That's All Folks...

 

       What would be a good amount of time for a child to devote for television viewing?  Do parents fully understand how television can affect their child’s perception of reality?  This debate over children and TV has been raging since the early 90’s.  With more and more channels for children to watch these days the risk of over exposure is greater than ever.  Taking a look into the violence, increased risky behaviour, and obesity; the effects of television on a child’s reality becomes more apparent.

        Growing up watching cartoons on Saturday morning has been a staple of American culture for decades.  The violence in those cartoons though has become alarming in recent years.  Imagine how a child takes in information from a cartoon character.  When an act of violence is performed on a child’s TV show; children think that is a normal thing in day to day life.  Children tend to be more aggressive after watching a show that had violence as part of the story line.  This can also change how children view the outside world as well. 

        Children are bombarded today with so many stimuli that it is becoming overwhelming for them.  A child has no experience in the outside world, so what they see on TV is their reality.  For example, a child watches a show with extreme violence and then becomes afraid of the world around them.  Children become less social and more prone to phobias than ever before.  They have a false sense of reality due to what they have seen on a television screen.

         Now violence is just one of the many culprits to blame.  Risky behaviours in TV shows are starting to take hold as well.  When children see a character in their favourite show smoking, drinking, or hinting about premarital sex, they think that is the kind of behaviour is acceptable.  So many TV shows include all types of risky behaviour as part of the plot.  Children cannot tell the difference between reality and television.  Children look to their parents for guidance on the real world but receive a lot of information from TV that has become harmful.

         Children see on the average of about 40,000 commercials each year from watching just 2 hours of TV a day.  With that type of exposure the risk of obesity has taken a new twist.  Every child has a favourite character they watch on a daily basis.  If that same character advertises products then children want it.  It does not matter whether it is good for them or not.  They see it on TV so it must not be that bad!  That is the mentality that must be curtailed by parents. 

         Everything is okay in moderation.  That is the message that must be driven into the parents today.  Parents must explain that what children see on TV is not what really happens in the real world.  Have children go outside and play with other children to help develop that much needed social aspect of their lives.  Above all else, be involved with children, they look to adults for guidance and direction in the early years of life. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best. “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”