Media and entertainment industry is one of the fast growing industries throughout history. It has the largest target market and most of its programs – whether in TV or the internet – is never without audience. As seen in modern society, the media industry has already targeted even those under the 0-to-2 year age group – as predicted in the 1999 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement (American Academy of Pediatrics 1040). Study shows that the common setup of American homes today is that one-third of the children have television in their rooms. Some parents believe that TV programs are educationally beneficial to their children, while others do not.
It must be realized that in growing up with television, viewers are more likely to perceive the “real world” though the lens of television (Bryant and Oliver 35). The discussion of the media effects upon infants are taken in light of cognitive and language development. One study concludes that the infants’, aging between birth and 2 years, exposure to television is neither beneficial nor deleterious to cognitive and language abilities under certain marital conditions and setting at home (Schmidt et al. e374). But one study points that in watching programs such as “Sesame Street”, 2 study attests that it has negative effects and 2 other studies affirm that there is no evidence of benefit (American Academy of Pediatrics 1041). The effects are not so much critical since it does not fit in yet with the current cognitive ability of the age group. Likewise, this suggests that it does not promote language skills to infants, unlike with those 3 years of age and above.
The issue at hand is the peril of making such exposure a habit. Parents viewed this practice as a peacekeeper at home, allowing them to do other responsibilities (American Academy of Pediatrics 1040) while their children are left on their own in front of the TV. But cultivating such habit will manifest its effects in later years. First, the children will not learn to spend time wisely. Second, children will be used to such orientation in learning (in case the TV program is educational). In reality, the teacher at school does not look like Barnie, and the letters in the classroom are not moving as they are in TV programs. Third, children will not learn self control and self denial. Having a habit is hard to break. Children may insist on watching TV instead of doing other responsible activities.
Television programs provided are not fully responsible for this, but parents are. No business provider will provide without the customers. Whatever the TV program is, children’s exposure should be limited. Consequently, parents should keenly watch over them and guide them, instead of leaving them on their own. In this way, as they grow up, children will be responsible with how long and what they should watch.
Works Cited
American Academy of Pediatrics. “Media Use by Children Younger than 2 Years”. PEDIATRICS 128.5 (2011): 1040-1045. Print.
Bryant, Jennings and Mary Oliver. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
Schmidt et al. “Television Viewing in Infancy and Child Cognition at 3 Years of Age in a US Cohort”. PEDIATRICS 123.3 (2009): e370-e375. Print.
