Internet and TV:
How much is too much for young children?
Na’Shaye Lewis
English 112

How much TV and gaming, educational or not, is too much for young children? In the USA, 47% of children ages 2 to 18 years old have a television set in their bedrooms. On a typical day, they spend an average of 5.5 hours using media; including television, computer games, and the Internet. (Kaiser Family Foundation Newsletter, 2001) While there are a lot of different television and online educational sites that can be beneficial to a child’s education, parents should often monitor or regulate the amount of TV and Internet young children watch because it inhibits social development, shortens children’s attention span, and sometimes it is not always intellectually stimulating.
Social development can simply be explained as improving the well-being of an individual in society so they can reach their full potential. A society success is directly linked to the well-being of each individual citizen. With so many things on TV that can be negative there are so many shows and internet games that get your children up and physically active and wanting to learn. Shows such as Yo Gabba Gabba which teaches children how to eat healthy, get up and move around, how to help take care of the planet you live on and how to care about what others may feel. Ni Hoa Kai-Lan teaches the importance of social development as well as discovering new ways to recognize and deal with their emotions. As it is said children are the future to our society and they start to learn who they are during social development. Understanding who they are, what they feel, and what they expect to receive from others is the key concepts of their social-emotional wellness. These key concepts contribute to a child’s self-confidence, empathy, their ability to develop meaningful lasting friendships and soon partnerships. It also contributes to their sense of importance and value to those around them. In a recent article author Kristen Reinberg stated, “Children’s social-emotional developments influence all other areas of development: Cognitive, motor, and language development. They are all greatly affected by how a child feels about their self and how they are able to express ideas and emotions. The greatest influence on a child’s social-development is the quality of the relationships that he develops with his primary caregiver.” (Kristen Reinberg, MS, LMFT) I believe this statement to be so true. Children learn from what they see or even experience at home first. Children need good social skills in order to succeed in this day and age. Children should be learning necessary social skills at home first and school second. I think the main necessary social skills that all children should be taught early on is being polite and acting appropriately in any situation. Along with social development, children need physical activity. Not only will it aide in your child’s social development, it also gets kids outside playing with and learning from others. Learning early on that sometimes others may do things you don’t like but getting upset or angry towards another individual is not acceptable and definitely not polite I believe to be helpful in a child’s emotional development. Physical activity also teaches children how to use their words more often than their actions. Knowingly replacing physical activity with inactivity in a child’s life directly links them to an increased risk of obesity and can lead to so many other chronic diseases. Physical activity helps children stay fit and ultimately creates a happy confident child.
A child’s attention span is basically based on the amount of time a child can concentrate on a single task without allowing themselves to be distracted. A child’s attention span is measured in two ways. The more common one being focused attention. Focused attention is a short-term response to an impulse that attracts the child’s attention. Shows that come on networks like PBS, Nick Jr., Disney, Disney Jr., Sprout, and KCET has a clear understanding of how to encourage children’s positive behavior and attention span which helps them maintain focus and find a real interest in reading, writing, or simply learning period. These networks create shows with a slower pace that tells a story rather than those that feature constant action. A study conducted on children watching long periods of television and playing video games by the American Journal of Pediatrics stated, “Viewing television and playing video games can cause serious attention problems among children. Most television programs involve rapid changes in focus and frequent exposure to television has the potential to harm children’s abilities to sustain focus on tasks that are not inherently attention-grabbing. These attention problems can linger till a child attains adolescents.” (American Journal of Pediatrics, 2011). Frequent television viewing leads to attention problems among children because they lose interest in studies and reading books, newspapers and magazines. Even if they read they tend to lose interest fast and often do not complete the full story or book. Children often do this because TV events as the study stated jump from one theme to the next. Children’s emotions get blunted as a result of watching cartoons, playing video or internet games, etc., which are all thrilling and exciting things for a child. As a result, for those children to learn as expected for their age they need a curriculum that is exciting and a teacher that can constantly keep the childs attention. This can be difficult when there are 35 students to 1 teacher. By the age of 4 children are supposed to be able to maintain focus on one particular thing for at least 15 minutes. TV and computer gaming are so exciting for children that more often than most times, important things such as normal school work doesn’t catch the attention of a child. Children need to maintain focus on important things like schoolwork because as we all know, this is what helps them in becoming a successful individual in today’s society. Too many fast paced images from watching TV can keep the brain from maintaining focus and learning how to pay attention. Also with the instant stimulus of TV it can cause children to become impatient in more complex situations. Even the video games that are often seen as gadgets to help a child gain focus or concentration can, in fact, lead to concentration problems if they are also played for long periods throughout the day. “Attention problems, often manifested in the form of attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, are associated with negative outcome amongst children and adolescents, which include poor performance in all school areas and increased aggression.” (Dr. Aruna Broota, Child Psychologist) Dr. Broota also conducted a study on young children regarding TV and gaming. The study stated, “Exposure to television and video games is associated with greater attention problems among late adolescents and young adults. This indicated that a child’s attention span and ability to maintain focus continued to remain affected irrespective of whatever age he or she was addicted to watching TV or playing video games. These addictions lead to emotional displacement that caused aggression or behavior problems in school and at home.” In recent surveys conducted by a parent based magazine, it is said that television and video game violence is thought to be the leading cause of about 10 to 20% of all real life violence. (www.parents.com)
A child constantly needs to be intellectually stimulated in a positive manner. Learning through animation seems to catch a child’s interest faster than anything else these days. Children’s programming understands this fact and continues to try and create shows that are fundamental to a child’s learning process. The different characters in the various shows teach children how to read and letter or word placement such as “Super Why”, counting and mathematical problem solving that includes shapes, colors, and alphabets, “Sesame Street”, “Team Oomizoomi”, and “Mickey Mouse Club House”, just to name a few. Intellectual stimulation can most be described as mental exercises that are performed by an intellectual and it helps in stimulating the mind to tackle a given task, for instance something that can be a little complex for a young toddler like solving a puzzle. It mainly helps improve the thinking capacity of an individual. I have learned that the key to stimulating emotional and intellectual growth in your child is your own behavior, parental behavior. It is what you do, what you don’t do, how you scold, how you reward, and how you show affection, etc. In an article written by James Dobson he said, “There appears to be an artificial period during the first 3 to 4 years when the potential for intellectual growth must be seized. There are structural changes in the brain that must be activated during this brief window.”(www.christianindex.org). It seems so simple to place your child in front of the TV or allow them to play video or computer games when they are bored and start to constantly nag you but this can become a destructive cycle for your child. “When kids get bored they turn to you for help, but they might not know exactly what they are wanting. There are simple things that you can do to stimulate your child’s mind, support more independence, and encourage self-directed activities.” (Shelly Phillips author of Awake Parents) It is necessary for your child to develop an independent thought process. A child that cannot develop an independent thought can lack creativity and it may also affect the kid’s inventiveness or imagination. Watching so much television may take the place of social interaction with friends and family, ultimately depriving children of sharing ideas and feelings with others. Sharing ideas and feelings with others are all a part of a child’s thought process as well as being able to do single digit problem solving. Watching over the allotted amount of television according to the APA standards for a child can prevent a child’s curiosity of the things around them. (American Pediatric Association, 2009) Simple things of nature cannot be experienced such as how caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies or how you get a ribbiting frog from a tiny tadpole. Keeping a child’s curiosity open allows them to want to ask questions of the unknown and even better than that, explore the unknown.
Although there are many benefits in educational television and online learning sites, there are many disadvantages that can outweigh a child’s learning and developmental skills. There is a whole world out there that is ready for kids to explore and get their hands dirty while doing so. No amount of TV or online site can teach them how to physically explore and to use their imaginations. Sometimes it can be valuable for a child to have hands on learning versus learning through a flat screen or IPad from kids-friendly shows. With that being said the amount of TV or internet a child watch or plays should be monitored by a parent or a guardian to ensure they are getting a blended dose of personal experiences, physical activities, and shows or sites that enhance their development and most of all keep their minds open and their imaginations soaring.

REFERENCES:
American Journal of Pediatrics, Newsletter (2011)
American Pediatric Association (APA), 2009
Broota Aruna, PhD (2010) Social Development in Children at a Glance
James Dobson (1998) www.christianindex.org
Kaiser Family Foundation Newsletter (2001)
Article (2000) www.parents.com
Phillips, Sherry www.awakeparents.com www.psychnet.apa.org
Reinberg, Kristian, MS, LMFT