The Effects Of Television On Children 's Brain

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

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).

Statistics show that screen time negatively affects children’s learning abilities and development. “The effects of so much screen time can include speech delays, aggressive behavior and obesity.” (Lavey) Since parents play a role in how much television their kids can watch, they can minimize the chances of their brains not developing correctly. “The first 2 years of life are considered a critical time for brain development. TV and other electronic media can get in the way of exploring, playing, and interacting with parents and others, which encourages learning and healthy physical and social development.” (Kids Health) Children do

“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. shows that are too mature for a child will cause the child to act out at a younger age. The more violent shows that a child views will cause the kid to have more violent tendencies. Statistics show that children who watch educational programs accelerate at a faster rate with learning than children who watch television just for entertainment. Children should not watch more television than recommended by physicians. The first two years of a child’s life is considered a critical time for brain development. Too much television gets in the way of a child’s social, physical,and mental development. Parents should monitor the amount of time their child spends watching television and the shows they watch.

Is television making your child smart enough to read this research paper? Is Sesame Street teaching Little Tommy how to spell “dog”? When you watch a children 's television program you understand most of the content and lessons. Good for you. It’s made for children and you’re an adult. However, are the children able to grasp these lessons and is it affecting their social behaviors? The history of children 's programming shows an increase in quality programming and new content for children is constantly being made with networks like Nickelodeon announcing more than 650 episodes of new and returning series in 2016/2017. You can take a child outside, throw a stick, and yell “fetch,” however the average amount of television a child consumes is increasing and affecting the amount of reading time and outdoor time a child gets. However, the time they spend indoors watching television might actually be improving their education. Although a lot of research shows that television can have a negative effect on a child 's psychological development, if regulated and selective it can positively influence a child’s academic skills, the perception of the world, and overall knowledge.

This view is supported by Webster-Stratton who described television as “rendering children passive” and referred to research indicating that excessive exposure to television and computers “place children at risk for harmful effects on their physical, social and psychological development”. As a way of mitigating this, she suggests watching television or computer games with the child in order to address any issues that might arise or to identify inappropriate content (2006, p234-236).

Some previous studies have suggested a longitudinal association between attention problems and early television viewing. However, Lillard and Peterson’s famous study has provided us an explanation of the relationship between the different types of television shows and young children’s executive function. They predicted the possibility of shot-term negative effects of television watching coming from its long-term impact on attention focusing even for adults. In addition, they noticed that the fast-paced shows seem to insert a stronger negative impact on either children or adults by “capturing attention in a bottom-up fashion.” (P2, middle left) Thus, they formed a hypothesis saying that compared to a slower-paced educational cartoon or self-paced activity such as drawing, a fast-paced cartoon show would have a more negative impact immediately on children’s executive functioning, a strong assessment associated with success in school. (P2, bottom left)

Many factors can affect a child’s ability to focus and TV can be a big one. Numerous studies have been conducted on the effects of screen media on infants and toddlers and if TV has a negative effect on toddlers because of the distraction it can cause. Many times people assume that because they are watching a show or just simply leaving a TV on, that it does not affect the child’s ability to focus on a task. To find the effects of background television, Pempek, Kirkorian, and Anderson created a research with the hypothesis that caregivers assume that background TV has little or no effect because very young children do not appear to pay attention to it.

The further time a kid spends watching television, the larger their brains grow. That seems great, although apparently this is considered unhealthy for them. A recent Japanese study reveals that as kids between ages 5 through 18 spend, on average, two hours of watching TV per day, certain areas of their brains were growing. The rise in brain volume of these kids was linked to a fall in their verbal IQ. However, the data in this study was not clear if TV watching caused this (Sanders). While this study needs further elaboration and should be

Television affects the learning of children because it causes attention spans. As identified, “Kids who watch a lot of TV have trouble paying attention to teachers because they are accustomed to the fast-paced visual stimulation on TV,” (Raise Smart

Is it good for children to watch television all day? For some families television has had a positive influence on their young children. For example, parents considers their children are smart due to watching television, however, they don’t understand that too much of television has its’ impediment on the child’s cognitive development. According to Christakis et al (2004 as cited in Alloway et al., (2013) in a research conducted it was revealed that children ranging from age one to three years old who watched a great

Children have become much more interested watching TV over many years and it has become a primary action to some

Children have become much more interested watching TV over many years and it has become a primary action to some