Is Television Harmful?
I have always found the controversy over children being harmed by television shows interesting. I feel that over the years this topic has changed quite significantly. I know as I was growing up watching television was considerably acceptable since the majority of shows were educational. However, as the shows progress to be less education and more entertainment based, it appears that television is corrupting the minds earlier than my generation. Due to this difference, I began wondering if there are any differences in theories about this topic for kids growing up in the 90’s and the kids growing up today.
As the years pass, I feel as though since my early childhood (‘92-‘98) the idea of watching television was more of a social norm and it was thought that there were no harmful effects on the development of the child’s brain. Now I want to dive further into this topic and figure out if there is a correlation between television and the development of the brain whether it is good or bad or is this topic just a myth. I feel this research should help me develop and understanding of allowing children to watch T.V. is harmful or not. In my opinion, allowing children to watch the educational shows is beneficial to their brain development. However, an excessive amount could be harmful for the children’s social skills and other aspects that are essential to their development capacity to understand difficult concepts as they learn.
There is a lot of speculation about whether television is for children in their early childhood. This topic is very debatable between scholars; there are some pros and cons with this topic. My opinion on this topic is that television is good for the children only in moderation. With ch...
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...al skills that the child needs to make friends. When a child watches television, they might accidentally catch glimpses of violent acts and children are known to mimic actions that they see. Television in moderation is good, but monitor what your child watches because you do not want them to mimic actions that you do not like. But make sure you encourage your child to go outside and play to develop social and physical skills.
Bibliography
Anderson, D. (2005). Television and Very Young Children. Pro Quest, 1, 7.
Chase, I. (n.d.). Raise Smart Kid. Raise Smart Kid. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.raisesmartkid.com/all-ages/1-articles/13-the-good- and-bad-effects-of-tv-on-your-kid
McDevitt, T., & Ormorod, J. (2013). Peers, Schools and Society. Child development and Education (pp. 570-609). New Jersey: Pearson. (Original work published 2002)
Television is a distraction for children and can hurt their cognitive abilities if they watch too much because it is non interactive. In the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Helena Duch and colleagues mentioned that the American Academy of Pediatrics advises, “parents avoid exposing children 2 and under to screen media, a nationally representative survey found that 68% of children under the age of 2 use screen media in a typical day, and that average screen time was 2.05 hours per day” (Dutch et al 2). Children live in a world full of screens, ranging from iPhones, TVs, to tablets and computers. Drastic brain development occurs during the ages of 1-3 and exposing them to too much screen time of any kind can have negative effects on them (Hopkins 27). Putting them in front of a screen also steals away from times they could be talking, playing, and interacting with their surroundings. Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich claims that shows d...
She first offers a counterargument to the thought that a youngster unfamiliar with TV programs will find making friends difficult and will be labeled as an outsider by saying that the other children will respect their independence and recognize the richness of the other activities. She ten gives a counterargument to the thought that the experience that children get from watching television is the same as the adult’s by saying that adults can relate to their past experiences and real life while young children don’t have that real life experience and knowledge to relate the TV programs to. Lastly, she counters the thought that TV is an important source for learning by saying that children who were television-educated use words that they don’t fully understand and “facts” whose accuracy they can’t judge as they don’t have that experience, while the children who learned through reading or other activities besides watching TV can use their minds and bodies to understand and enrich their
It may be hard to admit, but television has become an intricate part of our everyday lives. People children often find themselves sitting in front of the television screen for a longer period of time than before and this has evolved immensely over the past few years. In this article, “The Trouble with Television,” by the author Marie Winn, mentions that addiction of television is negative effects on children and families. It keeps the families from doing other things and it’s a hidden competitor for all other activities. Television takes place of play and on top of that kids who watch a lot of television grow uncivilized. Also, the author mentioned that televisions are less resourceful for children and have negative effects on children’s school achievement and on physical fitness. Although there are so many other types of addictions but the author Marie Winn’s points of argument of watching television is a serious addiction that our children and families have negative effects.
In Steven Johnson’s article, Watching TV Makes You Smarter, Johnson illustrates the development of media over time and the change people are trying to make to television. Johnson argues over how the population watches bad TV shows over the good and how it is healthy for the human brain. Johnson compares older TV shows and present day TV shows to show the difference in
The entertainment that television is now portraying is not exactly what the younger society of America needs to be exposed to, but unfortunately in today's economy that is the only kind of entertainment that sells. There is so much unnecessary exposure to violence, aggressive behavior, and sexual acts now being broadcasted daily on television, movies, music, and even the news. The broadcasting systems are now targeting younger children and teens. The crime rates have skyrocketed due to delinquent juvenile behavior over the past ten years. The whole viewing society is now becoming very tolerant and at ease with sex and violence. Youth and children are picking up on these behaviors daily. Studies have shown that by the age of 18, the average American teen will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television. The violence and sexual content that television and music are now portraying has negatively influenced younger children and teens to commit murder, exhibit aggressive behavior, and become tolerant of violence and sex.
After the invention of television by Philo Farnsworth in 1927, this is the most common thing that can be found in any household throughout the globe. But it has not as good reputation as it is expected to have in the houses because there is belief in every house that Television helps in making people lazy, fat and in the worst cases addicted. For example, girls are supposed to have the addiction to the TV series, children to the cartoons and boys to the sports programs. Generally if seen on the online blogs and magazines, fatness of the people is also related to the TV and serials. So there is a stereotype that watching television is bad habit. If any child is watching television then it might not be the best thing that their parents want to watch, because they want them to be productive. In addition to that, the contents presented in the television are also the major problem in this case. A Surgeon General's report last year concluded that 61% of all TV programming contains violence. That provides the stat that if a child spends 3 to 4 hours a day in television then he will see 8000 small screen murders (smith). It might help in the violent character of the child but this is not the all thing television does. If we see in detail the advantages of television has outnumbered the disadvantages and is the best medium of communication throughout the world. Though watching television might be considered to be bad and might have social taboos but it has more advantages than disadvantages and is one of the best scientific innovations done by human being. One scientific innovation has assisted a lot to keep up the growth and development of people from New York to Somalia and from Sydney to Haiti.
White, A. V. (2006). Television Harms Children. Opposing Viewpoints. Television. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Mothering, 2001, 70)
Television has become a big part in children’s day-to-day lives especially in the 20th century. Children in this century rely on television to keep them entertained and educated instead of entertaining and educating themselves by participating in activities, which will teach them a lot more in life then the actual television. There is no doubt that children are most easily influenced by television because of the different content that they watch as well as the amount of time consumed watching TV. The television does have an emotional and intellectual development on children but this all depends on the content that they’re watching and the way that they absorb the information that the show is trying to send out. Different programs will portray
... for children. Children are exposed to 20,000 advertisements a year. The average child watches 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. By the time children graduate from high school, those numbers more than doubles. Furthermore, television is shown to influence attitudes about race and gender. Pro-social and anti-social behaviors are influenced by television.
Children in their adolescents years watch a great amount of TV each week and it is almost inevitable that they will start to be influenced by what they see on their television. They will see diffe...
Without a doubt, television is the central and principal form of communication in many people’s lives. This form is most often exposed to a child who instantly becomes accustomed to its presence. Children are televisions largest audience, as Morris shows, “Children aged two to five look at the TV tube on an average of 28.4 hours a week; those between the ages of six and eleven average 23.6 hours a week”. Television has played an important role in many children’s lives and its viewing has been a favorite activity for many of them. The effects of television on children have been disputed. Some people have said that viewing time has a negative impact on children. Other people, however, feel that the early educational television productions for children help tehm learn.
There are many facts that show how children are affected by television. The most obvious is the effects that television has on the brain. 'Television interferes with the development of intelligence, thinking skill and imagination.';(LimiTv) A huge element of thinking is taking from what you already know and deciding how it applies in different situation. School makes you do this, but television does not. Michael and Sheila Cole, sociologist, say that 'Children socialized to learn from television had lower than normal expectations about the amount of mental effort required to learn from written texts, and tended to read less and perform relatively poorly in school.';(Development of Children 24) Which means that it takes very little effort to follow a television show and kids are raised on television believe that it takes less effort to learn from television rather than books because they have been 'spoon-fed'; information by television. 'Opportunities for a child's imagination to develop are also denied by habitual viewing.'; (Neural Activity and the Growth of the Brain) Children need some unstructured time to allow imagination skills to form by thinking about a book or story, a conversation, or an event.
First it was newspapers that were thought to cause juvenile crime. Then in the 1920's the movie screen rolled around, and its violent content alarmed many. Following World War II, violence and brutality in comic books was a huge concern in our society. Then came the television, a staple in American households around 1960. Once the television was introduced a lot of questions were raised over what effect this might have on children. Would it corrupt them, or make them more able to deal with the real world around them? Would it change their behavioral patterns? Would it help or hinder their development?
Children can be influenced and impacted in many ways whether it is from their parents, peers, and even strangers. One thing many people don’t realize is that many children, nowadays, are actually being influenced by the media, meaning they are being affected by different media sources, such as television and the internet. The question is whether the sources of media, television and the internet has a positive effect or a negative effect on children, and which source of media has a bigger effect.
First, children who normally watch TV are more likely to have delayed brain development. For example, by constantly watching TV, children will be lack of natural skill exploring such as language development on learning and attention. According to Mary L. Courage, who is a researcher professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, “Exposure to the unnaturally fast pace of sound and image change in video material during this sensitive period might alter synaptic connections in the neural networks underlying attention and shorten the infant’s attention span” (73). Basically, she is saying that many children started at...