Since its invention over fifty years ago, television has been criticized by many as being bad for children’s brains. As television has advanced throughout the years, so have the fast paced, mindless shows designed for young children. In the article “Is SpongeBob SquarePants Bad for Children?” Roni Rabin discusses a research study that sought to prove that watching SpongeBob SquarePants has a negative effect on a child’s executive functioning system. The results of this small experimental study found that children who watched nine minutes of a fast paced cartoon had decreased their executive functioning compared to children who participated in nine minutes of drawing or watching educational programs. Connecting fast paced television viewing to losses in cognitive ability has profound significance for children’s social and learning development.
The results of a longitudinal study tracked 700 male and female youths over a fifteen-year period. They found that those who as children were exposed to violent television shows were much more likely to later be convicted of crime. All other possible contributing environmental elements such as poverty, living in a violent neighborhood and neglect they were factored out of this study. Researchers also said that media violence can affect any child from any family
Statistically speaking the numbers of gangs and drug abusers of teens, in the areas we have centres in, have mammothly decreased. Further research, that concluded in January this year, indicated that the children who confide in our charity, who come of the streets and were involved in gangs, that their grades at school had increased a sufficient amount. YMCA helped numberous amount of children to become doctors or accountants where as without our help they would be working in a fast food court or selling themselves for drugs. If the YMCA was to be closed, as proposed in your “statement”, the community would consequently suffer and the teens that would approach this charity and helpline would be without support and would often be forced to carry on with life, which wouldn’t be much of a life at all, i wouldn’t wish the life on anyone not even my greatest foe. Our charity (YMCA) is unique, without it millions of children would not have support,education they desperately need or the social and physical abilities that would make them successful in
Purpose: Due to the scope of the issues children face in the 2000s, greater planning, collaboration, and program implementation across disciplines and agencies is required. Listed are a handful of the many reason why: • While their parents work, millions of children in the United States lack safe, affordable, quality child care as well as early childhood education. It is estimated that 7.5 million children are at home alone without supervision; most often after school when they
Recent research has shown that connections between children playing violent video games can cause later aggressive behavioral problems. In retrospect studies have also shown a twelve percent increase in aggressive behavior after watching violent television as well. Some parents and psychologists have said that there are children who benefit from the proficiency and coordination of playing video games while others disagree. Critics of video games claim that watching violent television is less detrimental due to the children not physically playing out the violence. Research has also shown heavy viewers, which is four or more hours a day, put in less effort at school, have poorer reading skills, play less friendly with friends, have fewer hobbies and activities, and are more likely to be overweight.
D which tested children ranging in age from 9-18 in Japan and the United States. Anderson recorded their behavior both before and after playing violent video games; after three to six months every child that had been exposed to violent video games showed an increase in aggressive behavior over time. Harding also quotes several other doctors throughout her article to support the theory that violence in video games leads to violent behaviors. One doctor, Dr. Cheryl K. Olsen, offers a slightly varied opinion from her peers, stating that childhood aggression should not be blamed on all violent video games; Olsen states, "It's not the violence Violent Video Games ¬3 per se that's the problem, it's the context and goals of the violence" (Harding, 2008). She concludes that some
Unfortunately, many of today’s television programs are violent. So does TV influence kids that violence, drugs, alcohol and sex are ok? How much violence, drug references, alcohol usage, and sex references does the average American child come across? How much of this do they take in? Hundreds of studies have found that children and teenagers that watch television may: • Become “immune” or numb to the horror of violence • Gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems • Imitate the violence they observe on television; and • Identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers Also, Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness.
La Sim June 5, 2012 Television viewing and violent behavior The influence of television viewing on the psychosocial development of children is profound. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), statistics show that the average child or adolescent spend about three to four hours of television viewing per day (Committee on Public Education. 2001). To put in perspective, by the time a person reaches the age of seventy the person would have watch about seven to ten years of television in their lives. Studies of cognitive development indicate that television provides a stimulus for learning and that children learn from television.
I have noticed that in the U.S. there are a lot of overweight children for many reasons. Children should be encouraged to get up and be active versus sitting around watching so much television and eating. The results of a study on television viewing and body weight in children earlier in the year of 2007, concluded that kids who watched the most TV or ate the fewest meals with their families were at risk of being or becoming overweight (Gabel et al, 2007). The analysis addressed the eating and activity factors associated with the onset of becoming overweight and persistent overweight in 8,000 children from kindergarten to third grade. Researchers identified three groups of children: never overweight, overweight onset and persistent overweight.
Everyone can see the effects separation and divorce play on older children because they can verbally tell you and it shows in their work performance whether it be in their grades in school or sports or overall negative behavior. However few studies have targeted on younger children and their psychological being or the effect of their cognitive behavior. This sample study targeted the first three years of a child’s life. The study included children of 73 single moms that have never been married, and 97 divorced mothers. It also had a group of 170 children from a two parent household (Clark-Stewart, McCartney, Owen, Booth, 2000).