The Effect of Television on Children

The Effects Of Television On Children A young boy sets his bed on fire, imitating Beavis & Butthead, a popular, animated, nationwide TV show. A six-year-old girl is bombarded with news of murders, riots, wars, and natural disasters, frightening her to the point of hopelessness about the world around her. A brand new baseball glove and bat sit untouched for months because two brothers have grown accustomed to spending every free moment in front of their television set. In America, the average child spends "more than 4,000 hours in front of the TV," before he/she reaches kindergarten (Television's Impact on Children 114-M) Television today is plagued by strong violence, graphic sexual content, and confusing and frightening views of the world that are often too complex for young children to interpret. This ultimately causes a desensitization and aggravated behavior towards sex and violence, and "a pervasive bleak view of society and human nature among children" (Cullingford 53). While the television industry is winning the battle of keeping its child audience tuned in for hour upon hour, it's leaving in its wake a new generation of passive, unimaginative children who have not learned to take initiative and actually engage in constructive activities.
The solution to this problem, many people would agree, is that parents need to take an active role in monitoring and regulating the amount and con-tent of what their children watch on television. However, the solution to this growing dilemma is far more complex than that. As a parent, it is impossible to monitor what our children do every moment of the day. While you might insist that your child not watch certain programs on TV at home, in a friends home your regulations could be ignored. We need to educate our children about the essence of television and help them develop an understanding of fantasy and reality. And when the TV news presents rioting, murders, and people being abused by their own law enforcement as the norm, we need to teach our children that the news media focuses on negative issues while it withholds most of the uplifting events. In short, we need to teach children to grow into critical television viewers who can protect themselves when a parent is not present to provide that protection.
James Comer, M.D. informs us that consistent viewing of "sexually explicit and violent films" have an alarming effect on children's behavior (116). Comer also adds that thorough research provides statistics indicating that there is a relationship between children screening violent programming and their violent behavior (116). Comer adds his suggestion of how to remedy this problem, indicating that parents need to add appropriate supervision and "make rules that your child agrees to abide by" (116), and suggests that a child's desire to watch "adult' material may be a form of rebellion. He feels that a good tool for parents to gain more control of what kids are watching is to talk to them and tell them why you're opposed to certain types of viewing material. Also, he feels that if there is a certain type of show that children insist on watching, agree to watch it with them, making it "no longer appealing once it no longer is off limits" (116). He adds that we should talk to our children about sex and violent content, as this communication, will help children to become more critical about their viewing.
Dr. Comer is a great source of information on children and television. As a child psychiatrist at Yale University's Child Study Center, he is indeed an expert in this subject, and his suggested approach to dealing with kids and explicit programming makes good common sense. He provides well thought out solutions to the problems of children viewing inappropriate TV, backing his views with research, personal experiences, and his professional field of expertise.
Television negatively effects a child's ability to learn effectively and actively, according to a TV Guide article by Harry Stein, who adds that kids have less ability to focus and remain attentive when asked simple questions. Their diminished attention spans cause students to become less confident at their ability to complete a required task, and in many cases their lack of confidence is countered with much "confusion and panic" (55). Stein blames this behavior on the fact that children are used to the kind of entertainment that television provides, and they become more easily bored and lack the drive that kids from past generations had. Stein states that children are now coming to school wanting to be entertained, just as they are when they are watching their favorite television programs. "In small children, confidence and imagination come from two things that today's kids get less and less of: interaction and creative play. Children learn from dialogue, but TV is a monologue" (55). This article suggests complete monitoring and supervision of what our children are tuning in on television. But also, there is a further suggestion that parents "need to set a good example, by cutting down their own TV time" (55).
As an "expert" panel-member of a colloquium on TV at an elementary school, Stein gathered information from teachers and other "experts" as a basis for this article. He provides information on negative effects of television on young children as witnessed by experienced teachers, and such data is a vital evidence that a problem exists. His article appears to be a paraphrasing of the discussion, with his own points being those of self-justifying his apparent frequent TV viewing habits. And what can be expected from a TV Guide article? Considering the source, the article made somegood points regarding TV's damaging effects on children. An article in Society Magazine by Cedric Cullingford, discusses the thought that, through the news media, children are gaining a "bleak view of the world and it's decay" (53). Usually thoughts of rioting, police beatings, muggings and rapes are what the world means to children because of TV news. Added to this perception is the belief that all of these things can only get worse. Cullingford adds that, although all of these crimes are a reality, children's perceptions of the world should not have to include these difficult truths. They should be allowed to remain children. The article further adds that nowadays it is impossible to shield our children from the world before them. Cullingford's only suggestion in "helping them to sustain optimism in the face of knowledge is to teach them how to think about these things" (54).
Cullingford provides quite a pessimistic view of how children are effected by television, showing how TV is causing children to loose their innocence much sooner than they should. Many quotes from children are presented, which together with Cullingford's rhetorical style, paint a sad picture of a childhood cut short by television. Even more gloomy is the fact that amongst all the emotional instability caused to children by television, there is really little suggested to correct the situation. Cedric Cullingford, is a professor of education and author of books including Children And Society and Children And Television. "By the time the average American child begins kindergarten, he/she will have spent more than 4,000 hours in front of the TV" (224-M), and children of ages six through eleven watch more hours of television then spend hours in class, according to a report cited in an article in Childhood Education. And by the time a child reaches his/her teens, they will have witnessed an average of twenty thousand murders, which can tend to "normalize violence" (224-M). This article suggests that TV is often an "instrument of commercial child abuse," stating that commercials and cartoons lead kids to believe that "you are what you buy" (224-M). We are informed that many of the extremely popular shows that are often viewed by children are made for adults, such as Married with Children and America's Most Wanted. The article suggests that parents and teachers try to teach children critical viewing habits and lobby local stations and politicians to limit commercials and add more television programming of quality educational content.
This article offers some staggering statistics regarding children's TV viewing habits. The details of this article support the idea that there is content on TV that kids shouldn't watch, yet do watch incredibly often. It also offers several unique suggestions to help remedy the situation, such as advocacy and lobbying. An article in Instructor Magazine, Mary Beth Spann interviews the widely known Shari Lewis, asking her thoughts on children and television. Lewis suggest that teachers have a right and responsibility to inform parents when they feel that children are watching too much television. She adds that TV is an "instead of" activity, as opposed to active constructive play such as jumping rope, playing baseball, or learning how to play a musical instrument (28). Through the accomplihment and mastering of these things, claims Lewis, a child builds confidence knowing he/she can do anything he/she sets out to do. Although Lewis has a television program of her own, she claims that she tries to evoke active instead of passive type of content, in order to provoke participation from her young viewers while they tune in to her show (28). Lewis further suggest that teachers have open discussions with students during school hours about the types of shows they watch, adding that this strategy too will promote more active response on an emotional level. Finally, Lewis suggests that teachers help students to "sharpen their viewing skills ... so that they can eventually learn to govern their own viewing" (28).
This article is great because it's an interview with a long time children's TV personality. It's interesting to see Lewis' views, as she points out TV's harmful effects on children, while defending the merits of her own show. In some ways she refutes the problem, raising the idea that some types of children's TV shows can in fact be stimulating and constructive, by making learning fun.
Martha Dewing, in an Instructor Magazine article, summarizes effective strategies to make television less "harmful for children's [kindergarten through grade 2] emotional and cognitive development needs" (Dewing 29). Kindergartners are lured to TV programs that tell stories about real life, such as stories about children, which they may relate to. First graders are developing their motor skills, and becoming interested in outdoor games. This age group needs programs that will help them to focus on their "newly developing abilities" (29). And for second graders, they are looking for even more sophisticated types of programming, as they accustomed to school and developing their own interests. Ultimately, this article suggests that we invite students to "explore their feelings" about their television viewing in order to implant a deeper understanding as to what is fiction and what is reality. While this article describes how far young viewers should be in their psychological development by their age groups, it provides further evidence that much of what young viewers watch is beyond their ability to understand. They simply are not ready for the graphic nature of many shows that are easy for them to access. The suggestion of having children explore and communicate their feelings about the shows they watch is a good way of dealing with the problem, by allowing them to develop critical thinking skills at an early age, and give them an advantage as they view more TV throughout their childhood.
We often don't give children enough credit, with a little knowledge they can go a long way. Today children are being forced into the adult world long before we consider them adults. Let's give them the ammunition they'll need to survive the cold facts of every day life. Let's give them the information they need to be their own discerning TV viewers.Tv got good and bad thing,onso we must monitor our children when watching television