TV = how it affects today's children
How TV affects today in life
Lets look at a few shows.... little kids watch Hannah Montana, right? Where the main character is snotty, often lying to people and no matter what she does during the show, by the end everybody forgives her. Sure, she supposedly "learns a lesson" but the kids are just seeing that she doesn't get in real trouble, and no matter how many times she does it -- nothing truly bad happens! Another example could be shows like iCarly. I haven't seen a lot of this show, but isn't the basic premise that the main character is a super popular web star? And the majority of the time, she is taking care of herself without parental help. A kid is going to see that and think "hey, she shows herself online...why can't I?" or "She never has anyone telling her no!!" So yes, kids are going to emulate what they see on tv, and the messages they are taking away from the show is a lot different from what adults do. And I think this applies to teens when you watch "reality shows". I'll admit, I watch some, but if I watch too many I can feel myself being ruder or more negative. When you hear it, you start to talk like that. Sure you watch and think "what idiots!" but it is influencing you. Heck, it influences adults as well.
The lack of consensus about the relationship between media violence and real-world aggression has not impeded ongoing research. Here’s a sampling of conclusions drawn to date, from the various research strands: Research strand: Children who consume high levels of media violence are more likely to be aggressive in the real world In 1956, researchers took to the laboratory to compare the behaviour of 24 children watching TV. Half watched a violent episode of the cartoon Woody Woodpecker, and the other 12 watched the non-violent cartoon The Little Red Hen. During play afterwards, the researchers observed that the children who watched the violent cartoon were much more likely to hit other children and break toys.
Six years later, in 1963, professors A. Badura, D. Ross and S.A. Ross studied the effect of exposure to real-world violence, television violence, and cartoon violence. They divided 100 preschool children into four groups. The first group watched a real person shout insults at an inflatable doll while hitting it with a mallet. The second group watched the incident on television. The third watched a cartoon version of the same scene, and the fourth watched nothing.
When all the children were later exposed to a frustrating situation, the first three groups responded with more aggression than the control group. The children who watched the incident on television were just as aggressive as those who had watched the real person use the mallet; and both were more aggressive than those who had only watched the cartoon.
Over the years, laboratory experiments such as these have consistently shown that exposure to violence is associated with increased heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration rate, and a greater willingness to administer electric shocks to inflict pain or punishment on others. However, this line of enquiry has been criticized because of its focus on short term results and the artificial nature of the viewing environment.
14 Answers
I grew up in a house without television AT ALL. I haven't been able to keep it up but I thank my parents for that gift.
Violence is so far from my mind that until last year (when I started watching TV) I would shudder at the sight of a gun, or blood, or one person hitting another if I saw it on a screen. When I would see the video games at arcades where people were spraying bullets I had to turn my face away.
And that does translate to real life. Not to say that I have found the solution to dealing with life's frustrations, but violence would never even occur to me.
Of course, there are many other benefits. And of course, everything in moderation.
The real question is, do you have a set of values and principles, and do you make sure to surround yourself with role models and media that has that set of values as its message. Because no matter how strong you are, you are a work in progress. You are influenced by everything you see and hear.
This is so true PrincessJane. Garbage in equals garbage out. This is why parents have to really pay attention to what their children are watching. The television can never be used as a babysitter, no matter how tempting that may be when we are busy.
As far a "reality t.v.", there is nothing "real" about this. The majority of people who participate in this type of media are not interested in portraying real life. Rather, they seem to be interested in promoting themselves and receiving their "fifteen minutes of fame". This is sad because I think many (not all) kids think that these shows are depicting real life and realistic situations.
I recently had to check out one of the more popular shows called "Jersey Shore" only because this is so close to my house. I could only take about five minutes of this and even that was too much. If kids think that this is what life is all about, I feel extremely concerned for them and for their futures.
Well said, I agree completely. Although these shows on TV are not the primary cause that shapes kids, it is certainly a big component. Everything we are exposed to and fill our head will shape the way we see the world and modify our behavior eventually. Good thoughts.
Personally, I only watch CMT and Heroes. (country music tv! woo hoo)
I used to work as a teaching assistant in the infant department of a busy Primary school in England helping to teach and care for young children between the ages of 4 and 7/8 for 12=14 years (I qualified during my time in the school as a Nursery nurse with a Child care qualification NVQ 3 and later, with a Foundation Degree in Early Years so I have some understanding of Child development too )
What I observed in young children over the years especially amongst the Reception aged children( 4-5yrs 6mths of age approx ) was an increasing inability to concentrate for a sustained period of time. I am not talking hours but just minutes ! Quite alarming really isn't it? While it seems that insufficient research has been made and what has been carried out has not been sufficiently indepth or conclusive to influence those in power to act quickly to protect future generations of children from the potential damage of early and excessive exposure to the effects of television especially in the early years. This period is a crtitical window of opportunity to influence children for good or evil. We have unfortunately seen a likely increase in the rise of violent behviour from children/young people aged as young as 9 and 10 hurting other children as in the Jamie Bullinger case where two boys killed a young toddler and more recently in Yorkshire where two young boys around 11 and 12 years were convicted in court for subjecting two other boys to cruel and violent attacks. In the first case both boys had been watching violent tv programmes/DVDs and additionally it had been reported that the children had witnessed domestic abuse within the family.Unsuitable TV programmes have much to answer for I am sure of that and the responsibilty rests partly with the TV producers and to a greater extent with the parents!
I personally am left in no doubt that children who are exposed to television at an early age (under 5years / 5-8 years ) and for long periods of time eg hours can be affected by loss in the ability to develop an appropriate attention span for their age, as well as desensitising them to violence which as I have noticed in the playground affects their awareness of the pain of other people. This becomes apparent when they have tried to imitate games like 'Ninja Turtles' and accidentally hurt one of their friends/another child in the playground and seemed surprised that people feel pain because in cartoons they just get up and carry on as if nothing had happened. **Some early research on how children learn by imitation of social behaviour was carried out by Alfred Bandura which I do not intend to detail except to say that children learn by imitating the behaviour of other people especially when that behaviour is rewarded eg by food,extra attention or where the inappropriate behaviour is not openly punished.** Finally I would add that children are much more likely to imitate the behaviour of Significant/key people in their life which also includes TV characters that the children can identify with or perhaps are attractive because they can make the children laugh alot.These Role models can influence children's behaviour more than they realize...again for good or evil! Think about it
tv = bad 
I agree that the good ol' boob-tube does have a bunch of useless crap on it, but the blaim should not solely fall upon the media. Where is the blaim that should be directed at the parents in all of this? Now I do agree that T.V. is partially to blaim, but you have to admit that its truely up to the parents to monitor their children and not MTV or any other network, and we shouldn't be so quick to say that its T.V. that is distroying our childrens minds when we (I use the word "we" loosely because not everyone does) are the ones allowing it to happen. Thats like saying "Little Johnny didn't know that he would actually hurt someone if he bopped them on the head with a hammer because he saw it happen in a cartoon and no one was seriously injured in the cartoon!" Um, excuse me, but where are the parents and why aren't they stepping up and teaching their child the diffrence between reality and fiction? Too many times today people are relying on T.V. or celebrities to teach their children, and then want to complain when "little Johnny" or "little Suzie" are whacked in the head. It wouldn't be like that if parents would step up to the plate and do their jobs. Children are NOT toys that can be played with and then set aside for someone else to raise or deal with and I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people today treat their kiddos that way. I think if parents would step up and take control/responcibility then the world would be much better off.
Me gustan estos canales: Discovery Channel, Animal Planet y History Channel.
For all the negative influence of T.V. and the opinions of the others, how many of us go home and watch it every night. By our actions do we really believe its that bad or are we just hypocrites?
I agree with others that television is a negative influence.
Don’t forget about MTV: The “Media’s Toxic Video”
MTV's poisoning our kids And other interesting links on this page.
i hate tv personally. it is garbage!
I won't lie. I watch way too much tv, and I know that I should stop. It's only filling my mind with garbage. I'm 17 years old, and I realize how much it corrupts my mind. I can only think of the kids who are in a very impressionable age such as the four to twelve year old kids (although the age of impressionability is not necessarily in that range) who see and hear things on tv that they shouldn't. My teacher's four year old came home and was listening to Hannah Montana on the radio, and she started dancing the way that she had seen HM do. The dancing needless to say was very provocative, and my teacher is a Bible teacher. jaja so he had to tell her that little girls and big girls shouldn't be dancing that way, and now he doesn't let her watch that show. He also monitors her tv watching much more strictly. It's sad to think that in this day and age, we have to monitor our children's tv shows so closely. I hate to think what our world will be like in the years to come since it's so corrupt already.
I would say that the danger arising from television manifests itself in two realms: content, and intellectual damage.
Both points have been hit upon; I will only add as far as content goes that violence isn't the only negative content. "Adult content" and language are also concerns. No one want to hear an eight year old using the F-word, etc. Yet, they hear it on TV, even from those who are supposed to be the good guys, and then repeat it. Young children don't need to know about all the adult things in the world, either. That's why they are children; something about their lives sets them aside from adults, and knowledge about adult situations, etc, is part of it.
As far as damage to the mind: when children are repeatedly exposed to activities that shorten their attention span, or that paint the world in a way that is contrary to reality (and I don't just mean cartoons, etc. How many times have we intelligent people seen something on the TV, even on the "real" shows, rolled our eyes, and said "yeah right"? ), they are being prepared to be the inept citizens of tomorrow. If a person can't focus for longer than a tiny little while, how can he be expected to pay attention to the political leaders, and to understand what is going on in his nation? How will he know what the economy is doing? Can he be a good parent himself? Learning good mental habitsnow is the key to safeguarding and participating beneficially in tomorrow.
actually in iCarly, she does get said "no" about 3 times, but i get what your saying. i h8 miley cyrus and as a "kid" well teen, TV helps us forget our worries and chill for about 30 min. 
i only watch nick and simpsons.
