Positive and Negative Psychological Effects of Television Viewing

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.

“Watching T.V. Makes You Smarter” by Steven Johnson is an idea that if we watch T.V, it will make us smarter. In order to support his idea, Steven is comparing the different television shows shown in different time period in the United States television history. Steven is trying to prove, what is good for our children and what is not. Steven believes that television is a tool of brain enhancement. Steven states that instead of keeping the kids away from violent shows or tawdry content, the real challenge for the parents should be whether a given show engages or sedates the mind.

Don’t watch too much TV it will fry your brain! We have all heard that phrase some time in our lives, but is it really true? The answer is yes TV does cause negative effects on the brain as well as the body. My paper will address the problem of too much screen time on the brain and how it causes health problems. If the amount of time spent in front of a screen is related to brain problems, then regulating the amount of time spent in front of screens will decrease brain damage because the most common cause for brain damage is due to low levels of well-being, limiting the amount of screen time can help reduce brain damage, and too much screen time can also cause obesity.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability do not develop as well when they have a television in the background while they are playing and interacting. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teenage pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to large amounts of television and video games become socially awkward and have issues interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly, which is leading to shows that should be restricted by a V-chip being watched by children, rendering the restricting system null and void.

Television can affect learning and school performance if it exceeds the time kids need for their crucial for healthy physical and mental development. Most of children's free time, especially during the early development years, should be spent in activities such as playing, reading, exploring nature, learning about music or participating in sports. Research has shown that children's exposure to television during the preschool years is predictive of academic outcomes during adolescence. The most notable lesson about this

The over usage of digital media can be detrimental to the right hemisphere of the brain. It can alter the way the brain functions, causing students to become easily distracted in working environments. This ultimately leads to a decrease of their memory span. In the book “The Shallows,” Nicholas Carr mentioned that we need to change our mental habits, in order to save ourselves from becoming lazy and getting affected by media around us. In order to save our brains from too much media around us, the best way to avoid that from happening in the first place is to change your habits and don’t spend more time then you need to. However, for the people who are already affected by it and their memory and right hemisphere of their brain is affected by the over usage of digital media. HIT centers conduct experiments to assess a person’s brain capability. Using the data gathered, they create a special training program for that person to improve their nervous system to strengthen their weakened hemisphere of the brain. Also, the users should be instructed to not to totally rely on digital media and don’t conceive ideas that are provided without

Zilberstein (2013) states that there are many theories concerning the effect of our neurological wiring when using digital media. Zilberstein positions that since the brain is plastic and changes with experience, digital use can improve some abilities while decreasing others. Older individuals were found to improve brain activation mostly in visual areas. Cognitive improvement was also found with the brains ability to analyses and scrutinize data. She found the negative aspects were not definitively substantiated since research did not include research to support if the subjects had preexisting dilemmas. The theory of excessive media use by children, could possibly interfere with crucial learning, if it interfered with the child’s opportunity

Television in schools have made a major impact on kids learning. It has become more fun and entertaining for kids. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting says, “Students who view a lot of television are more likely to report lower grades.” But 74.7% of the kids say they learn better. And 74.1% say they are more interested in the subject they are learning. At school, kids have watched channel one and it kept them updated about the news & what's going on in the world. (How T.V. impacts kids and learning) But the article “Television and Children” still states that Television can be a distraction to children in

The analytical effects of different aspects of American Television and Film within and/or upon American popular culture are very influential. Multimedia has a strong psychological impact upon citizens of America. Acknowledging the influential impact television has made amongst Americans, we are able to provide guidance on what is age-appropriate for children to watch. Including radio, music, video games and the Internet. Extensive studies have been verified to distinguish and discover the useful and detrimental effects of multimedia. In doing so, studies have shown what effects this have on American pop culture and the citizen’s subjective mental well-being. Various multimedia is likely to bring about both decisive and pessimistic effects.

Impact on cognitive development: Media promotes depression, anxiety and violent behavior in children. This is because many acts of violence are depicted in prime time shows and in video games. “High levels of television viewing are causally related to aggressive behavior and the acceptance of aggressive attitudes” (as cited in Strasburger & Donnerstein, 1999, p. 132). Furthermore, media affects children’s ability to learn. This is because they get used to learning through “song and dance” on edutainment TV shows, and when such excitement is absent at school, they feel it is boring and tend to lose interest in academics (Clean Cut Media, 2010). More and more children are being diagnosed with attention disorders because they tend to multi-task while using media, by listening to music, chatting online, watching TV etc., at the same time (Clean Cut Media, 2010). An advantage of the internet is that it promotes learning through interactive media and interesting content, but utilizing it depends on the choice of the children.

In a study by Iman Sharif and James D. Sargent, 4508 students participated to find out whether or not certain television content affected the grades of young children. In many analyses they found that,

Since the rise of streaming services like Netflix, children and young adults today find themselves picking up books less and looking at screens more. Watching TV at a young age has often been connected to poor performance on standardized tests. This includes one study which found that Californian third graders who had televisions in their bedroom, watched more TV and in turn, performed worse on standardized tests than those who did not (Gosline).

Everyone’s heard of Autism or Down Syndrome, possibly even Huntington’s Disease, but there are many different kinds of genetic disorders that most people have never heard of or have only seen on television. Ectrodactyly is a rare disorder most people wouldn’t know of, however if you’ve watched Ryan Murphy’s popular American Horror Story: Freak Show, you’ve seen it. It was formerly known as ‘lobster claw hand,’ and in Freak Show, Jimmy Darling, portrayed by Evan Peters, has this disorder and is known in the traveling show as ‘Lobster Boy.’ What it is, is a disorder that causes a cleft on the hand where the middle finger normally would be. This is just one example of a strange disorder that isn’t overly known in our culture, but has probably

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