TV Limitation for Children - Research Paper Example

To begin with, children with televisions in their bedrooms perform poorly in school and have a high propensity to have sleep problems. Also, children who have television in their bedrooms are likely to be overweight and have a higher risk of smoking. According to Parker-Pope, one of the consequences of having a television in a child’s bedroom is that the child ends up watching programs that are not suitable for them without the knowledge of their parents (Parker-Pope, Para 3).

The article presents several studies that have been carried out to demonstrate the effect of having televisions in children’s bedrooms. For instance, he presents a study that was conducted on eighty children aged between 4 to 7 years in Buffalo. The findings of the research indicated that having a television in the bedroom increased average viewing time by approximately nine hours, from 21 hours to 30 hours. According to the research, there is a high probability of parents of such children with television in their bedrooms misjudging their children’s viewing time.

In the article, Professor Leonard H. Epstein argues that parents are usually unaware of what their children watch when the televisions are put in their bedroom. The television set is usually in the child’s bedroom and it becomes difficult for parents to remove the television set from the child’s bedroom. In their two-year research, Dr Epstein and his crew put monitoring devices that were programmed to reduce total viewing time in half the homes under study. The result of the study showed that the relative body mass index of children with compulsory time restrictions dropped even though all children in the study gained weight as they grew. The researchers discovered that reducing television viewing time did not increase play rate, but the children snaked less. This research did not simply the data by bedroom television viewing.

However, the journal Pediatrics, 2002, reported that children with televisions in their bedroom risk being overweight. Further, the journal Obesity reported that boys have a higher risk of becoming overweight. In French research on adolescents, boys with television in their bedrooms showed a higher likelihood of having larger waist, body fat and body mass index than their counterparts with no television in their bedrooms.

In another study that was conducted among 400 children in six schools in Northern California, approximately 70 per cent had television in their bedrooms. These children performed significantly and constantly lower on math, reading and language-art examinations. However, children who said they have computers in their bedrooms scored higher on the tests.

Even though the profound impact of bedroom television remains oblivious, it could be a big distraction from doing homework or it obstructs sleep leading to poor performance at school. A study on kindergartens indicated that children with bedroom televisions had sleep problems. Another research of over 700 middle-school students aged between 12 and 14 revealed that children with bedroom televisions have a higher likelihood of smoking. 42 per cent of those who had bedroom televisions in the study smoked compared to 16 per cent of those who had no bedroom television.

In another article, Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest by Benedict Carey, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned parents to limit the time that their children spend on televisions, computers and self-described educational games. The paediatricians argued that television distracts children and is not beneficial to them in any way.

However, the article also argues that no evidence exists that shows that electronic gadgets cause long-term developmental problems in children. It argues that research holds that children learn a lot more through practical connections with people and things. However, the learning through media can be longer is also lower. In the article, parents are warned not to put televisions in their children’s bedrooms and also to consider how they use them so as not to distract children from playing. Many households are reported to have televisions on for most time of the day, which distracts children. According to the article, parents should actively take part in determining what media is right for their children. According to the article, in a survey, 90 per cent of parents conceded that their children under 2 years of age watched television and other forms of media. The paediatrics association reports in the article that when children under two years of age spend much of their time on screen, their interaction with their parents and creative play reduces significantly.  Therefore, both articles discourage parents from exposing their children to staying long on screens.