Television Viewing and Violent Behavior

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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. Educational programs can open new worlds for kids, giving them a chance to travel the globe, learn about different cultures, and gain exposure to ideas they may never encounter in their own community. However, the reverse can be true about television where it could provide a negative effect to the child by exposing to violence, inappropriate sexuality, offensive language, and risky behavior. Television can be a great tool to help kids learn. Educational programs such as Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, Kai-lan and etc. has the power to teach kids valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational television format (Committee on Public Education. 2001). For example, programs like Kai-lan and Dora the Explorer promotes the idea of culture diversities, where the characters would use their national language to teach the kids the language being used. Moreover, these programs allow kids to learn about different morals and values of different cultures. Despite the advantages, too much television can lead into further problem of the development of the child. Studies show that even an hour to two hour of daily unsupervised television viewing would cause a child
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