Effects of Television on Children
Children are mainly exposed to television, television violence and television culture at home. Thus parents play a vital role in helping children to make sense of what they see on the television. These days television influences the lives of young children and it is only going to get worst with each passing year. It is very challenging for young children to make choices of what programs they should watch. Because of the lack of experience they need more help from adults. Pulling children away from television programs is a challenge. Children's media are designed to get attention and keep it.
Some Horrifying facts about media violence in children's lives:
• By the end of elementary school, the average child will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other violent acts in the media.
• Children's cartoons and action programs average more than 20 acts of violence per hour, compared with 5 acts per hour during prime-time hours.
• The sale of Mighty Morphin Power Ranger products (based on the extremely violent TV show) surpassed $1 billion in 1994.
• More than $3 billion of products related to the Star Wars movie have been sold worldwide.
• In one survey, more than 90% of teachers thought the Power Rangers led to increased violence among the children they taught.
Some Action Ideas:
First of all as a parent, take charge. Develop guidelines for your child as to how much television she/he can watch. The less the television time the better it is. Since young children do not have the concept of time, deciding on the number of shows they can watch can be an option. Select programs that are designed to promote positive development and learning. Some experts suggest no more than an hour a day for young children. Experts have suggested a simple chart that parents can use with their children, for example:
________________________________________
Plan for TV viewing for ____________________________
Day of week Picture of Show #1 Picture of Show #2
_________ Time: Time:
_________ Time: Time:
________________________________________
Children as young as three years old can plan by drawing pictures of the show they plan to watch.
You can develop TV rules for home. Please make sure that as a parent you follow them as well and be consistent. You can come up with some rules as for example, TV only on weekends, no TV before school, no TV after dinner, no violent shows, etc. This plan of action will be more effective if you develop these rules with your child because she/he will feel that her/his voice is heard.
A parent’s duty when they have children is to give them the best life they can, and some of that has to do with how much they allow their kids to access through a screen. With the life they give them, they also give them a home with their own rules and structure. There are certain things parents can do to best prepare their children to be successful in the classroom. This can range from monitoring the kinds of shows they watch to how often they let them access any kind of screen. Some of the most important things that lead to success should be taught very early on so as to inspire life long patterns; parents should only expose their children to shows with educational content, allow them to watch in moderation, and encourage literacy with the correct shows and devices.
"(Top 100) Movie Franchises by Revenue." Statistic Brain. IMDb, 10 Dec. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2013. .
Longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental studies have all confirmed this correlation. Televised violence and the presence of television in American households have increased steadily over the years. In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television. Today 99% of homes have televisions. In fact, more families have televisions than telephones. Over half of all children have a television set in their bedrooms. This gives a greater opportunity for children to view programs without parental supervision. Studies reveal that children watch approximately 28 hours of television a week, more time than they spend in school. The typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including more than 16,000 murders before age 18. Television programs display 812 violent acts per hour; children's programming, particularly cartoons, displays up to 20 violent acts
o Shoes and clothing - $125 billion. o Electronics and appliances - $85 billion. o
With today’s technology and media presence, a child may watch more violence in thirty minutes than an adult experiences throughout their whole life.
Children spend more time learning about life through media than in any other manner. The average child spends approximately twenty-eight hours a week watching television, which is twice as much time as they spend in school (Dietz, 75). According to the American Psychological Association, the average American child views 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence before finishing elementary school. In
In 1989 the results of a five year study by the American Psychological Association indicated that the average child has witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television by the time he or she has completed sixth grade. In further studies it was determined that by the time that same child graduates from high school he or she will have spent 22,000 hours w...
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
...arents tend to produce softly-addicted kids. It?s very difficult for parents to tell kids to stop watching so much television when they?re guilty of the same type of mindless behaviors. Parents will find, however, that if they learn to spend their time more meaningfully, not only will their lives be more satisfying but they?ll help create more satisfying lives for their children.There are many ways to raising a happy, health child. Parenting is a special gift to most men and women. The best thing you can give to parenting is to be consistent with whatever you tell your child to do and their punishment.
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.
In a book about child psychology titled Infants, Children, and Adolescents, fifth edition, written by Laura E. Berk, several strategies are stated to regulate children’s television viewing and computer use that would fair beneficial in turning children away from committing violent acts depicted by the media. They are limit television viewing and computer use, refrain from using television or computer time to reward or punish children, encourage child-appropriate television and computer experiences, view television with children, helping them understand what they see, link televised content to everyday learning experiences, model good television and computer practices, and use a warm, rational approach to child rearing. These approaches should help children be able to understand the differences between what is right and wrong in regards to what they are viewing.
On average and American child will watch 32 acts of violence per hour on TV. This number has skyrocketed from 20 years ago when it was just 12 acts per hour (Krieg). This being said a child will have watched anywhere from 8,000 to 100,000 acts of violence before they even finish elementary school (Weiss). While adults can watch violence on TV and understand that it is not real, children on the other hand have difficulty differentiating the between what is real and what is make believe.
Our generation has been raised in a technological advanced world and there has been definite controversy over many of these innovations that this new culture has brought. An innovation that has troubled the youth of America for many years is television. Although there is no certainty to eliminate this 'plug-in drug,'; there are many ways to control and monitor your television as a parent.
"Does Cartoon Violence Make Kids More Aggressive?" - School A to Z. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.
should be censored to an extent, yet they do not see the significant effect that regular television shows really have on their children.As a child grows, more and more statistics are proving that they are being exposed to too many shows that should be censored. Many studies have concluded that young children are most affected by what they see on television (Dritz, Russel 1996). For example, a child that watches a cartoon with a lot