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.
Diet of television is the answer. I think parents should not replace a baby sitter for the TV, or even replace them selves for the TV. I know a lot of parents who prefer to sleep 30 minutes alone, and all they do is send their children to watch TV or play violent video games, they totally forget about the damage it is causing to them, and when they grow up parents complaint why their children are so violent with them and everybody else. I think the idea of built-in time-channel lock circuitry is awesome. Imagine a kid solving a puzzle -which will help to develop his brain- instead of watching TV; also this kind of activities will keep him safe from violence.
So goes the sayings “the key to life is moderation”, “variety is the spice of life”. A great deal is known about children and television, because there have been thousands of studies on the subject. Researchers have studied how TV affects kids' sleep, weight, grades, behavior, and more. It’s worth looking at what the research says when deciding how to manage television in your family. We do know that time spent watching TV replaces time spent interacting with caregivers and other children.
Young children are the ones who are most on social media and they see so many advertisements it is unbelievable. Companies target children because they are too young to know the truth about what they are really eating. Children don’t care about how many calories or how much sugar s in a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal, for example. But, there is only one group that can make their children stop them from eating this, the parents. Parents have the power to not make their children eat junk food and to decrease the chances of their child ending up with a long term illness.
Teens have a internal clock that causes you to feel more alert at night and wake up later in the morning. This makes it difficult to go to bed at a decent time and wake up feeling refreshed. Dr. Mindell the director of the Graduate Program in Psychology at Saint Joseph’s University says “sending students to school without enough sleep is like sending them to school with breakfast. Sleep serves not only a restorative function for adolescent’s bodies and brains, but it is also a key time when they process what they’ve learned during the day.” It is also important for teens to have a consistent sleep schedule throughout the week. Surveys show that teens rely on naps to make them more refreshed.
Censorship in television really relies on the person whom is watching either TV or a movie. But in most cases there is an underage kid who cannot watch certain things that should be censored and not all channels and movies are censored. Programs shown over television may contain offensive language or visuals, which may be harmful for the viewers like children. I believe that all programs on television should be censored by the government or a responsible group or even
Moreover, he claims that most child psychologists and child development experts urge that a child does not watch any TV whatsoever before the age of 2 or 3. However, an immensely 43% of parents sit their child down in front of the television set as if blind to the effects that it results in. In addition, he provides more research explaining the controversial connection between the “boob tube” and lack of achievement in school. Implying from the article, “Silent that idiot box!” by Jeff Jacoby, in 2007, Researchers at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons came up with the conclusion that 14-year-olds who on a daily basis watched one or more hours of television “were at elevated risk for poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school, poor grades, and long-term academic failure.” Along with the ones who watched three or more hours a day where at more risk of “subsequent attention and learning difficulties,’’ and were unlikely to pursue a college career. Jeff Jacoby (2009) Grohol also provides a link from the University of Michigan Health System which informs that children who watch TV are
As technology advances, it seems students are becoming lazy, and losing interest in the opportunity for an education. Too many kids just want to stay home and watch TV, play video games and go on the internet. It’s time our society takes a new approach in using technology as a significant part of a student’s education. We are in the twenty-first century now, so maybe we should act like it. On the other hand, some argue that incentives dramatically change the way students perceive their education.
Newton Minnow’s in his speech also refers to the idea television has the ability to influence people. He focuses mainly on children and that the content on TV does not benefit them. He emphasizes the fact that children, in 1961, spend as much time watching TV as they do in the school room. So Minnows asks the questions “is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children? Is there no room for programs deepening their understanding of children in other lands” To relate Minnows to the current study of private broadcasting I will ask, If the goal of private broadcasting is suppose to ensure a more adequate performance of Canadian content to target all areas of the demographic population, do you think Canadian broadcasters have done an effective job?
Kids and Education John Taylor Gatto states his thesis “Why Schools Don’t Educates” that two institutions control children’s lives: Television and school. The reader must accept that no fact for the balance of the article to make sense. One has to agree that pressure and parental guidance are of minor influence. However, assuming that the massive amount of time he claims is spent watching television is correct, it quickly becomes clear that the place to begin to help a child grow intellectually would be to severely limit the fantasy world of television. Fifty six hours a week is amazing.