There are few ways that TV viewings can benefits children, first by watching television children can obtain the latest news and information what is happening all around the world. By knowing the latest information can ensure that children have a good general knowledge of the world. Besides, television viewing is a powerful tool for teaching and learning for children. This could be seen from a research which was conducted by the Computer Technology Research (CTR), they reported that people retain only 20% of what they seen and 30% of what they hear. But they remember 50% of what they see and hear, and as much as 80% of what they see, hear and do simultaneously. So children can learn and memorize more things by watching TV compare to reading books.
Furthermore, television viewing can broaden children’s knowledge and they can gain knowledge that can’t be learn from books. For example, some TV channels such as Discovery channel, National geography and Animal planets, can offer children a chance to explore places, see nearly extinct animals and much more on what they can’t see/do in a lifetime. In the book title “Children and Television: A Global Perspective” by Dafnah Lemish, Lemish believed that television has the potential in closing the educational gaps in between two different life classes & it could minimize negative cultural stereotypes. For example, In the Middle East, there are two version of Sesame Street: the Hebrew Rechov Sumsum and the Arabic Shara’a Simsim. These shows represented the “two-states solution of nations destined to live as neighbours and with two sets of characters speaking in two languages”. Moreover, TV provides an unlimited source of information and it is convenient as it is just in your lounge. Television viewing can expose children to different culture and help in the building of characteristics & skills such as analytical skills as they can discuss and share their opinions for certain issue with people.
Even though TV programs have a good side, often there will be negativity as well. Let us discuss about the disadvantages of TV viewing. Although TV viewing helps children in the building of characteristics, it may also give inappropriate influences and impact on the children’s point of view. Young children may assume that what is being broadcasted on the TV is always true, safe and acceptable. Although useful information can be gain from TV, some information may be incorrect and children often can’t differentiate from right or wrong. TV violence has been a prevalence issue which has been raised all over the world. According to Mary L. Gavin which is a medical editor from Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Gavin stated that an average American child will witness 200,000 violence acts on TV by the age of 18. TV violence is also being blame for the increasing of the crime rate as studies found out that children imitated televised violence behavior broadcast on TV and they give bring what is called as copycat crime from TV to reality. Along with it, TV programs often also give wrong impression and labeled these risky behaviors such as drinking alcohol, smoking, doing drugs and premarital sex as “Cool / Fun”. A study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) shows that youth expose to alcohol ads on TV had increased by 30% from 2001 to 2006.
Apart from that, television viewing may also cause addiction in children. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), children and teens 8 to 18 years spend nearly 4 hours a day in front of a TV screen. Addiction to television watching is a waste of time and this may lead to poor academic performance. Besides that, an anti-social behavior may also be constructed if the habit is serious. In addition, TV viewing in children is more likely to link to health problems such as obesity and high blood pressure. High blood pressure is caused due to the lack of movement and because most of the time people just lie on the couch. People who suffer from high blood pressure are more likely to be obesity. TV snacks are another additional factor because most TV snacks such as chips are salty and salt will increase the blood pressure readings. Furthermore, long hours of TV viewing are bad for children’s eyesight. Children’s eyesight can be affected by the factors such as the distance of the TV, the durations of watching and the light intensity.
In the conclusion, there are both positive and negative outcome for children to watch TV, however I believed that watching TV is good for children but with a limited time. Children shouldn't waste too much of time on watching TV, they should manage their time well, as the children stage is best period to learn something new. Furthermore, involvement in sports and co curricular activities can aid in the building of a healthy body and mind of a children. Likewise, parents should be a role model for their children and bring out good TV viewing habits like watching TV together and share their opinions and values about what they had seen. This can give an opportunity for children to learn what is good or bad.
I got an A for the Presentation : )
Last week, I watched :
1) G.I Joe
