Concerned parents have always been cautious when it comes to their children watching television. They strive to set limits on the type of programming viewed as well as the time spent in front of the television. Of course, not all parents have the reigns tightened on their children’s viewing habits. Some children spend hours glued to the screen. Today, it has only gotten worse with bigger screens and unhealthy programming added to the mix. Children are unaware that watching too much television can have negative effects on their brain development and physical appearance.
The brain has been a vital organ for the purpose of everyday human function. It needs to be stimulated with activity that enhances it to the fullest potential. Television, on the other hand, tends to slow the brain from receiving the stimulation it requires. There have been studies conducted which measures children’s success in school based on their viewing habits. One study discovered children between the ages of 5-11 who watched the least television were most like to graduate high school while those who watched the most were likely to drop out (“Too Much TV Isn’t Smart” 6). Another study found that children with a television in their bedroom scored lower on standardized tests and had low reading skills (Too Much TV Isn’t Smart 6).
Television does not only damage the brain, but can also have a profound impact on a child’s physical appearance. Anti-social behavior among children has been associated with prolonged television viewing (Vessey, Yim-Chiplis, and MacKenzie 483). This is the first step in the downward spiral towards obesity. As the child becomes more anti-social, healthy nutrition and exercise are non-existent (Vessey, Yim-Chiplis, and MacKenzie 483). A...
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... guidance on how to separate the perception from reality. If this guidance is not followed or given, children will succumb to a dreadful future.
Works Cited
"Too Much TV Isn’t Smart." New Scientist Jul 2005: 6. ProQuest. Web. 26 Jan. 2014 .
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Vessey, Judith A., Paula Yim-Chiplis, and Nancy R. MacKenzie. "Effects of Television Viewing on Children's Development." Pediatric nursing 24.5 (1998): 483-6. ProQuest. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Zimmerman, Frederick J., PhD., and Bell, Janice F, PhD,M.N., M.P.H. "Associations of Television Content Type and Obesity in Children." American Journal of Public Health 100.2 (2010): 334-40. ProQuest. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Thomas, Paul. " Effects of Television On Young Children (Interview With Top Voted Pediatrician)." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 April. 2014.
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.
"How TV Affects Your Child." Kids Health - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's
Strasburger, Victor C., Amy B. Jordan, and Ed Donnerstein. "Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents." Pediatrics 125.4 (2010): 756-67. Ebsco. Web. 26 Jan. 2011.
In April 2004, a journal, Pediatrics, described that the greater the amount of television watched by a toddler, the greater risk for him to develop an attention disorder later on in childhood, as described by researchers at a children's hospital in Seattle, Washington. “For each extra hour per day of TV time, the risk of concentration difficulties increases by 10 percent” (Sprinkle 1). A child is more likely to be diagnosed with an attention disorder like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) when they view a television program. ADHD and ADD both effect the child's ability to stay attentive to one thing for a normal amount of time, which will, in turn, make the comprehension of the education he receives tougher than that of a child who has a normal attention span.
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.
“TV watching can establish a deeper pattern of poor eating habits that can set children up not only for ...
In “Television Harms Children”, Ann Vorisek White claims that the intellectual and cognitive development of children who frequently watch television is threatened. To support this claim, she points to the findings that “the more television children watch, the weaker their language skills and imaginations” (White, 2006). Before the brain fully matures around age 12, it is in the stage of rapid development. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “recommends that children under the age of two not watch TV or videos, and that older children watch only one to two hours per day of nonviolent, educational TV” (White, 2006). A study from the AAP (as cited in White, 2006) found that the average American child watches four hours of television every day. Considering "expression and reasoning are not automatic" abilities, young children who routinely watch television eventually become "passive and nonverbal" to stimuli in their environment (White, 2006). Since the normality of curiosity and imaginations of young children are the foundation of how they learn, remaining passive for extended periods of time affects their intellectual and moral development.
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
Since the television made its big appearance in our society, there has been a lot of debate on whether it is good for us or not. Researches have come up with the conclusion that average person in the United States now watches over one hundred and fifty-one hours of television a month, which is well over 5 hours a day, and while there are many concerned people convinced that watching television has a negative impact on today's society. The question is “Do watching television make people smarter? You might well be surprised that watching television can actually make you smarter but that would be depending on the television show that the viewer spends their time watching.
Beales III, J. Howard, and Robert Kulick. Does Advertising On Television Cause Childhood Obesity? A Longitudinal Analysis. Journal Of Public Policy & Marketing 32.2 (2013): 185-194. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Palmer, Edward L. Children in the Cradle of Television. United States of America: D.C. Health, 1987.
Yosaee, Somaye, et al. "Relationship Between The Times Spent Watching TV And Playing Games With Fat Mass In Primary School Children. (English)." Journal Of Mazandaran University Of Medical Sciences (JMUMS) 23.98 (2013): 221-232. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
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.
How TV Affects your Child? Kids Health. October 2011. Web. The Web.