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The effect of television viewing on the development of children and adolescents
Pros and cons of watching TV
The effect of television viewing on the development of children and adolescents
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Television viewing is a very important part of our student's lives. There is a big issue on whether it should be allowed in our public schools. It should be allowed to some extent, all depending on the age group. I think age is very important when it comes to viewing TV in school. The students should be divided into three age groups: young, teen and adults. These age groups can help us distinguish what kind of viewing will be allowed, if any.
TV Viewing can be a very good learning experience for young students depending on the viewing material. Young children tend to copy most of what they see on TV because of that fact we must be very careful with the viewing material. The young kids should be limited to educational films only. Any other type of TV viewing should be done at home at explained by the parent.
Teens are more mature, therefore their TV viewing should be decreased because of the fact that at that age they need to learn more about life and what goes on around them. The best way to do that is through life experience not through TV. For example if a student saw drug use on TV he/she would have no idea about drugs until they experiment with the drug, or see the effects of drugs on someone in real life. Teenagers are at a point where they can distinguish reality from fiction. Schools should focus on giving teenagers more projects about life. For example marriage projects that are not real. This way they can experience life more realistically.
Adults can watch whatever they want. At this point they know right from wrong, what's real and what's fiction. They should know what's appropiate for them to watch. They know the difference between entertaining TV viewing and educational viewing.
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.
Television and the visual culture are “creating new conceptions of knowledge and how it is acquired” (p. 145). Neil Postman in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death explains the effects of television and visual culture on the youth education curriculum. Postman believed it necessary to warn society of the consequences of living in a culture dominated by television. As for my opinion on this matter, I do not agree with Neil Postman’s statements in regards to television and our youth’s education. I believe it is not the crisis Neil Postman makes it out to be.
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.
“Teens typically spend about 6 to 8 hours of their time awake [each day] with some type of media” (Overmier 1) and out of that time, they spend from 2 to 4 hours watching television programs. Two to four hours of their time seems like nothing compared to all the other time in the day, so how much harm could their favorite television shows do? “Sexually related talk and behavior occurs from eight to ten times per hour in prime-time programming” (Brown, Steele, and Walsh-Childers 60) and that is without counting all those sexually suggestive commercials during the breaks.
Barney, Sesame Street, and Arthur are just a few of many television shows that children watch. Many kids all over the world watch television, but the question is, is it really educational? Although there is no actual proof that television shows children watch are educational, surveys say that they can help enlarge children’s knowledge, increase imagination, and also introduce social behavior.
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
Technology has evolved greatly in the past few years and more and more people are able to access the internet. This means that people of all ages are going to be able to view the content that is posted online and or seen on the television. Teens and pre-teens are now watching TV more than ever and reality television itself is booming. Although it is good that television is expanding, reality TV doesn’t seem to have the best affect on its teen audiences. High level of immorality has been depicted by the TV programs highlighted above.
I believe that the majority of teenagers today know the underlying themes of the media, and know that it is all scripted, however, the matter of fact is that teenagers can relate so much to the themes in the media that they slowly begin to believe it. Once they get introduced to the characters, they gradually start to consider them real, and relating to them more and more.
Since the 1950s, television has become one of the world’s favorite pastimes. Even with the rise of Internet-based entertainment, many still enjoy staring at a TV screen from the couch. Due to this popularity, some people have recognized the learning potential for viewers young and old. Television can deliver information quickly and captivatingly, making it an excellent way to teach people the things that parents and schools may not.
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.
Television is everywhere these days, not just in our living rooms but in bathrooms, kitchens, doctor's offices, grocery stores, airplanes, and classrooms. We have access to TV virtually anywhere and as American's we are taking advantaged of it. Adults aren't the only ones watching TV; children today are watching more TV than ever before. TV has even become known as "America's baby-sitter." (Krieg). Meaning that parents are now using the television as a way of entertaining their children while they attempt to accomplish other things such as cooking and cleaning.
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.
Television is something that is easily accessible for any child. I can agree with Postman when he stated that the transformation of childhood was when literacy disappeared, education disappeared, shame disappeared and essentially childhood disappeared. Though, he predicted all of this in the 90’s, I see it happening every day. The culture of our current generation of children has completely changed from when I was a child and the young are more tech-savvy than generations before (Postman, 1994).
According to Paediatrics & Children’s Health, T.V can teach kids many different things, such as “watching Sesame Street is an example of how toddlers can learn valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic, and the alphabet through an educational television format.”(2003) T.V shows can teach very good lessons to children about many important things, that these kids can use in their adult life. Another positive effect of television for kids is that it sort of opens their horizons to different things and people. For example, according to The Raising Children Network, teens and children can benefit from media exposure by developing cultural and political awareness. Television, films, magazines, and social media sites expose teens and children, who might be otherwise be limited to interactions with people from their own cultural and ethnic backgrounds, to an array of different people”. (Mokeyane) Children can really benefit from watching T.V, they can learn many educational things from shows like Sesame Street, Barney, or Caillou. Also, older children can learn about other cultures and political things that might not be talked about at home. Television really helps kids learn more important personal and educational lessons, that the generations,before, never had. Children, nowadays, have a great advantage in learning much more
Firstly, we can get a lot of new knowledge through learning. Television can be a powerful teacher. By watching we can learn valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational television format. Some public television programs stimulate visits to the zoo, libraries, bookstores, museums and other active recreational settings, and educational videos can certainly serve as powerful pro social teaching devices. The educational value has been shown to improve the reading and learning skills of its viewers. Reference from Wright JC, Huston; Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas stated some disadvantaged settings, healthy television habits may actually be a beneficial teaching tool. Objectively, it helps to improve the writing, reading and listening skills for young generation and makes interest too. In addition, it may be comes a motivation for youth to overcome their communication probl...