Television a Tool for Education or a Harmful Obstacle
Television is it a tool for education or a distraction that is an obstacle? Television is often blamed for having a harmful effect on children. Is this true or is it a hoax, there has been repeated studies and theory’s on the effects of TV on children and adults.
Television was designed for entertainment and to relax and to inform the masses. Back in the 1900s TV was a rare item in a house hold but. According to the website Salon.com “Sociologist Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone (2000)” reported that in 1950, about 10 percent of American homes had television sets, but this has grown to more than 99 percent over the 50 years. Nearly every home in the United States has a TV set inside their home. Putnam also reported that the number of TVs in the average U.S. household had grown to 2.25 sets, with 66 percent of households having three or more sets; the TV set is turned on in the average U.S. home for seven hours a day; two-thirds of Americans’ regularly watch TV during dinner; and about 40 percent of Americans’ leisure time is spent on television.” Time that could be spent on more productive activities, especially when it applies to small children.
TV can harm the child however it has been used as an educational tool as well. The creation of one of the first educational programs was Sesame Street, with Elmo and his friends. This program entertained children and was equally educational giving important lessons about math,
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.
In a study done by Huston et al. (1989), it was found that television was the center of the majority of children’s time and attention. This particularly applied to children in low-income and minority families who did not have the financial resources to provide other activities and media sources to occupy their children’s time. This article stated that television has an impact on children in three main ways: as an educator, a source for social learning and a way to advertise and sell products. The article also discussed many of the public
According to Winn, television is not 'bad' because programs are violent or have no redeeming educational value (although this is frequently the case). The danger is that watching television is addictive as a form of passive entertainment, and crowds out other, more challenging ways for children to have fun. Instead of reading, children watch TV. Instead of playing outside, children watch TV (and do harm to their health by eating high-fat, high-calorie snack foods). Instead of connecting meaningfully with family and friends, they stare at a screen. And, of course, schoolwork often
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 plays a very important role in everyday life. As children grow and develop, they can be influenced by what they see and hear.
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 negative effects of television are huge. To minimize the potential negative effects of television, it's important to understand what the impact of television can be on children.
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.
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 does not develop as well when they have television in the background while they are playing. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teen pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to too much Television and video games become socially awkward and have trouble interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly which is leading to shows that should be blocked
Technology throughout the past 30-40 years has become more advanced and accessible than ever. The television specifically has developed extremely since its beginning. What started off as a single camera caption, has developed into a full fledge worldwide availability. Within the United States, the TV is a normal everyday object common in households, hotels, schools, and even restaurants. There are approximately 118.4 million household in the United States that own a television set ( The Number of TV Households in the United States from season 2000-2001 to season 2016-2017 (in millions)).However, the increased amount of time spent watching TV has had a tremendous impact on people, especially kids. The differences in generations throughout the development of the TV has led to many questions, all revolving around whether or not the televisions has had a good or negative impact pertaining to children. Time spent watching television affects the brain, ability to learn, and skill levels in different areas (source. In the book “Last Child in The Woods,” Richard Louv discusses how children in the 1940’s would watch out the window at the scenery and have conversations, while children now sit and watch a movie on a flip-down video screen without knowledge to the outside world (Louv 16-17).
Some people believe that things such as televison, computers, and cell phones have a negative effect on children while others believe that in the long run they have no real effect. In my opinion watching too much televison is not good for children in the long run and can cause many problems for you in the future.
In contrast, television gives children the following benefits: Number one children have programming called TPT that shows that teach every day the children can behave a good manner. Different shows “Thomas and his friends”, “Sesame in street”, “Odd squad” and other programs are good for children. Also, parents can get more information about their young children's development from television. For example, programs teach about physical development like when they show children doing more exercise, social studies like how they show playing with each other and cognitive development like learning how to solve social interpersonal.
Television is a big part of today’s society. Everybody watches television, including the children. There is a potential problem with letting children watch television. Ask this question, would someone let their own child watch some of the programming that they watch, too? Some of these programs are intended for the adult generation, not young children. Violence has a major role in television these days. Letting children watch this violence could corrupt their minds and eventually lead to bad behavior. There needs to be a limitation on the types of television programming that parents let their children watch, because violence in television can negatively affect children.
To add, it harms a child's development issues because it gives off artificial encouragement to the senses. A child's vision can be harmed because of the quick movement of the images, and hearing can be impaired because of poor sound features. The overall aspect of it is, children learn better from interactive learning and experiencing emotions, talking to loved ones, and making friends to play with. With a television they get none of that, instead they develop short attention spans because of the various thins they "learn" in one sitting ("Television...").