The Effects of Tv and Children

1244 Words5 Pages
The television plays such a really big role in homes today all around the world, that it is hard to imagine life without television. The Effects of watching television are harder to study in humans, for one reason because we are unable or unwilling to experiment for long periods of time. Entertainment is provided to people of all ages, especially children. Children would rather watch TV than go out and play. In the USA, forty-seven percent of children ages two to eighteen years have a television set in their bedrooms. On a typical day, they spend on average of five hours using media, including television, computer games and the Internet (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2001). TV is the number one after-school activity for kids ages six to seventeen years old. Although television is loved by children, it has influenced them in a negative way. “Television is one of the most prevalent media influences in kids’ lives.” (www.media-awareness.ca). Negative effects of watching television have been noted as the following: poor academic performance, increases in childhood obesity, violent behavior in children, and sexual content in television that makes the kids feel like they have to imitate what they see. Hundreds of studies have shown how violent television shows affects children and young adults. While TV violence is not the only cause of aggressive or violent behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. Researchers identified three responses to media: violence in children, increased fear, desensitization to real life violence, and increased aggressive behavior. For example, a television show that portrays girls as victims of violence can make increase fear in young girls by making them afraid of the world around them. Cartoons often portray acts of violence without showing the consequences of those acts, resulting in the desensitization to violence in the real world.
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