physical activities. Therefore, it should educate parents on the concerns of lack of adequate physical activities in children (Wilson, 2008). Thirdly, it can be used to determine what content affects television, and ways of avoiding it. By knowing the programs that increase anxiety in children, parents can be in a position to stop their children from watching them. Some limitations that can arise during the study include the inability of controlling the activities of the participants. Considering that the study will have to occur from observing children at their respective homes unlike other studies where control groups are within a laboratory, it will be hard to know when the participants are doing what is expected of them. The study will be dependent on the ability of parents to cooperate in controlling what their children do.

References
Anschutz, D. J., Engels, R. C. M. E., Becker, E. S., & Van, S. T. (2009). The Effects of TV Commercials Using Less Thin Models on Young Women 's Mood, Body Image and Actual Food Intake. Body Image, 6(4): 270-276.
Biddle, S. J., & Asare, M. (2011). Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents: a review of reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(11): 886-95.
Cain, N., & Gradisar, M. (2010). Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents: A review. Sleep Medicine, 11(8): 735-742.
Collimore, K. C., McCabe, R. E., Carleton, R. N., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2008). Media exposure and dimensions of anxiety sensitivity: Differential associations with PTSD symptom clusters. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22(6): 1021-1028.
Comer, J. S., Furr, J. M., Beidas, R. S., Babyar, H. M., & Kendall, P. C. (2008). Media use and children 's perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37(3): 622-30.
Frey, B. S. & Benesch, C. (2008). Does watching TV make us happy? Journal of Economic Psychology, 28(3): 283-313.
Parfitt, G., Pavey, T., & Rowlands, A. V. (2009). Children 's physical activity and psychological health: the relevance of intensity. Acta Paediatrica, 98(6): 1037-1043.
Schredl, M., Anders, A., Hellriegel, S., & Rehm, A. (2008). TV Viewing, Computer Game Playing and Nightmares in School Children. Dreaming, 18(2): 69-76.
Wilson, B.J. (2008). Media and Children 's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism. The Future of Children, 18(1): 87-118.
Wit, L.M. de, Straten, A., Lamers, F., Cuijpers, P., & Penninx, B. (2011). Are sedentary television watching and computer use behaviors associated with anxiety and depressive disorders? Psychiatry Research, 186(2): 239-243.

References: Anschutz, D. J., Engels, R. C. M. E., Becker, E. S., & Van, S. T. (2009). The Effects of TV Commercials Using Less Thin Models on Young Women 's Mood, Body Image and Actual Food Intake. Body Image, 6(4): 270-276. Biddle, S. J., & Asare, M. (2011). Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents: a review of reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45(11): 886-95. Cain, N., & Gradisar, M. (2010). Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents: A review. Sleep Medicine, 11(8): 735-742. Collimore, K. C., McCabe, R. E., Carleton, R. N., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2008). Media exposure and dimensions of anxiety sensitivity: Differential associations with PTSD symptom clusters. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22(6): 1021-1028. Comer, J. S., Furr, J. M., Beidas, R. S., Babyar, H. M., & Kendall, P. C. (2008). Media use and children 's perceptions of societal threat and personal vulnerability. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37(3): 622-30. Frey, B. S. & Benesch, C. (2008). Does watching TV make us happy? Journal of Economic Psychology, 28(3): 283-313. Parfitt, G., Pavey, T., & Rowlands, A. V. (2009). Children 's physical activity and psychological health: the relevance of intensity. Acta Paediatrica, 98(6): 1037-1043. Schredl, M., Anders, A., Hellriegel, S., & Rehm, A. (2008). TV Viewing, Computer Game Playing and Nightmares in School Children. Dreaming, 18(2): 69-76. Wilson, B.J. (2008). Media and Children 's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism. The Future of Children, 18(1): 87-118. Wit, L.M. de, Straten, A., Lamers, F., Cuijpers, P., & Penninx, B. (2011). Are sedentary television watching and computer use behaviors associated with anxiety and depressive disorders? Psychiatry Research, 186(2): 239-243.