Introduction
Television is undoubtedly the cheapest form of entertainment. It plays a huge role in our lives in terms of education, information and entertainment. In spite of the positive impact television brings, it has its down side as well. Hundreds of scientific research have pointed out that there exists a strong link between real-life violence and media violence, especially in children. However, the entertainment industry has distanced itself from such findings probably because they do not want to tarnish their image. The children tend to normalize the violence they view on television and try to apply it to solve challenges they face in their lives. (Gerbne & Gross 172–194)
Depending on how these new technologies are used, the results can be meaningful or destructive, for example, it has been reported that people watching a movie or playing a video game that has some elements of violence have been reported to have portrayed these same traits in their homes or schools. Scientifically, it is said that the aggression of children goes through stages. At the age of 2-4 years, their aggression is geared to material things in their environment rather than people. As they approach the age of 6-7, children tend to control their emotional rage. Children who watch television between the ages of two and four are deprived the chance to better social and emotional skills. At this age, it is recommended that children should be close to their parents for proper cognitive and brain development.
It is believed by many parents, babysitters and teachers, that children like watching television. But this is entirely false. The truth is that given other choices such as building blocks, play dough, imaginative games and puzzles to solve, children can shift their focus from the violent media they are exposed to, to such brain development activities. The WWE and WWF wrestling fights are not helping at all. They only serve as reinforcement that violence is good. The knockings, opponent hurting and mad jumping sends out strong signals to young and immature minds that fighting is a lot of fun.
The way this technology is expressed virtually has a big effect on the manner the persons viewing it behaves in the real world, for example one is likely to behave the same way certain characters they are fond of are displayed. This therefore undoubtedly shows that violent media shows can result to aggression.
There is no single risk factor that can cause a person to behave aggressively, but accumulation of other factors too. It has been portrayed that children who watch violent movies or television shows turn out to be aggressive later in life. People’s brains have nodes that are clustered with brain cells that are able to identify things also identifying from the ones that were known before. They are normally activated when one thing is experienced for long. This is demonstrated through continuous viewing of violent movies or playing of games that are violent in nature. When this happens these experiences become strongly connected forming memories, feelings or concepts. This is later depicted as behavior in a person that is normally characterized by aggression. Consequently, as people become accustomed to violent episodes activation of the nodes is inevitable producing behavior associated with violence or aggression. This is also shown when one is insulted, whereby one tries to handle the matter the way their preferred character handled it. This has led to a loss of autonomy and moral judgment. As a result aggression ensues.
Some people have come out by committing crimes using the same methods either used in a video game or seen in a movie; hence copycat crimes. In the case of video games the player tends to take sides with the aggressor, becoming so aggressive by possessing the traits of the character that they take. This significantly increases the chances of this player putting into practice the revered attributes of the aggressor, hence the behavior change leading to aggression. During the playing of the games, vices such being ruthless, merciless and aggressive are rewarded with points therefore players take them to be the perfect way to handle situations.
The games played or movies watched should not be used as an excuse for picking up fights but people should be held accountable for their actions. Human beings are shaped as they grow up through the thing that they do, things that they come into contact with and people that they interact with. As such, through the experiences learnt as they grow up is hard to part from them. That is why parenting is very important when it comes to choosing the appropriate form of entertainment, especially the video games being played and movies that are watched (Singer, Dorothy & Singer 675). That is the main reason as to why the Televisions have tried to provide Channels that are all inclusive and provide appropriate advice accordingly. The people following violent media take media characters as their role model especially when violent actions are portrayed as acceptable. This makes the players or even the audience to change their attitudes and beliefs regarding reality of being aggressive. This result to change in how one feels, acts and consequently how they perceive and do things. Too much watching of movies or playing of video games can make the participant to behave more aggressively because one is unable to recognize the violence since according to them, it is their way of doing things, and the only way getting things done is through violence.
The influence of television on a reading culture.
Together with other forms of modern media, television has immensely contributed to erosion of reading culture in children. Libraries were once a societal treasure. They were part and parcel of humanity, but now they aren’t. Children hardly visit bookstores and libraries because they perceive book reading for leisure as tedious, boring and a waste of time. The time that could have been spent drooling over books is directed to watching television, video games and other modern cutting age technology of the 21st century (Mokhtari, Reichard & Gardener 609). According to Mokhtari et al study, there exist gross inconsistencies in reading habits between the reading habits of college students and that shown in elementary and middle schools. Electronic media, particularly television is to blame. This is because it replaces human companionship. Participation in outdoor activities is equally substantially reduced. Addition to this, television watching replaces activities which promote school performance. Such activities include reading, take home assignments, hobbies and enough sleep. According to National Television Violence Study (NTVS), children who do a lot of watching increase the chance of dropping out of school and decrease the chances of getting a college education.
Influence of television on children’s attitude towards themselves and others
Certain stereotypes tend to resonate well with children. This is because their immature minds cannot process the information television imparts on them. According to their innocent brains, whatever they watch is 100% true. For instance, non-whites are stereotyped when they are shown on television. In addition to this, bias on gender roles are likely to be imprinted in children’s minds as displayed in movies and television programs.. The disproportionate representation of women is another thing that affects how children can view themselves and others. Thin females are given preference over their overweight and obese female counterparts in terms of news anchorage, commercials and movie stars. In the event that a child is overweight or obese, psychological torture is likely to affect them. This is because television presents overweight and obese persons as less attractive.
During the 1990s, televised commercials portrayed white Americans as macho and strong and white female as being weak and sexually appealing objects. African American males were depicted as being aggressive whereas their female counterparts were portrayed as inconsequential in any of their activities. Children watching television at the time would not have stopped to view and fit themselves into the race and gender categories they belonged.
Parents try to find solace in G-rated materials to safeguard their children’s view of themselves, others and the world at large. This has not yielded the intended results either. In such movies whether it is live action or animated episodes, males feature more than females in the ration of 3:1 (Mok TA 185-202). There are no harmonious relationships and peaceful solving of problems and disputes. Similarly, racial character representation is hardly balanced. Characters of color are lowly represented. More often than not, in episodes where they appear, they are assigned side kick, bad guy or comic traits. Contrary to statistics, many music video clips misrepresent facts by depicting black male characters to be aggressive and oppressive over white male characters (Rich, Woods, Goodman & DuRant 669-74)
Television and Health
Television is known to affect children’s health in different ways. Ads and commercial on television have been declared a public health concern for some time now. This is because much of the information that they receive is not checked but is mostly written by the TV personalities who most of the time are not specialized in what they purport to be saying. Since children are generally unable to critically synthesize the information they receive from these health ads, in most cases they are compelled to take it as the absolute truth without question. This is often translated to health behavior that can adversely affect their health status, for example, in instances where junky foods are portrayed as being superior and a source of enormous health benefits.
Children who watch TV in most of their time spent less time in playing or exercise. Also in the course of TV watching, they engage in eating of unhealthy snacks such as popcorns and crisps. This means that whatever energy they consume, much of it is stored due to physical inactivity. This is the major factor that has exposed many children to childhood overweight and obesity which later in life translates to adulthood obesity (Lumeng et al 417-22) With this unnecessary weight gain comes a lot of health risks that ranges from hyperlipidemia, diabetes, renal disorders, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. When children are watching their favorite TV programs, they tend to eat more food unconsciously than when they are not watching. On the other hand some of them become more disinterested with eating when their preferred program time coincides with meal times. This means that they are bound to eat less food than their daily energy and nutrient requirements; this makes them very susceptible to Under nutrition.
Watching TV is also implicated in the disruption of the children’s sleeping patterns since some programs go past the normal sleeping times of the kids making them stay awake for longer hours than they are normally used to (Thompson et al 851-6). This same problem experienced during childhood are also likely to emerge on the adulthood.
Positive influences of television
Despite the negative reputation, if used in moderation, it can be a learning tool for children and adults alike. Scientifically, it is argued that TV can broaden children’s vocabulary, improve arithmetic and musical skills. Proponents of television argue that it also widens viewer’s imagination. If monitored well, it can help young children and teenagers to cope with everyday disappointment in their lives secondary to death, new siblings and migration and many more. Examples of educative programs are Super Why, Sesame Street, and Little Einsteins. These programs have been designed to educate children as well as entertain them.
Let’s use another school of thought to promote television, shall we? Imagine television as an ocean with a vast expanse of entertainment, knowledge, danger and violence. Just like the ocean, television is entertaining, educational with immeasurable beauty. However, in every circumstance, danger always lurks behind the innocent and beautiful things surrounding us.
Exploration of places and phenomena that children can never access has been made possible with the use of television. For instance, if a child wants to visit a given continent he or she can watch programs covering the culture of the place. Television can be a good source of entertainment and alleviate boredom. It makes people feel connected without necessarily leaving the house. Many of the world’s most popular games are televised to promote athletes’ popularity. Children can follow animated programs on play station which helps sharpen their minds as they learn new skills regarding their favorite program.
In terms of information, television keeps us informed on a day to day basis. In the contemporary society, it is the most basic means of acquiring plenty of information regarding education, religion, politics and science. Latest news on world affairs is conveyed through television.
Conclusion
In spite of the significant role played by television in adult life such as entertainment, a source of information and carrier of news, it can have potential long term damaging impacts in the lives of children. As discussed in the in this paper, watching of dangerous and unmonitored television programs can lead to violence because the children tend to mimic their heroic characters as shown in the programs. It has also been linked to erosion of reading culture among the children as they don’t visit libraries. Television is also the culprit responsible for the negative ways in which children view themselves, others and the world at large. It is in this light that the author discourages uncensored television in children.
Work cited
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