A current pop culture topic that interests me is how T.V. affects the child. Television in my opinion is the most vital source of happiness both for the children and the adults. Television is a widely used telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance (Television 2007).
There are so many channels on television these days, as compared to the previous, where different king of programs are shown each day. Kids in the United States watch about 4 hours of television a day even though the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines say children older than 2 should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming (Kidshealth 2007). During the age of 2 is the critical time for children’s brain development, and is when T.V. can get in the way of exploring, learning and spending time interaction and playing with parents and others which helps young children develop the skills they need to grow cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally. Hence the guidelines suggests that children under the age of 2 years should have no screen time at all.
Preventing the child from having a screen time to me is a good idea. Despite the advantages of watching television and are negative aspects of watching it. For example, kids who view violent event such as kidnapping or murder are more likely to believe that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them. Secondly, research as stated in the guidelines has shown that children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching T.V. are more likely to be overweight. Again it also indicates that T.V. consistently reinforces gender role and racial stereotypes. Lastly T.V. is full of programs and commercials that often depict risky behavior such as sex and substance abuse as fun and exciting, whiles there is often no discussion about the consequences of drinking alcohol, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes and having premarital sex.
Hence since watching T.V. is an ideal way of having fun, parents should ensure that they also try as much as possible to set time limits and channels that are appropriate for their kids.
There are so many channels on television these days, as compared to the previous, where different king of programs are shown each day. Kids in the United States watch about 4 hours of television a day even though the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines say children older than 2 should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming (Kidshealth 2007). During the age of 2 is the critical time for children’s brain development, and is when T.V. can get in the way of exploring, learning and spending time interaction and playing with parents and others which helps young children develop the skills they need to grow cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally. Hence the guidelines suggests that children under the age of 2 years should have no screen time at all.
Preventing the child from having a screen time to me is a good idea. Despite the advantages of watching television and are negative aspects of watching it. For example, kids who view violent event such as kidnapping or murder are more likely to believe that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them. Secondly, research as stated in the guidelines has shown that children who consistently spend more than 4 hours per day watching T.V. are more likely to be overweight. Again it also indicates that T.V. consistently reinforces gender role and racial stereotypes. Lastly T.V. is full of programs and commercials that often depict risky behavior such as sex and substance abuse as fun and exciting, whiles there is often no discussion about the consequences of drinking alcohol, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes and having premarital sex.
Hence since watching T.V. is an ideal way of having fun, parents should ensure that they also try as much as possible to set time limits and channels that are appropriate for their kids.
References
Kids health (2007). Retrieved January 21, 2008. From:
http://www.kidshealth.com/parent/positive/family/tv_affects.child.html
Television (2007). Retrieved January 20, 2008. From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television
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