How Television Affects Children Essay, Research Paper
Television: How It Effects Children
Is television a positive force in the lives of young children? That is the question many parents find themselves asking. They come home from work to see their child glued to the TV not willing to move for anything. What these parents do not realize is that many problems may occur from their children watching excessive amounts of TV. Problems such as loss of creativity, increased amounts of laziness and sudden violent attitudes and/or actions may result.
Creativity is an important trait for a young child to have. When growing up it helps a child s mind to develop, as they fantasize images of what they have experienced or are experiencing. When watching TV a child is entertained but also not thinking. The television hands information to them on a silver-platter. By watching too much TV your kid may end up relying on the TV to provide their fantasy for them. Consequently, when it comes time to do a book report your child may have a hard time understanding what they are reading due to lack of creativity from watching too much TV.
While losing creativity, your child can also gain laziness. While some kids are actively involved in sports after school, a majority of them just come home and plop themselves in front of the TV. What is happening when they are watching TV? Absolutely nothing, they are sitting on a couch not moving and not thinking, and sometimes eating to. And we all know what happens when you eat and are not active. If a child keeps up with this scenario, as they grow older it is less likely they will want to play with other kids or take up an active hobby. Your child will grow to be a couch potato. You do not want that to happen, do you?
Along with losing creativity and gaining laziness, your child is more prone to behave violently. Children watching TV usually have heroes, for example BugsBunny. When your child is watching the Bugs Bunny Show and they see Bugs get hit on the top of the head with an anvil and they realize that it does not even phase Bugs, they automatically think that the same would be true for them. But not knowing any better they see if it works and the child then becomes seriously injured or even dead. Also a child may see a villain on TV, scheming a plan to slay the hero or in the child s case a teacher. In Alabama, a nine-year-old boy was caught putting rat poison in a box of candy and then proceeding to give it to his teacher. The boy responded by saying he had seen it on the television the night before. These are examples of how television can affect a child.
When taking into consideration that 15,000 hours of television is watched by age eighteen and that the average person sees 13,500 people killed on TV by age fifteen, it is not surprising that television has a very major influence on peoples lives. Control needs to be taken by parents to regulate how much and what type of programs their child is watching. It will definitely help to expand your child s capabilities by developing their minds, keep fit and active and learn non-violent ways of living.