Television since its invention has come to be an influential part of the everyday life. The question that is presented now is if television is in fact a positive or negative factor in the lives of those who watch it. One side of the debate in favor in the usage of television says that television is something that can be used to educate and improve lives. The opposing side to this debate claims that television does little more than numb the mind and creates habits that harm the body. I believe that while television may have some positive benefits when put to good use, but downsides of television use outweigh any possible benefits as it can be detrimental to not only the mind but the body. The potential that television has to do harm is not only limited to those in one culture but in all places and age groups.
One age group that is exposed to the negative effects of television are children. Television use by children could not only damage the child’s self-image, but also how they come to see the world. A study was conducted using young girls from the ages of nine to twelve to see the effect the advertisements and programs of womanly figures on television would have on them. After asking the girls how they felt about themselves after watching the women that are displayed on television as the standard or “beautiful” idea of women the entire group of girls reported having stronger feelings of dissatisfaction with their own bodily image. In another study the conductors of the study sought out to find the relationship between television and the stereotyping of women and their everyday roles. The children in this experiment were asked to watch two shows, and one that portrayed women in a “traditional” occupation and another in which a...
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This article, “Tune Out, Light Up”, by David Kopel poses an unrealistic and over exaggerated argument of explaining why watching television presents greater harm than smoking cigarettes. Unfortunately, this argument is unsuccessful because of the weak execution but it has potential for success if exaggeration is limited and scientific evidence is given. Referencing journals and clinical research can be beneficial for this argument, since health matters are of concern. Kopel paints individuals with the same brush in this article, and fails to acknowledge the unique details of genetics and specific television channels. This article does promote future talks about how simple leisure activities in life could be far more dangerous than expected, especially when compared with a massive threat. Therefore, if the improvements are specifically made and the writing is more formalized in that regard, then this article can be effective in implementation of the overall
In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid increase of obese children, America is on the fast track to producing a generation with a life expectancy shorter than their peers. One of the main factor is the media representation of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today’s society parents are not only worrying about televisions influence on their kid’s behavior but their weight and health, too. According to study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, that researched the role of media in childhood obesity, stated the obesity increased by 2% for every hours of television in adolescent’s ages 12 to 17. The advertisement of food and beverages present a very strong influence on the children. Most of the products being advert...
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 an article ' The Plug-In Drug ' the author Marie Winn discusses the bad influence of television on today's society. Television is a ' drug ' that interfere with family ritual, destroys human relationships and undermines the family.
Television, or screen time, has become a large part of today's society. Whether it's by way of smart-phones, a television, a computer, or a tablet, screen time has negative effects on the cognitive ability of children and adolescents. It has even been proven that it can lead to Alzheimer's disease when a person, in the age range of 20-60 years old, views an hour more than the recommended amount of screen time a day (Sigman 14). In children, the amount of screen time viewed has a relationship with the likelihood of developing a deficit in his attention span; the longer a child views screen time, the more likely he is to be diagnosed with an attention disorder. Screen time, or television, can cause attention disorders and other problem with cognitive abilities in children and adolescents that effect the education they can comprehend.
In general, the effects of television and drugs cannot be compared as equivalents; nevertheless, their study is worth of consideration. They are still two mysteries to be solved: why people spend so many hours in front of a TV set instead of doing something proactive and why people seeks refuge in drugs. We may not know all of the answers but we know all the of questions. While we walk towards the light hoping to find the answers to these mysteries, there are still many things to be done. In the meanwhile, one thing must remain in our minds: we will still face many obstacles together as society, with or without television and drugs.
3.DuRant RH, Baranowski T, Johnson M,”. The relationship among television watching, physical activity, and body composition of young children”. Pediatrics. 1999;94:445-449.
According to “Burger Battles” from the Weekly Reader, obesity is defined as a person whose weight is 20 percent higher than recommended for their height (Burger Battles 1). When this condition begins to affect children lives, it is then known as childhood obesity. Within the United States of America, around 15 percent of children are considered to be obese (Holguin 3). Increasing tremendously, this outbreak has actually tripled in the amount of obese teen and doubled in children up to the age of thirteen (Burger Battles 2). One of the factors that is usually overlooked in the cause for obesity is the role of television. Not only does it reduce the amount of physical activity, the advertisements and commercials are targeting innocent viewers. In a survey completed by Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, the average child watches nearly 19 hours and 40 minutes of television a week (Ruskin 2). With that amount of time spent watching television, advertisements for fast food will be entering the children’s minds.
For example, eating disorders can cause children to become overweight or underweight. Eating disorders are when one has an obsessive attitude toward food. They can cause children to continue eating even when the body if already full. Another source that encourages the action of consuming food is television. Television is highly advanced and highly watched in today’s society. Commercials on television can encourage children to become hungry even though aren 't truly craving food. Beth Turner states on Parents.com, “The report says part of the reason for this may be that children who watch less TV are replacing TV time with other sedentary activities like reading books and playing board games.”(Source 4). Turner explains how television can cause children to spend more time watching T.V, rather than partaking in physical activities and being active. Television can be considered responsible for obesity found in
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.
Gender stereotyping has been ongoing throughout history. The media has been distorting views by representing gender unrealistically and inaccurately. It created an image of what "masculinity" or "femininity" should be like and this leads to the image being "naturalized" in a way (Gail and Humez 2014). The media also attempts to shape their viewers into something ‘desirable’ to the norm. This essay will focus on the negative impacts of gender-related media stereotypes by looking at the pressures the media sets on both women and men, and also considering the impacts on children.
WETHINGTON, HOLLY, LIPING PAN, and BETTYLOU SHERRY. "The Association Of Screen Time, Television In The Bedroom, And Obesity Among School-Aged Youth: 2007 National Survey Of Children's Health." Journal Of School Health 83.8 (2013): 573-581. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
How TV Affects your Child? Kids Health. October 2011. Web. The Web.
Another major factor that influences millions of impressionable females and males is television. Not only does the television teach each sex how to act, it also shows how one sex should expect the other sex to act. In the current television broadcasting, stereotypical behavior goes from programming for the very small to adult audiences. In this broadcasting range, females are portrayed as motherly, passive and innocent, sex objects, or they are overlooked completely or seen as unimportant entities. Stereotyping women is not only rampant in the adult world; it also flourishes in the kiddie universe as well.
Benefits of watching television at the young age would be that children’s social skill, emotional skill and creativity can be improved by watching the talk shows; it is proved by a study. For example, Children can learn how to communicate with other people and how to react properly when they are asked to response. In addition, TV shows such as C.S.I Miami, Criminal Minds and Bones can teach children how to think logically and stragically. Although books can transfer the knowledge to the young generations, but it has limitations that certain facial expressions and body languages cannot be transferred by few words. Furthermore, the beautiful images of the nature on the tv screen can let the children to take a long travel from their home to the deep in the ocean, top of Mt.Everest or middle of Sahara the dessert.