Whether or Not Television Ruins Children

I’m here to speak to you about the topic of ‘Whether or not television ruins children’. I’m sure we all know what a tv is and im pretty sure every household has at least one form of it. Ever since the television was invented, it has become one of our favourite pass-times. A lot of our daily routines are based around the tv. Mothers may iron clothes or cook while watching tv and sometimes many families eat in the living room and watch tv together. Although tv’s are considered as a positive and one of our best inventions, it can sometimes influence us negatively, especially with children.

When I say children, I mean kids ranging from the ages of 5-13. Children are forever learning and are always following examples. So when children watch tv and come across a tv show that has violent themes, it affects them mentally. If children watch shows like The Sopranos or Family Guy, they might get the message that violence is ok. So when the child is older and is faced with a problem, instead of sorting it out like civilised humans, they may resort to violence. A study in America shows that girls who watched more than the average amount of violence on tv have a higher tendency to throw things at their husbands and that boys who watched more than the average amount of violence on tv have a higher tendency to be rough and violent with their wives.

Violent themes are not only just on tv. They are also in video games. Quite a lot of video games like Tekken and Halo influence young children to approach a victory by fighting and combating. Violence is not the only theme that influences children. There is also explicit language and sexual references. These 3 main negative themes that run on tv are one of the main reasons we can blame bad attitude in children. They affect children’s behaviour and cause them to be aggressive and hostile.

Television not only affects us mentally, but also physically. Many children, as soon as they arrive home, turn on the tv and watch cartoons or tv shows. This can last up to about a couple of hours or if not, the whole night. With all this time taken to watch tv, children are giving up their daily exercise and active time. They lose time to go out and play, visit a park or join a local sporting team. When watching tv, children always go to the comfort of our couch and lay down and sometimes if tempted, may have some snacks. This is a bad habit that they are undertaking. With all the lost time of their daily requirement exercise and extra carbohydrates and sugar they are intaking, this lack of balance results in weight gain. Studies show that children who usually watch more than 4 hours of tv per day have a higher tendency to be overweight.

We can see that although tv’s are loved and treasured items in our households, they can reflect on children in a negative way. It affects children to become violent, to exude bad behaviour and attitude and can be a challenging obstacle in the way of children’s daily exercise requirements. Therefore, I conclude that tv’s are not as they seem and in fact have a deep, dark hidden agenda, which can ruin children.