Television and Effect on Children - Research Paper Example

? Television and its effects on children Television and Its Effects on Children Introduction Since its invention, the television has become the favorite pastime of most children. From the moment they wake up, their attention is divided between what is going on in their real life and what it happening on television, though it almost goes without saying that the television gets more of the attention. When they come home from school, they take up their perch once more in front of the television, and then again after their homework has been completed. Though it may be considered a good activity to keep children preoccupied or even as a reward for working hard in school and keeping up with their chores, television does not come without its consequences. Constant television viewing by children comes with physical, mental, and emotional ramifications that have been proven to have lasting effects on children if ongoing television viewing is not put to an end. The consequences will be revealed throughout this paper, as well as ways to prevent the consequences from taking place. Physical Ramifications Obesity has become one of the greatest health concerns among children in this day and age, and it has been directly connected to children spending more time in front of the television than outside being active. A massive lack of physical exercise and the need to be eating while watching television has caused children to weigh more now than they have in previous years. The longer that these two activities exist together, the more, and the quicker, that a child’s health is capable of failing. Television is not what it used to be. When the television was first introduced in homes, there were only a handful of television stations and a similar number of television shows, most of which were news channels. Nowadays, there are over one hundred easily accessed television channels and almost four times the amount of television shows, many of which are directed at the younger audiences (Liebert et al, 1988) and are usually available roughly around the time that most children are released from school. The television studios know exactly what they are doing when they air certain shows at certain time. As such, children have found it possible to sit in front of the television and watch show after show without even a hint of a break at times that are most convenient for them: when they are most likely to be at home. This ability to be constantly watching television has caused an increase in the amount of time that children spend in front of the television and, similarly, a decrease in the amount of time spent engaging in physical activities, such as sports or simply running around with their friends. This also causes children to begin to associate television with good activities and exercise as more of a chore. It is common for people to want to eat while they watch television and movies, and when children sit in front of the television as often as they do, they enjoy many unhealthy snacks and meals while enjoying their television shows. This holds especially true when they come home from school; they crave both something to eat and something to allow themselves to unwind after a long day of school. Excessive eating and a lack of physical activity can cause children to gain great amounts of weight over short amounts of time. The diets of children is another area of concern; most children are not being fed the proper types of food, so they often go for the greasy, fatty snacks while they are watching television. Again, after school snacks often consist of unhealthy snacks in large quantities. Even if their meals throughout the day are healthy, constant snacking of fattening foods can only build up in the bodies of these children, and if they are not exercising, they are not getting rid of that unhealthy weight. In essence, the longer that children sit in front of the television, the more unhealthy food they are likely to eat. The consequence of the two aforementioned issues is that children gain weight and do not feel up to being physical. They become easily worn out or sluggish, and only spend even more time in front of the television since they do not feel like doing anything that involves being active. Their lack of energy makes it difficult for them to even get up from in front of the television, let alone to go outside and be active (Steyer, 2003). It becomes a chain reaction, one in which the children never finds themselves being active. These children are at risk for future health problems, such as diabetes and malfunctions of the heart. Unfortunately, these are health problems that cannot be reversed. In some cases, they have even proven to be deadly. Even obesity is a serious issue that needs to be taken care of before it is taken too far. Many obese children live the rest of their lives overweight. Unless something is done early on, children risk facing a lifetime of weight-related health problems. If they continue with their unhealthy patterns of eating and not being active, they can find themselves facing heart attacks at a young age, or an array of other health problems that can cost them their lives. Being overweight opens up many unwanted doors as far as someone’s health is concerned, and it is important to put an end to the potential dangers as early as possible. Parents should begin to concern themselves with the weight of their young children. Yet another physical problem that many children face due to watching too much television is failure of their eyesight. Eye-related problems come as a result of sitting too close to the television, watching too much television without giving their eyes a break by looking elsewhere, or watching television in a dark or dimly-lit room. While some of the issues that may arise can be fixed over a few years with glasses, some are not as easily repairable. There are many children that end up needing glasses for the rest of their lives, and some even face the possibility of needing surgery or medications to fix problems that glasses cannot. Even worse, many have been known to become legally blind (Winn, 2002) because they, nor their parents, were cautious enough about the state of their vision. Preventing Physical Consequences Fortunately, preventing many of the previously mentioned issues is easier done than said. First and foremost, parents need to monitor the amount of time that their children spend in front of the television. Likewise, they need to set a designated amount of time for their children to spend exercising or playing around outside, aiming at having their children be more active than stationary. Parents can even create a reward system in which two hours of exercise can equal one hour of television. They also need to make sure that their children are sitting far enough from the television so that their eyes are not being strained, and that lights are on as long as the television is being watched. Finally, parents either need to make sure that their children are eating less when they are watching television, or they need to ensure that their children have easy access to healthier snacks, like fruits or vegetables. Children should also not be snacking so close to any major meals, such as dinner. Mental Ramifications Television has always been considered a source of entertainment and the types of shows that are available have upheld this belief. Even with the presence of “reality television” and some educational shows, television exists to entertain viewers. However, these shows do very little to help a child’s mental state, intelligence, and even their imagination. It has been shown that schoolwork tends to suffer the more time that children spend in front of the television as opposed to exercising their minds in healthier ways. How a child performs in school can be correlated with the amount of time they spend watching television (Gunter & McAleer, 1997). This can be achieved through a variety of ways. One such way is when children watch television right before they go to bed, or else set a timer on their television to allow it to shut off long after they have gone to sleep. More often than not, children are more concerned with watching their shows than with actually sleeping, and are therefore less likely to get the required eight hours of sleep. This results in the child being too tired to make it successfully through the school day. Their performance begins to weaken because they are too tired to focus on their lessons. Schoolwork and homework alike tend to suffer when a child focuses more on television than on their schoolwork. This especially holds true for the children that attempt to do their homework while they are watching television. By the time the day is done, they have watched a handful of televisions but have only completed a fraction of their homework. Sometimes this leads to the child staying up later to finish the assignment or else going to school the next morning with incomplete work, which causes them to fall behind. Similarly, television shows tend to lack information that can be helpful to a young child’s mind. Children easily believe everything that they witness on television, which has been found to have jarring effects on the mental functions of these children. They are at their most influential the younger they are, and they are ready to accept whatever they are shown or told from their television shows (Traudt, 2004). This can effect how they grasp and use information that they are supplied with during their studies in school. The information that they get from school and the things they learn from television can become muddled, confusing the child. It is not common that children are taught that not everything they see on television is reliable. Preventing Mental Consequences Simply put, children need to spend less time in front of the television, especially during the school week or when there is homework to be done. Furthermore, parents and teachers need to encourage their children to watch more of the educational television shows that are available with most basic cable packages. The majority of these shows deal with the natural world, including animal and science shows. Some shows also exist to help children get through their homework by teaching and showing examples that are common for certain grade levels. There are even shows for the youngest of children that help to expand their minds. These shows have even proven to increase how well a child does in school, as they provide the children with reliable facts and methods in which to implement the information in their everyday lives (Vered, 2008). Emotional Ramifications Perhaps one of the greatest concerns when it comes to children and how much television they view is how they emotionally and intellectually grasp what they are being shown. This can also be seen to go hand-in-hand with the mental consequences of watching too much television, as well as how influential television can be to the younger audiences. Television shows cover a wide range of subject matter, many of which are not appropriate for younger audiences, and yet children are still able to easily access these shows. Some of the more harsh television shows include violence, the abuse of drugs and alcohol, and questionable sexual acts outside of regular intercourse, which is also in great quantity in television shows. By being subjected to these images at such a young age, and without being properly informed about what behavior is or is not acceptable, children tend to reenact what they see (Martin, 1995). Children are more likely to try drugs and alcohol at a young age, or else engage in premarital and underage sexual activity. Television shows provide children with ideas that they would otherwise be unaware of until they are older. Television violence has been a great force behind school violence in younger schoolchildren. There have also been connections found between sex and drug and alcohol usage and the influences of television shows. Many children believe that because they are seeing people do it on television it makes it okay for them to also participate in. They allow their favorite television shows or fictional characters condone their own actions. Even though it must done, it becomes difficult to punish children for participating in activities that they were not previously warned about when the subject first arose. In a similar way, children begin to react in ways that they see on television. On television, if one person upsets another, it usually results in the first person becoming angry and, more often than not, pulling out a gun to fix the situation. Other emotions are tested and wrongfully displayed and solved, but children find that these are the only ways to release some of their emotions (Kelemwork, 2010). They learn too much from television, and it is often not the right lessons. Preventing Emotional Consequences Parents not only need to monitor what their children are watching, but they also need to take it upon themselves to make sure that their children understand that what they are watching is fictional and should not be undergone in real life. Children need to be aware of the consequences that they can encounter if they attempt many of the things that they see on television. Parents need to put up parental blocks on their televisions to make sure that their children cannot watch these shows. If the children do watch these types of shows, the parents need to make sure they child is aware of the differences between fiction and reality. Parents also need to encourage their children, as well as themselves, to watch more children and family-friendly shows. Though young children seldom have the same emotional outbursts as their teenage and adult counterparts, it is still vital that children understand proper ways of releasing their emotions or handling their problems. Parents, teachers, and other adults need to make alternatives known to children should they have a problem with other children or with issues at home or in the classroom. If they are given alternatives, they are less likely to resort to some of the violence that the view on television. Conclusion Television is one of the most influential forms of entertainment in the lives of young children. This can either be a bad thing or it can be beneficial. It all depends how children regard the role of television in their lives, which is something that also depends on the parents. The television can teach children things that they have no business knowing at a young age, or it can provide them with facts about the amazing world around them. It can be a reward for good grades and good behavior, or it can be the downfall of their education. Parents should influence their children to find other entertainment mediums, such as sports, reading, or the arts. These activities can keep children just as preoccupied as television, but children can benefit more from them, both physically and mentally. In some cases, children can even find emotional releases through some of these mediums. If children continue to spend as much time in front of the television as they do now, they risk ruining their health, their education, and watching their lives pass them by. Since children have little control over what they do in life, their parents need to help make sure that their children do not become too lost in fiction. References Gunter, B., & McAleer, J. L. (1997). Children and television. (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Kelemwork, T. (2010). Media manic: The effects of media violence on children. Los Angeles: CreateSpace. Liebert, R. M., & Sprafkin, J. N. (1988). The early window: Effects of television on children and youth (3rd ed.). New York: Pergamon. Martin, S. (1995). Effects of the mass media on the use and abuse of alcohol. New York: Diane Publishing. Steyer, J. P. (2003). The other parent: The inside story of the media's effect on our children. New York: Atria Books. Traudt, P. J. (2005). Media, audiences, effects: An introduction to the study of media content and audience analysis. Boston: Pearson/Allyn And Bacon. Vered, K. (2008). Children and media outside the home. Los Angeles: Palgrave Macmillan. Winn, M. (2002). The plug-in drug: Television, computers, and family life (25th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. Read More