Effects of television Essay

Television may be one way to educate children but alongside of it is something that is very hazardous especially to toddlers. Letting your children watch cartoons such as Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street and the likes is both beneficial and dangerous. At some point there are things that need to be addressed by the parent when their children are watching television on their own. For parents whose child is under 2 years of age, letting their kids watch television for the entire day would be very harmful. One way to prevent any untoward things to happen at a young age is to limit their viewing hours. The Baby Center Medical Board Advisory wrote in their website: Since your child is under age 2, it’s best to keep TV-watching to a bare minimum. If you choose to allow some television, break it up into 15-minute increments. Much more than that and your toddler’s brain can shift to autopilot. Do away with letting your children watch television program of their choice as it may have violent scenes. Researchers have found that when a toddler watches those kinds of programs, it is likely that they will, sooner or later, imitates the scene or they will display an aggressive behavior. Also, letting children watch television all day would give them less time to read books, exercise, play outdoors and make friends in the neighborhood. If a child owns a video game console, there is a big chance that they will be hard to discipline. Parents will have to deal with calling their kids for dinner time and get no response since they are busy with whatever game they are playing. The promotions of different kinds of alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, and illicit drugs are also harmful to children who watch television all day. Such kind of promotion makes the child think that using these products is good for everyone. Additionally, the meaning and ideals conveyed in any television program may give children a different understanding of things that will eventually influence the way they think and the kind of behavior that they will exhibit. A concern raised by the American Academy of Pediatrics says that, children are being subjected to much sexual imagery in the likes of music videos, television programs, and the advertisements. On the other hand, there are things that can be taught while watching television such as good moral values, following proper diet, other learning such as speaking, reading, appreciation of arts and many others. Parents should actually guide their children when watching television. They should be able to explain to their children what is happening in the scene or if the scene is not appropriate for them. Also, having parents watch television with their children is one way of bonding. There is a way where parents can restrict the shows that can be seen by the children through the help of the V-chip. V-chip is a device use to block programs that are not suitable for children in a specific age bracket. Setting the viewing time limit of a child can contribute much to their growth. A practice such as letting children watch television program only after finishing their homework is one of the ways where they can be limited to watching or playing video games. More, watching television is risky for children since they tend to become obese. A study presented by Harvard Medical School student, Sonia Miller, shows that the more a child sits in front of the television set, the more tendency of eating unhealthy foods and taking in too much sugar. The study showed that for each additional hour of TV viewing per day, the children consumed 0. 06 additional servings per day of sugar-sweetened beverages, 0. 32 additional servings per week of fast food and a total of 48. 7 additional calories per day, after adjusting for age, sex, maternal socio-demographics, race, body mass index, breastfeeding duration and sleep duration. Moreover, the more additional hours a child spent in front of the boob tube means that they have taken a number of fruits or vegetables that is required for their daily intake. However, Miller said that obesity and television watching is in any way not the same. â€Å"Watching television all day and doing nothing physical is not a cause for a child to be obese at an early age, but still the researchers are working out on the said matter† (Lepage-Monette, 2007). However, for a working mother, she cannot just contain her children to watch programs that she intends to watch. In a confession made by a working mother, she said that in order to have things done, she sometimes needs to turn on the television to catch the attention of her children and leave her with whatever work she has to do. The use of television in school is, on the other hand, one way to get the attention of a child especially those in their kindergarten. With the use of different educational DVDs, students become more interested in learning things. Using videos that have subjects like biology and history captures the interest of a student since they tend to understand more the lesson given that they are able to see it for themselves. In biology, the teacher can let their students watch a certain episode on National Geographic or Discovery channel that is in reference to their upcoming lesson. In the Philippines, there are television programs that are intended to be used as an instructional media to students. There are programs for enriching the knowledge of students in Mathematics, Science, English, History and Literature and the Arts. For over 4 years, the Philippine government has agreed to use these media in order to teach students. Both private and public schools in the Philippines use the said media to let their students further understand the lesson. Personally, the use of instructional media like that in the Philippines is very beneficial to students. It does not expose the student to a long time of television viewing yet it helps them understand their respective lessons with the help of the videos. Letting students read thick books is something that they will not do and will only give them the idea of having an A-list classmate do the work and in the end; the student does not learn anything. Whereas, with showing video clips or documentaries, they tend to be more attracted to the lesson and will later on research on things that is in accordance to what they saw and learn a thing or two from it. It is not bad to let children watch television programs, only there should be proper guidance from elders. And these elders should be able to explain if the scene is really intended for students at a particular age or not. References BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board (2006, October). TV-watching guidelines for toddlers Milton Chen, Ph. D. (1994). The Smart Parent’s Guide to Kids’ TV. KQED Books. Hanna D Margeirsdottir; Jakob R Larsen; Cathrine Brunborg; Leiv Sandvik; et al (2007, June). Strong Association Between Time Watching Television and Blood Glucose Control. Diabetes Care. pg. 1567.