The Disadvantages of Television on Children - Term Paper Example

The Disadvantages of Television The Disadvantages of Television There is no doubt that television is one of the best inventions thathuman beings have witnessed. It is a good tool for entertainment and also knowledge. However, it is also a destroying tool too, if we do not use it in a wise way. Children are the most ones who are affected by TV because they cannot control themselves at the time of watching TV. The latter has psychological, social and health impacts on children. For this reason, parents and guardians have to monitor their children. Therefore, what are the psychological, social and health impacts of TV? Sitting in front of the TV for a long time has a negative impact on the psychology of children. Watching television leads to promoting violence and aggressiveness, making children to be enclosed and instilling laziness and the lack of responsibility. First, recently we have noticed the majority of TV programs broadcast have violent and aggressive scenes. This means when a child is watching four or six hours can get influenced and become violent. Even cartoons have violence in them. The article Children and Television violence by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2011, p. 1) claims that "Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behaviour." The article also points out that the majority of programs on TV are violent, it is written "Unfortunately, much of todays television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may: Become immune or numb to the horror of violence, gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, imitate the violence they observe on television". That is true, I have a nephew, whenever he watched a movie he started imitating the hero and started fighting with me. There are also other examples of childrens imitation to violent and aggressive scenes that they see on TV. According to Dafnah (2007), "In Israel, a 7-year old boy who broke his spine was reported to have shouted-Look how Superman flies- before jumping out of a window" (p. 71). Second, watching TV for a long time can also make the child be enclosed. It is very harmful to spend hours and hours in front of TV, whereas there are other things and activities that can be done. For example, there are some people who are addicted to TV like the ones who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, they do not do anything just watching TV especially now since there are a lot of TV channels. The article The influence of television on children (2009), the author posits that "According to statistics, children can watch television more than adults, no matter in what way, using the TV set or the internet. They prefer to spend their time watching television even instead of meeting their friends" (p. 1). Moreover, TV also makes people to be lazy and refuse to do any kind of activities. Since TV can be an addiction like alcohol and drugs, it is very hard to make someone do something or work. People who are addicted to television love to sit on the couch or the bed, eat chips, drink soda and use the remote control to change channels. This means no studies, no exercising, and no socializing. Watching television can also have social and bad effects on children such as making them unable to socialize, unable to communicate with their family members and be affected by some bad thoughts and ideologies. As I mentioned before, children addicted to TV get self-excluded, they exclude themselves from others. They do not want to play with friends, and they do not want to see family members. Dafnah (2007) believes that "The same principles and methods that characterize studies of televisions effects on anti-social behaviours are also applicable to studying other types of behaviour" (p. 81). This shows that watching TV might lead to the appearance of anti-social behaviour in the personality of the child. In other words, the addicted child to TV excludes himself and rejects others or even talking with them let alone sharing or studying with them. Therefore, this will make children refuse to go to school and go out from the house even if they get older. The second social effect of TV is killing the communication between the members of the family. Since the child spends all his or her time watching cartoons, TV programs, reality shows and movies, she or he does not have time to talk to his or family members or discuss issues that has to do with their school or friends. There is no discussion or communication between the members of a family while watching TV. That is to say that TV makes all the family members passive, at the end of the movies or the TV program each one of them goes to his or her room. People also think that all the information and knowledge given in the TV is good and right, they automatically get it without using their mind and their critical thinking. They are totally passive. The third social effect is the influence of thoughts and ideologies on children. Nowadays, many TV programs and series are broadcast without evaluation from the authorities to find out whether they are good or not. For example, a person can watch a documentary that promotes hate against other races; there might be a scene in the documentary where a police officer is beating a black man, a bearded Arab man, or a Muslim fighting the Western. When the child is exposed to such a scene, he or she might end up doing the same thinking that black people or Arab people are bad or a real Muslim should fight Westerners. The article the influence of television on children (2009) mentions that "Recently, a great number of religious and political programs have appeared and it is very difficult to keep away from them, and even after changing the channel you can still hear their speeches" (p. 2). Children can be affected by these ideologies. They automatically get these thoughts and try to apply them in their real life. Their minds can be manipulated in an easy way and use them for evil things. Another bad ideology promoted by the TV is gender roles. TV has a strong influence on shaping the personality of children and their lives. Witt (2009) elucidates the fact that TV is able to shape gender-typed behaviours. In other words, while children are growing up, their personalities are shaped by what they see and what they experience. Since they spend a lot of time watching TV, a big part of their personalities is shaped based on the information that they get from the TV. For example, male and female children learn their roles in the society from what they got from the television. Witt (2009) asserts that "Men on television are often portrayed as rational, ambitious, smart, competitive, powerful, stable, violent, and tolerant, while women are sensitive, romantic, attractive, happy, warm, sociable, peaceful, fair, submissive, and timid" (p. 2). In other words, both male and female kids acquire these ideas about the gender role and apply it in real life. The last influence of TV on children has to do with health. Studies and researches have shown that watching television for a long time hurts the eyes and makes children to have weak eyesight. Television transmits rays which badly affect their sight abilities. This point is supported by the article Influence of television on children which posits that television "....is also harmful for their eyesight that can cause cross-eye in some cases" (p. 2). Furthermore, watching television is considered one of the major causes of obesity. Sitting on the couch or lying on the bed and eating a lot of unhealthy food make children gain weight in a very quick way. Moreover, since these children are addicted to watching TV, they cannot do other activities such as exercising so that they can be in shape. All in all, television has a negative influence on our children. It leads to psychological, social and health issues. For this reason, parents should play a major role in preventing their children from harm as a result of watching television. References American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (2011). Children and TV Violence. Retrieved from http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Fa milies_Pages/Children_And_TV_Violence_13.aspx Dafnah, L. (2007). Children and Television: A Global Perspective. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. The Influence of Television on Children: Lewis University Mathematics and Computer Science. (2009). Retrieved February 7, 2014, from http://www2.lewisu.edu/~gazianjo/influence_of_television_on_child.html The Influence of television on children: The Development of television. (2009). Retrieved February 7, 2014, from http://www.thetvaddiction.com/the_influence_of_television_on_children.html Witt, S. D. (2009). The Influence of Television on Childrens Gender Role Socialization. Retrieved from http://www2.lewisu.edu/~gazianjo/influence_of_television_on_child.html Read More