Introduction
The term television addiction is not a term to be taken lightly. This is a very serious issue which should be given a lot of weight. Television addiction can be just like drug addiction. Therefore, television addiction is a case whereby people watch television more often than other people do.to determine drug addiction we observe that a person take time trying to reduce the intoxicant while committing less time to his/her peers and other people. This is aimed at dedicating much of the time in taking the drug; hence, this is the case that applies to a television addict.
There are many cases that lead a child to television addiction. Firstly, feelings of loneliness can lead a person to watching television. Research have shown that once a person turns on the television he immediately becomes relaxed but when he turns it off, he starts feeling the urge to watch it again. Like a drug addict, who feels relaxed after having his drug but he misses it feels some boredom. Researches have revealed that on average, children between the age of 2-5 spent an average of 32 hours in a week watching television. These figures are shocking because this only applies to watching television at home and not using computers at school and phones during their free time. The trend goes down as their ages moves up due to the fact that they are at school and hence most of their time is devoted to learning.by the way, television does not cause any problem to the child but the act of watching it is the initial cause of the addiction. Many children who watch television are doing it at the time that they were supposed to be playing with other children or staying with their relatives.as per the traditions, children of those age brackets, are supposed to be doing their homework and playing with other children (Boyse, Kyla 2010 p.25).
Scientists have also observed that children who spent most of their times watching television are most likely to be obese. It is also observed that they view the world to be very scary since they watch programs that are accompanied by violence. This addiction does not end with time and thus can cause permanent problems. For example, those children do not get good grades in their schooling because they spent most of their times watching instead of reading. Television addicts, who watch programs that are accompanied by sexual issues, are easily driven to indulge in that issues.in that connection, one will either become pregnant if she is a lady or make someone pregnant if he is a man. Kids whose average age is between 6-11 spend on average 28 hours in a week watching television which is slightly lower than the 2-5 age brackets. Children need time to play with others and some exposure to sunlight. Therefore, addiction is not a complication in the health of a child. When children are allowed more than an hour in watching television, they are easily going to get an addition to it. Some researchers argue that television is like a ‘drug’ since it alters the minds of children and makes them inactive (Dowshen, Steven 2013 p. 32). A human brain can easily be manipulated by its environment and therefore it can easily adapt to television watching amongst children. Television watching can make children dull. This can be easily revealed by the fact that your children can easily stare at you when you send them. This shows that they are either inactive or not listening to you. Parents can be a driving force to television addiction amongst children.
Parents who like using smartphones in front of children can make them addicted to computer screens. This is considered to be carelessness and not assuming responsibility as a parent. Some scientists have argued that television should be used to make children busy but should be burned and the children introduced to other leisure activities. Taking a lot of time watching television by children can cause blood pressure as well as high cholesterol contents in the body.it can also lead to low performance in math and reading since they don’t use any of their time doing revision. This problem can be caused by consuming too much food and not doing any exercise and also the effects of too much concentration on something.
Children, even if not addicted to technology, they tend to overuse technology at many times. The modern ways where children have their own televisions in their rooms is the contributing factor to children addiction to television viewing. This is because there is no control to their viewing by their parents. Technology is making people to stay away from friends and family members and hence making people to be self-centered.at times, children can be found fighting over the choice of program to be watched since everybody prefers their choice to be watched. These issues have created enemity amongst children. Children have changed their ways of living and their behaviors. They have adopted some unusual character since they want to behave like those in the various programs they watch.
Television addiction is the complete expression of the child increased interest in the hours of television views whether program s or movies that make a child spend a much time as possible viewing television channels. An addiction is characterized by total number of views per day as a regular viewer (New York Times, 2010 p. 27)
There are several reasons behind the addiction of children to television viewing. Children who spend a lot of time indoors and lots of lonely moments end up turning in television and technological zombies spending a lot of their times viewing telesion and mass media. Majority of the children would focus on their addiction rather than social interaction and relations (New York Times, 2010). This situation is worse for adolescence addict who usually turn to the mass media for information, models and solace. Majority of the people are now sharing their problems via the social media and the solutions they get from peers is worrying. (New York Times, 2010 p.41)
Majority of the adolescence now find their lovers via social media and this has escalated immorality in society and has seen young children as young as twelve posting their nude photographs online to impress the other sex. This has led to increased cyber sex and crime in general. There is an increased in kidnappings and other related cyber crimes to children. Children who watch much television becomes addicted to some programmes that have an impact in their lives. Children who watch violent television programs are highly likely to develop violent in their social life.
Some animated television programs are likely to lead to certain addictions in children. Majority of the children are in modeling stage of life and are not fully psychologically to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Children who watch such animated videos and television programs end up adopting such characteristics (Dowshen, Steven 2013 p. 49). Some programs are characterized with scenes of drug abuse and sexual obscenity which affects children’s life. Such children are likely to develop an early addiction to drugs as their favorite stars on television.
However there are several solutions for helping children overcome their television addiction programs. Some children recommend a no screen week for the children in which television viewing would be prohibited to children for a whole week whether it’s physical viewing or online viewing via their gadgets. This will enable children to replace their addiction with reproductive activities for the good of their health. Parents should help their children spend most of their times outdoors and get enough of sunlight which is very good for their health and for detoxification of their system (Huffington Post). Parents can also be in charge of what children watch or which television programs they are viewing. Parents can also replace junk programs with public broadcasting ones and educative programs. Parents can also spent time watching television with children and helping them to view useful programs that contain no violence content (Dowshen, Steven 2013).
Child education on the useful consumption of educative and innovative contents should be part of the parent program to the kid. Those already suffering an addiction should be introduced to guidance and counseling and should slowly be weaned of the habit. (Boyse, Kyla 2010 p 67). Parents can also liaise with parents of the child’s friends in order to reduce peer influence on the child by the unrestricted friends influence on the restricted friends. This is due to fact that a child easily succumbs to peer pressure and the coordination of the two parents to control media consumption so as to make sure one child does not feel discriminated. The government can also pass legislations that protect child consumption of media and television contents. (Boyse, Kyla 2010 p.89)
The legislation that protects the child against consumption of unsuited content should be incorporated into law (Boyse, Kyla 2010). The government should pass legislations that requires television producers and other producers of video contents to label their materials whether they are suited for consumption by the children or those who are under eighteen years of age. The law should also require that all the television programs in public television sites should also screened to determine whether they are suited for consumption by children. Teachers at school and preachers in church should take advantage of these forums to educate children on the need to consume good television and media contents that impact positively on their lives and those that build on social morals.
Works Cited
Boyse, Kyla. "Television and Children: Your Child." The University of Michigan Health System, Aug 2010. Web. 28 Apr 2013.
Dowshen, Steven (Reviewer) "How TV Effects Your Child" KidsHealth.org, (16 Oct 2011). Web. 28 Apr 2013.
Goleman, Daniel. "How Viewers Grow Addicted To Television" New York Times (Online), 16 Oct 1990. Web. 28 Apr 2013.
Groshol, John. "The Debilitating Effects of TV on Children" PsychCentral.com, 27 Sep 2009. Web. 28 Apr 2013.
Henley, Kari. "Detox Your Kids from Screen Addiction" Huffington Post (Online), 23 May, 2010. Web. 28 Apr 2013.
Kubey, R., Csikszentmihalyi, M. "Television Addition is No Mere Metaphor." Scientific American Special Edition.14 (2004)
"Children and Television Addiction" OnlineParentingCoach.com, Sep 2011. Web. 28 Apr 2013.
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