The Impact of Watching Television on the Child Development

First of all, cartoons are popular among children, so America should be making sure they are appropriate for young children. A Parents Council Television study found that 1487 examples of inappropriate language, drugs, and sexual content aired during cartoon shows. These cartoon shows aired on Cartoon Network, Swim, Disney Channel, and Nick at Nite. These children were exposed to sexual content every two minutes and 19 seconds. For TV-PG, sexual content was displayed every 4 minutes and 50 seconds, while on TV-14 shows sexual content was depicted every 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Along with that, eighty-five percent of the TV-PG shows and 64% of the TV-14 shows did not contain an “S” depiction. An “S” depiction indicates that the show will contain sexual content. In addition, children learn language from the television shows that they watch. Seventy-six percent of TV-PG shows contain explicit language and 10% of TV-14 shows contain explicit language. The “L” descriptor warns parents that the show contains explicit language. Sixty-three percent of the TV-PG shows that contained explicit language had the “L” indicator. Sixty-nine percent of the TV-14 shows containing explicit language had the “L” indicator (Parents Television Council). As adults, this shows that we must be monitoring our children’s television shows more strictly.

So, the television shows that contained inappropriate content warned parents more about explicit language than sexual content. Also, there was 208 situations involving drugs. One hundred and sixty-seven of those situations were depictions rather than references. This means that the children could see the drugs instead of just hearing them. After reading this I was disturbed and shocked that children are being exposed to these things at such a young age. These statistics are alarming and, in the future, when I babysit or even if I have children of my own I will be cautious about what I let them watch.

In addition, television plays a big role in children’s development. Television viewing among kids is as high as its been in eight years. Children ages two to five spend about 32 hours a week watching television, while kids ages six to 11 spend about 28 hours per week watching television (University of Michigan Health System). In my opinion, that is a lot of hours to be watching television. Children nowadays are less active and I believe that television is part of the reason why. About two-thirds of households allow television to be on during meals (University of Michigan Health System). When I was growing up, my parents did not allow TV to be on during meals because it was considered “family time.” However, times are changing and having TV on during meals is becoming more of a habit to families. TV is replacing activities that parents would prefer their kids do instead of watch TV. Some of these activities include playing with friends, being active, reading, doing homework, and doing chores. Excessive TV viewing can cause poor grades, sleep problems, behavior problems, obesity, and risky behavior (University of Michigan Health System). As one can see, TV has negative effects on kids and development.

Additionally, studies have found a correlation between TV and violent behavior. On average, one American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on television by the time they turn 18. Also, two-thirds of all programs have violence. Most violent acts are seen portrayed as humor and human suffering is not portrayed. Children in fact do imitate the violence they see on TV. Kids under age eight do not understand the difference between reality and fantasy. A 15-year-long study by the University of Michigan found that the correlation between childhood TV-violence viewing with violent behavior continues into adulthood (University of Michigan Health System). Once again, these statistics are very frightening because violence in TV is everywhere and studies have shown that children imitate this violent behavior as they grow up.

Along with that, watching television affects children’s performance in school. TV replaces activities that help with school performance such as reading, homework, and receiving an adequate amount of sleep. Watching TV causes more irregular sleep schedules among children. One study found that watching TV as a child increases the chances of dropping out of school and also decreasing the chances of receiving a college education (University of Michigan Health System). Furthermore, TV influences children’s attitudes towards themselves and others. Children learn stereotypes from TV because when non-whites are shown on TV they are more likely stereotyped. When female characters are shown on TV they tend to be shown as beautiful and skinny. If a female is overweight or obese there are more negative comments towards her. In G-rated TV or movies males are shown more than women with a ratio of three to one. In addition, the males are shown as displaying aggressive behavior by not being in relationships or peacefully solving problems (University of Michigan Health System). TV plays a big role in kid’s performance in school because if they are watching TV they are not spending time doing school-related activities that could boost their academics. TV also shapes kid’s minds as to what they think about themselves or others by stereotyping people in TV shows.

Similarly, TV does not just affect children’s mentally, emotionally, and academically, but also physically. Watching a lot of television can lead to obesity as well as risky behavior such as doing dangerous activities, substance use, and risky sexual behavior. Most parents do not teach kids about sex, relationships, or sexually transmitted diseases so kids receive most of their sex education from TV. Also, the number of sex scenes in TV shows has doubled since 1998. When kids watch sex on TV it increases their chances that they will have sex as teens and at a younger age. Likewise, a study from the University of Michigan found that being awake and in the same room when a TV is on for more than two hours a day can lead to being overweight at ages three and four. The researchers also found that TV viewing is a bigger risk factor than diet when talking about childhood obesity. Children who watch TV tend to snack while watching TV and tend to be less active (University of Michigan Health System). All in all, TV has many detrimental effects, but negative physical effects are worrisome. Health is very important and if TV is causing children’s health to decline then something needs to be done to fix that.

Next, along with TV shows having negative effects on children, advertisements do as well. Most kids under the age of eight do not understand that commercials are trying to sell a product. Children under the age of six can not tell the difference between an advertisement and the TV show. On average, a child sees anywhere from 13,000 to 30,000 advertisements each year. Most TV commercials advertise unhealthy junk food, alcohol, and tobacco which is linked to negative behavior in children. Because of all the junk food ads, children nag at their parents to purchase this junk food while grocery shopping. Alcohol advertising increases children’s risk to start using alcohol at an earlier age. Most ads with women portray them as beautiful and skinny which can lead to young girls having negative thoughts about themselves if they do not look like that. So, it is evident that even advertisements attempt to take advantage of children. Advertisements are everywhere in today’s world so it will be challenging to try and help children not believe the advertisements.

Lastly, I wanted to research some things that adults can do to stop children from falling into the trap of TV and advertisements. Studies have shown that media education can help children become less susceptible to the effects of watching TV. Also, parents should watch the TV shows so that when it becomes violent or inappropriate parents can discuss the context with their children. Parents should be aware of what their kids are watching and decide what programs are appropriate (University of Michigan Health System). Likewise, protecting kids from advertising is difficult as well. To try and remove exposure to advertisements would be virtually impossible. It is possible to limit children’s TV time, but they will still be exposed to ads in other places. If kids ask parents to buy them something they saw on an ad it is best to explain to them that commercials and ads are designed to sell products. Parents should also explain that ads tend to make it look like by purchasing the product it will make your life better and happier. Parents can try to record their children’s TV programs and then have the kids watch the show without the commercials. Another method is to mute the TV during commercials and try to distract the children from watching the ads (Ben-Joseph). These methods would most likely work but some of these methods take a lot of time and effort on the parent’s part. I think that our world is progressing negatively in the areas of TV and advertisements, so as adults we need to take responsibility for our children and monitor what they watch so that our generation can hopefully fix what we started.