The Effects Of Television On Children 's Children

Television plays a very important role in everyday life. As children grow and develop, they can be influenced by what they see and hear.

In the article, The Trouble with Television, Robert Macneil describes his viewpoint on the negative effects of television. He states that “by the age of 20, you will have watched 20,000 hours of television.” The author believes that we waste time that could be used to do more productive things. According to the article, in that time you could have “learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer or be fluent in several different languages.” Another opinion of the author is that Television is one of the main factors of illiteracy. He says that “some 30 million Americans are functionally illiterate, and cannot even understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.”

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).

“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.

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.

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.

Does television make you smarter? Well, it does all but that unless you’re watching educational shows of course. Television is a large part of the American society and has influenced us tremendously. It unites others to watch, it helps commercialize for companies, entertains, it excites, it makes time go by, and even can make you obese. It is very hard to avoid and easily addicting.

“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.

With the advancement in technology it has become common for infants, toddlers, and young children to be exposed to electronics such as televisions, computers, and videogames for hours at a time. Environmental factors affect children in significant ways. The effects the media and screen time children are revealed to influence their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Television and media can both hinder and encouraging their growth. It is important for guardians, caregivers, teachers, whomever has a child they look after or care for, to make accommodations to construct the best possible environment for children to flourish in. At such a young age, these young humans are like sponges, they absorb much of what surrounds them. Because of this, the importance of trying to make it possible that they are mainly witnessing things helpful to the development of the child and thereby, benefiting them later in life.

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

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

With the major advancements and globalization of technology, televisions have made their way into the homes of many citizens; nearing 1.4 billion households. In the United States alone, 96.7 percent of the American population’s homeowners own a television set (Selter, 2011). In one way or another, T.V. will affect the majority of people. This is an important piece of information to recognize, as the T.V. show producers have a tremendous way to reach people. Their influence could be beneficial or harmful. However, one should bear in mind that, while television can have negative effects when not consumed in reasonable amounts, like anything, it can in fact make one smarter, as opposed to the common belief that television has dumbed down society.

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

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.