Over the course of the twentieth century, television has come to play a greater role in our daily lives. The variety of programs and channels on offer have increased dramatically while programming for children in particular has undergone considerable growth. Relatively recent reports indicate that children in the US between the ages of two and five watch over thirty hours of television per week on average (McDonough, 2009) and average viewing figures for children over two in the UK would seem to be roughly equal (Barkham, 2009). Perhaps more worryingly, in the US, children under two spend 1.2 hours a day watching TV. In recent years, a number of organizations and national governments have examined this issue and expressed their concerns on the matter. More specifically, the French government has banned TV aimed at children under three (Haeri & Kelly, 2012) while the Australian government has issued guidelines which advise against exposure to television for children under two (Barkham, 2009). Michelle Obama, the American first lady, has recently joined the debate, recommending that children under two should not be allowed to watch any television and that parents should carefully limit the amount of viewing done by the over-twos (Haeri & Kelly, 2012). Indeed, it seems that children’s television viewing time should be both reduced and carefully monitored, or even eliminated completely in the case of children under two because of the adverse effects it has on children’s behavior, educational development and health.
Rowell Huesmann et al. (2003) point out that violent television programs are popular with both children and adults because they are more exciting and engaging. They go on to cite research showing that violent TV shows are both cheaper to produce and easier to sell to foreign television networks (Rowell Huesmann et al., 2003). However, this violence can have a lasting negative effect on young children. As Eastman (2004) points out, children tend to copy behaviors that they see either in real life or on television. If they are exposed to examples of violent behavior as part of their television viewing, and particularly, if this violence is not seen to be punished, they are likely to copy this in later life (Eastman, 2004). He further explains that programs that show violence as humorous, for example cartoons, can make the problem bigger because it can make violence appear as fun. Bushman and Rowell Huesmann (2006) also point out that children who are repeatedly exposed to violent television programming, particularly where this violence is carried out by their TV heroes or role models, are likely to see this as normal and to become more aggressive as adults.
When young children are regularly exposed to more extreme violence, contained, for example, in news programs or adult films, they become desensitized and start to see this as normal or natural (Eastman, 2004). The danger here is not just whether they will become violent but even more importantly whether they will tolerate violence unquestionably. As Murray (2005) argues, children may become more willing to tolerate violence in their environment and society in later life without protesting or attempting to change the situation. Clearly then TV violence can have a serious effect on children’s behavior . There are various ways in which we can reduce or eliminate the possible negative effects of television violence on young children without completely eliminating television from their lives. One important step is to limit the amount of television that young pre-school children are allowed to watch, perhaps switching on the TV set for selected programs only (Eastman, 2004). Another way to mitigate the effects of violence is for parents to watch along with their offspring (Eastman, 2004). These solutions not only allow adults to monitor the levels of violence to which children are exposed, but also provide the opportunity to educate children about the unreal nature of television and the concept of acting.
With regard to educational development, children’s viewing habits seem to have a negative effect on language development especially for very young children. For instance, Anderson and Pempeck (2005) point to a number of studies which seem to indicate that children under two years of age who watch a lot of television have slower language development and learn fewer words. Surprisingly, this is true even where under-twos have been viewing programs designed to promote language development, such as Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer (Anderson and Pempeck, 2005). It may be that these programs are simply too advanced for very young children to benefit from. Another reason could be that in their first two years of life, children are only capable of learning from face-to-face interaction with adults (Barkham, 2009). Once again, this shows a need for television time to be reduced especially for these age groups, or at least for parents to be present and interact with their children in order to eliminate the adverse effects of television.
There would seem to be a clear link between increased time watching television and obesity in children (Dietz and Gortmaker, 1985; Swinburn and Shelly, 2008). This link may be due to three factors. First of all, increased television viewing can lead to increased food intake due to snacking. Interestingly, some studies have found that other activities involving electronic screens, such as internet surfing and video games, are not associated with obesity (Swinburn and Shelly, 2008), perhaps because these activities engage the hands in a way that television does not, making snacking less likely. Secondly, advertisements shown during children’s programs make the issue of snacking worse. As Dietz and Gortmaker (1984) explain, TV programs often promote food products, most of the time unhealthy food, and the programs themselves often include mentions of food. This may well encourage children to snack more while they watch. Finally, another related problem is the lack of physical activity due to watching television. Indeed, as children spend longer and longer watching television, they have less time to take part in play or sports activities which might allow them to burn off calories (Dietz and Gortmaker, 1985).
It is often argued that TV can have a positive effect on how young people see the world around them. Moeller (1996) discusses research which seems to indicate that television can affect our beliefs, attitudes and values. In her words, “television cultivates a common outlook or world view among its viewers” (p.4). As a result of seeing certain events on television, either positive or negative, people, both young and old, may tend to believe that these events are more “normal” (p.3). A further interesting theory is that certain high-quality television programs can have a far greater effect on attitudes and beliefs, possibly undoing some of the damage done by other programs. An example would be The Cosby Show, which shows a family of middle-class, sophisticated African Americans going about their daily lives and may counteract the negative images of black Americans which are shown in other television programs (Moeller, 1996).This view appears convincing at first. However, it should be pointed out that this depends very much on the type of program children are watching. As mentioned above, programs with violent content may be both more popular with children and cheaper to produce (Rowell Huesmann et al., 2003) which explains to some extent why they are increasingly common on television. This means that the high-quality programs are not the rule but the exception and, as a result, children are usually exposed to programs that can affect their behavior negatively. Overall, there seems to be a need for adult supervision of what children watch if they are to be exposed to the type of content which will bring about beneficial effects.
Many people are of the opinion that TV can have a positive effect on children’s literacy and language development. Indeed, a number of studies show that when children over the age of two watch well-designed educational shows such as Sesame Street, there is a positive effect on their language development (Anderson and Pempeck, 2005). This argument fails to consider the fact that the majority of TV programs are not designed with language development in mind. For this reason, adults should monitor to make sure that children over two watch programs that improve their language and avoid less appropriate content. Moreover, the presence of an adult, even when the program is educational and potentially beneficial, can increase its effect. For instance, Moeller (1996) points to a number of studies which show that adult co-viewers can have a considerable effect on how much children learn from educational programs. She indicates that the interaction between an adult and a child while watching educational television may be the most important factor in promoting development. It would seem, then, that the presence and active participation of an adult or carer is key if television viewing is to have a positive influence on children.
To sum up, television has become an increasingly pervasive presence in our lives. Not only has choice expanded dramatically for the adult viewer, but also for young children, whose extended periods of time spent in front of the screen is causing considerable concern. This essay has argued that there is an urgent need for this viewing time to be radically reduced and for parents to be aware what their children are watching. It has been further argued that TV viewing should be eliminated altogether for children under two years of age. Although some might claim that there are behavioral, educational and attitudinal benefits which television might offer, it is clear that unrestricted viewing can have a negative effect. Indeed, as previously discussed, over-exposure to television may well have seriously detrimental effects on the behavior, educational achievement and health of children. All evidence would indicate that television is here to stay. While it is clear that further research is required to fully assess its potentially harmful impact on the very young, there would already appear to be considerable evidence that parents, educators and possibly national governments need to closely examine the way our children use television if the negative effects are to be eliminated.
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