Television, Birth Control, By Fred Pearce

“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

* Fifty-five percent of children questioned usually watch television alone or with a friend, but not with their families. (13)

Television was invented in the 1920’s and one of the most exceptional innovations of all time. Meanwhile, it is going to be 100 years old in a few years and still retain the primary source of entertainment for the kids, prolific for the teenagers and matures. Likewise, it is the major source of knowledge and amusement for every class of people as per their predilection. Similarly, watching television becomes a habit of the people from the past few decades when monochromatic picture turned into a vibrant color television. As for me, television means more than just entertainment and similarly the same television plays a different role for different members of the family, they also has appendage courtship with a television.

The main reason we watch TV is for entertainment where we can view shows and movies. Shows and movies expose individuals to a variety of cultures and values that they do not see often. Another use of television is for information such as news, political views, and advertisements. Televisions inform us of news around our community and world, and also persuade us in buying products or donating money to a cause. An ongoing controversy has risen such tha televisions can be harmful to children because of the vulgar language and violence shown through modern day shows or even celebrities. Viewing too much television can be time consuming and may even discourage children to go play outside and be social. Watching the newscast has changed my life by informing me of the violence that goes on throughout my community. Also, a negative effect of watching too much television has taken up my time when I could have been doing more productive tasks.

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.

The early development stages between the ages of two and four are paramount for a child’s cognitive growth. Children are extremely sensitive to their surroundings and pick up everything that’s going on around them and that’s what helps them learn and develop. In a study, it showed that for every hour of television watched the child’s age appropriate language skills decreased. As for children exposed to constant background noises this also decreased their cognitive and language skills as well. This early and over exposure to TV, video games, and computers, deprives the child from sensory, hearing, and touching skills that they would have learned in the real world without so much exposure. This is also the time of developing co-ordination skills, as well social and motor skills. These skills are valuable in long-term and short-term physical and mental health (Negative Effects of Media). Tv is used as a baby sitter now to keep kids busy while parents do work around the house, this is a destructive act being done. Tv is generally always on in households, leaving kids to be able to watch whatever is on tv rather than educational shows that parents should be providing. The social intelligences

They also found that the show ‘16 and Pregnant’ led to more searches, tweets and Facebook posts on abortion and birth control…Hopefully educating teens on how not to get pregnant! The question “Could exposure to these media images of pregnant teens and very young new mothers have had an impact on how teens think about pregnancy and ultimately on whether they become teen mothers themselves?” does present itself. The timing of the introduction of ’16 and Pregnant’ could have helped the rapid decline of teen pregnancy over the past few years. An economic study argues that ’16 and pregnant’ may have contributed to one-third of the decline in the 18 months after its release. The researchers also looked to see whether high viewership in certain areas corresponded with a bigger drop in teen births…yes it did! “The results of our analysis indicates their exposure to ’16 and pregnant’ was high and that it had an influence on teens thinking, regarding birth control and abortion” the researchers write. That’s all well and scientific, but could a television show really have that big of an impact on teen birth rates? “It’s an extraordinary study done by two very cautious economists” said Bill Albert, chief programme officer at the national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. While the researchers said they did a lot of” fancy economic work” to make sure their conclusion was one hundred percent accurate, the most compelling evidence came from the teens social media. The researcher had quoted some of findings to CNN. “This reminds me to take my birth control” and “watching sixteen and pregnant, going to take my birth control”, she said she had remembered reading…of course no one is crediting MTV alone for the declining teen birth rate, “About half of the recent dramatic decline can be attributed to the recession” the researcher said.

In recent discussions of watching an excessive amount of television, a controversial issue has been whether it is good or bad. On the one hand, some argue that it affects our mental and physical health. From this perspective, it is clear that heavy TV watching is not beneficial. On the other hand, however, others argue that a TV exposes you to important news and different cultures. In the words of Caron Andre, one of this views main proponents; “news, current events and historical programming can help make young people more aware of other cultures and people.” According to this view, Andre believes that TV can be beneficial to the watchers. In sum, then, the issue is whether TV has positive or negative effects on the viewers.

I chose the article “TV as Birth Control” by Fred Pearce. It addressed the issue of population growth and India 's trend toward lower birth rates.When the decline in India 's population growth was studied by Stanford human geographer Martin Lewis, discovered that the arrival of cable TV was the biggest cause of the decline in birth rate. His research corroborated a 2009 study by Robert Jensen and Emily Oster, development economists from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Chicago, respectively..(Pearce). The central issue the high birth rate of poor women in developing nations and their impact on the overall population. In the article, Pearce suggests that TV programs depicting modern urban lifestyles could decrease the birth rate in developing areas. He notes “that, the rural women are exposed to images of successful women, who work outside of the home, run their own businesses, and control money, they achieved those things by having fewer children”. Pearce revealed that in the 1970 's Mexico used Soap Operas to encourage the use of birth control. The show focused on a poor woman who wanted to make a better life for herself, she did so by using birth control

The Television is often the centerpiece of typical American house. TVs are now a representative the American dream. TVs are even used to measure finical wellbeing. Huge flat screen TVs symbolize success, while smaller TVs represent modesty. People crowd around the TV to watch the big game, to catch up on the news and keep up with pop culture. Is there something wrong with this so-called wonder device known as the Television? Marie Winn, author of book Unplugging the plug-in drug, argues this point in the chapter “The Trouble with Television” claiming that the television negatively affects families and specifically children. Marie Winn is an author and journalist who is known for her write ups on wildlife and television. The book was published in 1987 and describes eight ways in which the television is damaging. Winn makes it a point not to argue against the content of television, but rather how the television effects family relationships and is a detriment to children’s development. While I agree with some of Winn’s, overall, I disagree with her assessment of television. The points that Winn made that I disagree with include, TV allows kids to grow up less civilized, TV keeps family from doing other things, TV makes children less resourceful, TV has a negative effect on children’s school achievement and TV has a negative effect on children’s physical fitness.

Furthermore, The book by Mares (2006) outlined how TV could have played a profound role within the families and influencing how an interaction between families functioned. As television tries to portrait the exchanges and unrealistic scenarios within the families it does not representative how real working families relationships. It gives the viewers a fabricated interaction,

Television is an object that has shaped American lives for many years. Television has a positive effect on American families. Television is one of the multifarious items that influences human lives heavily nowadays. Watching television is an advantage as it provides a lot. For instance, television is educational. Television is also entertaining. Lastly, television is a necessary object for American families as it provides shows and aspects that families rely on laboriously to survive.

A major research concern for behavioral psychologists and sociologists today circles an integral part of the American family routine and life. Something that has become so inset into homes that it would be rare to find one without it. Research has shown a hidden danger lurking in our homes, and the origin may surprise you. Television has been around since the early 1950’s but behaviorists have just recently begun to start studying the effects these machines may have on children, social interaction and families. Research has begun to show negative consequences of television on children’s development and socialization proving that it does reduce and affect social interaction.

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,