Flashback to 15 years ago I often think about how I would wake up at 7 am on a saturday morning to get my cartoon fix. Back then TV was fun, but it wasn’t always frequent, it was more of a weekend morning thing while you had breakfast and then eventually made your way outside to play with your friends. I myself am always babysitting some child here or there whether it be my niece, or a family friends’ grandchild. I had often noticed the differences between the children and their television habits, for some would watch a little and then want to run freely, whereas others would rather be sat in front of the television and not budge until a commercial. There is much to see on the effects television can bring on a child from aggressive behavior to gender role stereotyping, to even obesity.
From What I have read in the many articles there is a great amount of people that argue that there is indeed a lot of aggressive behavior being promoted during children’s TV programs and also due to the amount spent watching TV. One article stated that “The issue isn't necessarily the content of the programming, but the social isolation that comes from so many hours in front of the tube” said the researchers in the article “Children who watch 'excessive' amounts of TV are more likely to have criminal convictions, exhibit aggression and experience negative emotions: study” in the NY Daily News. From everything I have read there are many points being made about children and the amount of TV a child watches per day, however I beg to differ that this leads to aggression in children. As I thought back to shows when I was younger I could remember that there were indeed many shows that showed violence and aggression during their program but as I evaluate...
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...ion and experience negative emotions: study." NY Daily News. N.p., 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
"Michelle Obama to Nick kids: Go out and play - USATODAY.com." Michelle Obama to Nick kids: Go out and play - USATODAY.com. N.p., 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. .
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162). Notably with social theory evidence shows, kids who watch TV are more likely to continue in aggressive behaviors as adults.” One study found that kids who watch more than an hour of TV each day are more likely to participate in acts of aggression later in life. One reason for this is that watching TV for long periods may create changes in a child’s personality and cognition that produce long-term behavior changes. “Dmitri Christakis and his associates found that for every hour of television watched daily between the ages of one and three the risk of developing attention problems increased nine percent over the life course; attention problems have been linked to antisocial behaviors.” (PG.
Eron, L.D. (1963). Relationship of television viewing habits and aggressive behavior in children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67, 193-196.
According to the article, Violence in the Media, written by the APA, it provides information on how ferocious television episodes can affect a child’s senses, feelings, and attitude. To be more specific, it can make them become numb, frightened, and more pugnacious due to the amount of violent TV they watch. Furthermore, according to the same article, the APA also wrote, “By observing these participants into adulthood, Huesmann and Eron found that the ones who'd watched a lot of TV violence when they were 8 years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.” Psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann and Leonard Eron held a study that concluded that the result of watching violent television can lead to jail and criminal actions. This will also cause a child to become more aggressive and therefore will become a nefarious person. All in all, the American Psychological Association decided that violent television can shape a child’s disposition. In fact, it can also encourage a child to execute bad deeds and crimes when they become
Johnson, J. G., Cohen, P., Smailes, E. M., Kasen, S., & Brook, J. S. (2002). Television Viewing and Aggressive Behavior During Adolescence and Adulthood. Science, 295(5564), 2468.
Additionally, exposure to total TV was not a significant predictor of why some children were more socially aggressive than others. Conversely, exposure to televised social aggression was a positive predictor of children’s social aggression, specifically stronger for girls than boys (Martins & Wilson, 2011, p. 62). This data allowed Martins and Wilson to conclude that rather than TV as a whole, TV that illustrates social aggression specifically, is correlated with socially aggressive behavior in young
"Television and Children (Child Development Institute)." Child Development Institute - Keeping Parents Informed on child development, psychology, parenting. Child Development Institute, 2000-2010. Web. 03 Feb. 2010. .
Although previous research focused a lot on the effects of televised physical aggression on children, the effects of socially aggressive content received little attention. However, Martins and Wilson gave a new insight into this field in that they did a correlational study on TV watching in which they surveyed over 500 children and found that social aggression on TV has positive relations with socially aggressive behaviors in children. In addition, they also found that the relations are stronger for girls than boys.
The controversy over whether or not violence portrayed on television actually affects children or not has been playing itself out for nearly three decades. When some of the first results came out in the 60s and 70s that made the first connections between aggressive behavior and viewing televised violence, the TV and movie industries denied that there was a connection. When studies found the same thing in the 80s, the FCC opposed any regulation (Hepburn). A writer for Direct Ma...
As early as 1958 investigations were being conducted of the effects of television on children. During this time, the researchers found that most of the television content was extremely violent. In almost half of the television hours monitored, the programs main focus contained violence. The common theme that was seen throughout the programs were crime, shooting, fighting, and murder. The universal definition of violence used was, "Any overt depiction of the use of physical force, or the credible threat of such force, to intend to physically harm an animated being or group of beings." In this investigation, Wilbur Schramm concluded that under some conditions, some violent television could effect some children. For the most part, most television is neither helpful or harmful to most kids under most circumstances. As you can see this conclusion is quiet vague, and does not give a lot of crucial information for us to correct and improve. Schramm and his colleagues came up with a solution for parents to provide a warm, loving, secure family environment for their children, and they would have little to worry about.
Television violence causes destructive behavior in children, however; television can be a powerful influence to young viewers in our society. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming are very violent. Many researchers like scientists, pediatricians, and child researchers in many countries have studied to find out what it is about television violence that makes it such a big affect on the way kids act and behave. Sometimes, children think that is a normal thing in our real life, by watching only a single violent program, which can increase aggressiveness on children and become violent, aggressive, and vicious.
Furthermore, television violence causes aggressive behavior in children. Many people believe that children who watch violent television programs exhibit more aggressive behavior than that exhibited by children who do not (Kinnear 23). According to the results of many studies and reports, violence on television can lead to aggressive behavior in children (Langone 50). Also, when television was introduced into a community of children for the first time, researchers observed a rise in the level of physical and verbal aggression among these children (Langone 51). The more television violence viewed by a child, the more aggressive the child is (“Children” 1).
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.
Fisher, Deborah A. "Television Violence Contributes to Aggressive Behavior in Young People." 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. .
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 United States, “Children watch 4 hours of television every day, 28 hours a week and, sometimes, 10 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Before their 18th birthday, children may view 25,000 hours of television” (Ni Chang 85). Nowadays, technology has been developed and used in many different ways. Many children spend large amount of time on IPad, smart phone, and computer. Clearly, television has played an important role in most of the younger age group’s life. As a parent, one of the biggest concerns about the influence that television has on the children is that they tend to become aggressive while they watch a lot of violent program. Communicating and engaging with one and other is limited because television has destroyed communication among family and removed children from the social interaction. Moreover, watching a lot of TV also contributes child obesity. Overall, television is harmful for children in their early development because it is not only going to delay their brain development, but also increase their aggressive behavior, and cause child obesity in a long term period.