The world has come to an age wherein technology touches at least one (if not all) aspects of our lives. It has developed at a terrifyingly fast rate that the sky is no longer the limit—indeed the reaches of technology have already gone beyond this and have achieved entry into outer space. While the advantages of advanced technology are seemingly endless, it certainly has its drawbacks as well. Take, for instance, the television, or commonly called the TV. There has been divided opinion on the effects of television on people, especially young children since it became a popular household appliance in the early 1950s. This paper will try to evaluate the risks television could pose for young children and analyze if these risks outweigh possible benefits.
Television is a conduit for information of all kinds. People rely on it for work, interest, learning, or for simple viewing pleasure. However, it is this continuous stream of information that makes TV viewing a double-edged sword, especially when children are involved. Many debates and concerns have been raised regarding television viewing in young children, and there are numerous research studies about how it influences children's development, behavior, and overall health.
In the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued guidelines on how much time children could spend watching television. The organization suggests that children below two years of age should not be allowed to watch television at all, as the first two years of a child's life is very critical for brain development. Children older than two years should only be allowed one to two hours of quality programs a day. Moreover, the AAP stated that no children should be allowed to have a television inside the bedroom (AAP 423). However, it is apparent that this is not the usual scenario in the average household. In fact, children in the United States aged eight to 18 years old spend approximately four and a half hours a day watching TV. Moreover, seven out of ten children have a television in their bedrooms (Rideout 2).
There are many risks in letting children watch TV unsupervised or in excessive amounts of time. First is the negative impact of television on children’s cognitive skills, especially attention span. The most common argument is that the frequent changes in scenes and content interfere with the child's ability to sustain attention (Kirkorian et al. 45). Simply put, fast-paced television programs seem to shorten children's attention span. Moreover, children who started watching TV early on could later develop symptoms of attention disorder (Jusoff 152). Consequently, this could lead to poor academic performance in school. However, the studies did not take into account the content of the TV programs children watched. Indeed, a recent correlational study found that early exposure to violent and non-educational programs associated positively with later symptoms of attention deficit. Meanwhile, exposure to educational television did not relate to any attention problems (Zimmerman and Christakis 986). A child’s imagination is also said to be negatively affected by watching television. Children are not able to exercise their creativity when they become glued to TV screens. Children’s books author Roald Dahl even expressed his disapproval of the television through one of the characters in his book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The aptly named Mike Teavee personifies all the problems Dahl dislikes about the television, and in the book he also implores parents to get children to read books instead.
Increasing or excessive TV viewing is also implicated in childhood obesity. A number of mechanisms for this have been proposed, such as a decrease in physical activity, sleep deprivation, exposure to food advertisements and consumption of these foods, and higher calorie intake while watching television. Also, repeated exposure to advertisements could lead to materialistic tendencies, parent-child conflict and unhappiness (Bujizen and Valkenburg 437). A recent study involving over 200,000 adolescents and 77,000 children across 50 countries found a positive association between increased TV viewing time and body mass index (BMI) (Braithwaite et al. 1). Another study also found out that excessive TV viewing and having a TV in the bedroom are positively related to fat mass, waist circumference and subcutaneous adipose tissue (Staiano et al. 40).
Finally, television viewing has been associated with aggression or violence in children. TV shows tend to have aggressive behavior in many scenes, ranging from slight violence to depictions of rape and murder. Children can be quite impressionable and are at risk of emulating violent behaviors. In fact, there is a theory called Bandura social learning theory which states that most humans learn behavior through observation and that these observations will later on serve as a guide for action (Jusoff 154). Hence, young children will always have a tendency to imitate aggressive actions if they are continuously exposed to aggressive behaviors through the television. Moreover, when children become desensitized to violence through repeated depictions of violence in TV shows, they could have decreased emotional sensitivity to aggressive behaviors in real life situations.
Despite the risks television poses to young children, the trend of TV viewing still continues to rise, especially since we have other means of watching shows such as DVDs or electronic copies. Parents should still moderate their children’s TV viewing activities. Children below the age of two years do not benefit at all in watching TV and in some cases it could even be detrimental to their cognitive development. However, children above two years of age might benefit from watching the right kinds of programs. Children can learn from television programs designed to teach academic or social skills, such as Sesame Street or Blue’s Clues (Kirkorian 46-47). Thus, TV viewing should be monitored in terms of time and type of programs children watch.
In summary, like with any other technology, television has both its advantages and disadvantages. The problems associated with television such as aggressive behavior and decreased physical activity can also be extended to media in general. Parents must monitor their children’s television viewing habits in order to avoid the risks explored in the paper. Furthermore, parents or caretakers must always be actively participating in the child’s life. Television in itself is not bad, as children can learn a lot from educational programs, and it is a form of entertainment. However, there are a lot of possible risks that should not be ignored, especially for toddlers younger than two years (better safe not to expose them to television that early). Banning a child from watching TV might do more harm than good, as they would only seek out to do it more. Letting a child watch TV for too long is just as bad. Thus, the key here is everything in moderation.
Works Cited
American Academy of Pediatrics. "Children, Adolescents, and Television." Pediatrics 107.2 (2001): 423-426.
Braithwaite, I., A.W. Stewart, R.J. Hancox, et al. "The Worlwide Association between Television Viewing and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study." PLOS One 8.9 (2013): e74263.
Buijzen, M. and P.M. Valkenburg. “The effects of television advertising on materialism, parent-child conflict, and unhappiness: A review of research.” Applied Developmental Psychology 24 (2003): 437-456.
Jusoff, K. "Television and Media Literacy in Young Children: Issues and Effects in Early Childhood." International Education Studies 2.3 (2009): 151-157.
Kirkorian H.L., E.A. Wartella, and D.R. Anderson. "Media and Young Children's Learning." The Future of Children 18.1 (2008): 39-61.
Rideout, V.J., U.G. Foehr, and D.F. Roberts. Generation M2: media in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010.
Staiano, A.E., D.M. Harrington, S.T. Broyles, A.K. Gupta, and P.T. Katzmarzyk. "Television, Adiposity, and Cardiometabolic Risk in Children and Adolescents." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 44.1 (2013): 40-47
Zimmerman, F.J., and D. A. Christakis. “Associations between Content Types of Early Media Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems.” Pediatrics 120 (2007): 986–92.
