Children And TV
Children and adolescence's spend almost 22-28 hours per week
watching
television. This is a sad fact because this is the largest amount of
hours spent
on any activity in your child's life, aside from sleeping.
Television has a
large influence on children's attitudes, ideas, and
behaviors. Teens witness
10,000 murders, rapes and aggravated assaults
per year on TV, and four out of
five Americans believe that violence on
television directly contributes to the
way children view violence. When
children watch TV, they see other made up
families, who deal with their
problems different from how anyone else would.
Children assume that this
is how there life should be. We should teach out
children about the reality
of TV because Television can affect the way a child
acts, thinks, and feels
about different issues such as violence,
education/morality, and
gender/racial stereotypes TV glorifies violence and
weapons, and teaches
children that the easiest way of resolving problems is
through violence.
Children's programs such a Power Rangers or The X-Men portray
world-saving
heroes that children look up to and admire. They assume that if the
strong,
invincible heroes are around, the world is a safe place to be where they
are
free form harm. When really, they don't understand these characters
don't
exist and can't save them or the world from those that would hurt them.
Parents
must teach their children that these people are not real, don't
exist, can't
save the world, that it isn't possible for anyone to do this on
their own, and
that at one time or another, everyone needs someone's help. TV
programs such as
these shows also can frighten children too. They may be
frightened by the ugly,
strong villains. We must teach children that all
villains are not scary,
powerful or ugly but they do try to fool people,
young and old. It is very easy
for children to lose their own sense of
reality while watching shows that
contain violence. They must be taught
otherwise and how to be smart about TV and
what they are watching. Shows like
Sesame Street and Mister Rogers Neighborhood
have been around since 1969. Not
only that, these shows are very educational
programs designed for children.
If children watch these types of shows, they
will also try to portray their
favorite heroes such as the Power rangers except
now with no violence. A
child's reaction all depends on what they are exposed
to. The age of the
child also plays a large factor on how a program teaches
these children. For
example, viewing Sesame street at the age of 3-3 1/2 has a
positive effect on
a child's vocabulary. Ages 5-7 require vocabulary at a higher
level than what
is shown on sesame street. The effects of educational programs
depend on
variables such as: a parents education, the family size, the sex of
the
child, and parental attitudes. Television also plays a strong role on
a
child's developing morality. Children who watch TV programs that affect
their
morality such as Jerry springier may tend to have a higher pregnancy or
criminal
rate than others who don't watch the same shows. The nature of this
kind of
show, and their air times are also problems because then children are
able to
watch these shows without parental explanation to what they are
seeing. These
show affect adults as well. If an adult can't handle them, how
can children be
expected to? When children watch TV, they are strongly
influenced by racial
stereotypes. Even though it's changed greatly over the
past decades, black
people are usually still depicted negatively, as
criminals or as the victims.
This has a great affect on a child of that
race. When people of their own race
do not appear on television, these
children may feel as though they are not
important in society. They may
discover that it is hard to find am appropriate
role model of their on
culture, this can result in a negative effect on their
developing
self-esteem. There should be people of all races included in TV
programs
interacting with each other, rather than show Exclusively of white
people or
shows exclusively of black people. Television Also affects children's
gender
stereotypes. Males are typically depicted as Being more powerful, a
competent
than females. They are also shown in Stereotypical occupations,
whereas women
are largely portrayed as sex objects. In order to help resolve the
problems
on TV, there are many steps parents can take to avoid them: they can
limit TV
viewing by teaching children not to depend on TV as they're only source
of
entertainment. Parents should limit viewing to 1-2 hours per day, and
teach
them to spend time talking or playing. You can also monitor what your
child is
watching, by watching TV and movies with your children and by
discussing what is
being seen, Teach your child that violence on TV is not
real and explain that in
reality, people, including children are hurt and
killed by guns. Children must
be guided into doing the right thing by their
parents instead of watching the
violence shown on TV because it shows how it
is okay to use force to solve their
problems. TV also gives the impression to
children that education is not needed
in order to succeed in life, and that
stereotypes are also shown to be
considered that there is no harm in teasing
others that are different from
themselves and different from what is the
accepted normality of society.