Many people are aware how powerful and influential the media are. Over the past 30 years, the delivery and scope of mass media have changed dramatically. It have became a major influence shaping the attitudes, values, and behaviors of children, but unfortunately very often in undesirable ways. According to the essay "Family Counterculture" by Ellen Goodman, it even came to the point that parents are forced to say "no" to almost everything the media offer. In fact, the majority of parents perceive television as a promoter of passivity, consumerism, and violence. No doubt, some of the programs and ads on TV can distract kids from normal childhood activities like reading, playing, spending time with families, socializing with …show more content…
Discussing feelings can seem less risky when they are focused on characters in a favorite TV show or movie.
Television is also playing a great role in forming positive social attitudes among children. Children learn about themselves and the world around them from observing others. Therefore, their attitudes and behaviors can be influenced by simply viewing televised materials. For instance, when Sesame Street appeared on television, children were introduced not only to a variety of furry, lovable creatures, but also to a cast of racially diverse characters, which reflected the rich ethnic and racial diversity of the world. According to the latest polls conducted in schools, children of all races agree that it is important to see people of their own race on television. It tells them that people of their race are important and equally included in society. Moreover, I believe, ethnically diverse programs teach children to respect and treat each other regardless skin color or racial identity. Foe example, shows such as Mr. Dressup and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood promote positive social behavior by encouraging children to share, ask questions, and resolve conflicts peacefully.
Finally, I believe in the media as a great source for role models. Depiction of well-developed characters and
Television has a widespread influence on everyone, especially children. Children are impacted so much by the things they have seen and watched on TV. They learn many things from TV, but their social skills and other learning abilities slow down. Watching TV numbs the mind of children and keeps them inactive from daily exercise. Furthermore, speech delays can occur in children who watch excessive amounts of television. Television programming such as MTV, Adult Swim, and Family Guy exposes and promotes negative
“Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.” (Peter). There was a time when all children wanted to do was to run, play, explore, and be adventurous. As time evolved, children have found more interest in television. Statistics show that a child spends 900 hours per year in school,and they spend 1,200 hours per year watching television. When asked to choose between watching T.V. and spending time with their families fifty-four percent of four to six year olds voted they would prefer to watch television. Television has changed the mindset of children over the years it has been proven that the more programs they watch, the more harmful it is to their brain development. T.V.
Numerous studies have concluded that the content and amount of television programming watched by individuals – especially by children - has a direct result on the behavior of that individual. The behavior affected by television viewing can be anything from a desire for a certain food or material good to violent distemper (Zuckerman 1985.) Recently, more and more woman have given up their traditional role of raising their children opting instead to work during the day and leave their children to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many children find that spending countless hours in front of the television to be a worthwhile way to entertain themselves. Most parents tell their children never to talk to strangers, but what they fail to realize is that every day their children are subject to the messages and ideas of strangers on the television. In fact, a study concluded that an average American by the age of 18 has spent more time watching television than they have spent in school; this study also went on the state that children spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping. This may explain why an additional study revealed that if a child was told something by his or her parents and then viewed on television something that contradicted what the parents had said, four times out of five the child opted to believe the
The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy
What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The
Today, television is everywhere and effects families and family life in impactful and often destructive ways. The medium is like an addictive drug where hours are dedicated to its use and mass consumption. In Marie Winn's essay, "Television: The Plug-in Drug," she described the effects of television on young children and the family environment at home. Television is one of the most dominating diverting factors of the common family as she noted throughout her work producing a scathing and prophetic view of the medium as it plays out in modern times. The purpose of this essay is to explore Winn's essay in terms of her honest and heartfelt approach leading to the article's overall appeal and effect.
Media and technology have such a great impact on society and how we perceive social systems and all the factors tied to them. Television shows have always been prevalent in touching upon topics in society pertaining to an array of things such as color, race, creed, interest group, sexuallity, political/religious affiliation, and many more. As time passes, television shows alter the topics in which they touch upon, as society grows and chances. As society becomes more tolerant and accepting of individuality and differences in beliefs, the television programs that we watch change with them. Even through the development, there are still many prejudices and inconsistencies in our society that cause conflict.
Can T.V. shows be the reflection of our society or influence the behavior of the members of our community? Since 1936 when television broadcasting begin, it priority was to inform and to entertain our society; subsequently, a massive amount of rules and regulations were created to control the material presented in TV, which principal goal was to safeguard the moral and ethical standards of it time. Nevertheless, from its beginning to the present home entertainment television standards contents have change; likewise, the moral an ethics values of our society have change and continuing changing from generation to generation. TV shows from the 50’s, 80’s, and the present exposed many changes in the way human role are exposed, the language
Television is affecting childhood on many different levels. “Many parents have misgivings about the influence of television” states Marie Winn author of “The End of Play”. (Winn 76) One concern is the introduction of adult issues. Marie Winn’s article reflects on what children are being exposed to. Stating today’s “Counterculture kids were [are] casually exposed to all sorts of adult matters-drug taking, sexual intercourse”. (Winn 77) She then points out the “interest in boy-girl interactions is replacing play in preadolescents”. (Winn 78)
The media is one of the biggest proprietors when discussing the state that our children are in, and why they’re unable to play children roles. It’s not hard for a child to get access to the television set and see the influential things that the media may disclose. Ideas that are shown on TV now, are very misleading and inappropriate, even on children’s channels. Nickelodeon shows are very mature sit-coms that
History of television and its influence on people lives. How did television revolutionize the world?
Over the last forty to fifty years, television has been a major topic of discussion. Specifically, many debate societal benefits to television watching. One widely accepted opinion is that watching TV makes people dumber. People have referred to it with terms like the “idiot box” and do not feel that watching TV has any benefit at all. They feel that it is a waste of time and people need to spend their hours more wisely. Others are of the opinion that TV is actually has societal benefits. From this perspective, they claim that the development of the structure of the programs now requires one to intellectually participate in watching television. Essentially, the argument is whether TV is a beneficial societal force or is it simply a
In today’s society, there are a number of factors that affect a child’s ability to learn. The media, for good and for bad, is the primary teacher of American youth. This environment reflects life itself, sometimes in a corrupt way, including the positive and heinous parts, along with the beautiful and hideous parts, as well as the charitable and violent parts. It is almost impossible to protect American youth from experiences reflecting the adult world when the media invades homes and becomes so much a part of everyday living. “American teenagers spend 31 hours a week watching television, 10 hours a week online, 4 hours a week reading magazines, and 17 hours a week listening to music” (Miss). Even though mass media is a huge part of a
What do we really mean by television? The way we watch television has drastically changed over the last fifteen years due to new technologies such as digital television and services providing on-demand access. These drastic changes have had a huge effect on viewers and have “allowed online streaming platforms to dominate and revolutionize the way the audience consumes” (Aliloupour) media, ultimately allowing the viewer to be in total control of how, when and where they want their content. The idea of only being able to watch television on a television set is now a thing of the past. Due to technology, the audience now has a vast variety of options on how they can access content. By using scholarly articles, research in new media and Internet sites I will be analyzing current television and where the future of television will be heading.
There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what