Have you ever wondered how television
effects your children? The average child
watches television 2 hours per week and most of this viewing is of violence or
sexual acts. During this time there is a
violent act shown every 6 minutes and on Saturday mornings there is 20 to 25
violent acts shown every hour on prime time t.v. especially in cartoons or
animated programs. So no matter what
your child is watching it is damaging their sense of imagination and
creativity. Now there is no need for
children to use their imagination and creativity anymore, television has even
taken that away from them.
In today's generation television has a
great influence on children. Unfortunately most of the programs watched by
children have a negative impact and give the wrong impression of what really
happens in everyday life. It also influences their development and their
behaviours. "In fact childhood
development experts say infants as young as 14 months old imitate behaviour
they see on t.v and children up to the age of 5 lack the cognitive ability to
distinguish fact from fantasy"(Internet; Children and television violence)
Therefore what they see on t.v is what they are most likely to imitate. Cartoons are even showing numerous acts of
violence and most of this violence is done by the "good guys". For example, Power Rangers; how do they get
rid of the bad guys? by fighting .
During the whole episode you see the "Rangers" kicking,
punching and attacking the bad guys.
Other shows like X-men, Sailor Moon, Looney Tones, and even Care Bears
show violence towards others. It's no
wonder children think it's okay to act this way when even their "Super
Heroes" who are supposed to be the good guys are hurting others. They see the good guys doing these things and
think it's appropriate.
I've notice even with my own cousin that
when he has finished watching an episode of Power Rangers he tends to get
aggressive and hyper-active. He copies
the exact same moves that the Power Rangers use. It's almost like he believes he is one of
them. He believes that when he punches
people or kicks them that it doesn't hurt because that's what he sees on
t.v. It's not like you see the
characters ever show any pain. Even when
he plays with his friends they pretend that they are Power Rangers vs. the bad
guys and fight each other. Shows like this even have the use of guns, which I
don't believe in.
In schools, teachers have noticed the
difference between children who watch television excessively and those who
don't. "The watchers fidget in
their chairs, eye contact is less stable and their attention to stories is
significantly shortened".(George Hottecker; The Big Picture pg1) Children
who watch t.v find it harder to stay focused on one activity more then a child
who doesn't. This can make them have
problems with group activities and act out negative behaviour towards
others. Although all this sounds bad you
can fix the problem by simply eliminating the watching of so much television
and getting the to do more creative things like . Some examples are painting, reading books,
acting out stories with puppets, dancing, and just getting them to interact
with other children their own age in a safe and positive way. George Hottecker mentions these examples as
positive ways of changing their behaviours and that "television just numbs
the brain!"(The Big Picture; Internet; George Hottecker)
So what you once thought was a good idea
by letting your children watch television has turned out to be a bad one. You thought that letting them watch
television would make them smarter, but it only made them more violent and have
less creativity and imagination. Breaking
the cycle of violence begins with children learning to interact with each other
in positive ways and with little or no violence. If we can accomplish this then our children
are more likely to send the same message to their children and spend quality
time with them. In the future don't let
the television be the babysitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment