...TV & Children: Television, Health and Development How does television affect the health of our children? Children from birth to age five are actively growing, learning and developing habits that will shape their physical and emotional health. Because this time period is so crucial to the development of a child’s body and brain, any negative influences can have lifelong health effects (1). Excessive television viewing among young children has been linked to negative impacts on early brain development, and lifelong physical health (1, 2). Television and early brain development Repeated exposure to television or related activity can affect a child’s mental and emotional development (1). TV often takes the place of interactive experiences (e.g play) that promote healthy brain development (1, 2, 3, 4). Too much TV during the early years has been linked to: o Poor performance in school, especially in the areas of language and reading. If TV is substituted for reading and talking with others at a young age, children may have delayed language development (1, 2, 3, 5, 26). o Being less able to use imagination. Too much TV can lead to an overload on the visual part of the brain, while depriving other parts of the brain. Areas of the brain responsible for creative thought and imagination are under used because watching television doesn’t require these skills (2). o Not being able to tell apart television from the real world. (3). o Problems focusing. Too many fast...
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...Television and Media Violence – Affect on Children Exposure to Violent Television Causes Aggressive Behavior in Children Prepared for Mrs. Martha Jagel, Professor Rogers State University Prepared by Ashton Duncan, Student Rogers State University June 20th 2013 Television is the most powerful medium the world has ever seen. Never before has it been possible to communicate and so strongly influence millions of people at the same moment right in their own homes. But its misuse has been felonious, and society is paying an increasing price (Langone, 1984). Almost weekly the press carries some story about the harmful effects of television on children. Parent-teacher lobbyists wring their hands about the violence depicted on Saturday morning children''s programs. Nutritionists decry commercials that tout sugar-laden junk food to youngsters. Consumer advocates clamor against the deceptive marketing of children's toys. In Washington, D. C., politicians anxiously express their regrets, then turn to more pressing business (Landesman, 1995). This paper intends to address the behavioral effects that violent television has on children. Violence and television has been the subject of numerous controversial studies for the past thirty years. The most persistent questions have concerned aggressive, anti-social, or delinquent behavior and their link, if any, to violent television entertainment (Paik & Comstock, 1994). Numerous articles, written on almost...
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...Limiting Television Time for Children Is the Smart Choice Limiting Television Time for Children Is the Smart Choice Television what a beautiful spectacle with your rich display of colors and deep sound. Truly one of the most impactful inventions of the 19th century. Television has been affecting millions of people young and old since its inception. Since the beginning television has played with all the emotions one possesses whether it was a funny show, heart wrenching news story or sporting event that brought joyful tears. Some love television and others think it offers nothing but negativity. No matter what feelings one has there is no denying the affect television has had on the human race. Unfortunately most of the time that negativity touches the lives of children who are too small to know how to make a good decision when it comes to viewing television. Parents are also putting their children at risk of future problems and might not even realize it. Research suggests that an excessive amount of TV is harmful to children because it affects behavior, hinders development and makes children more susceptible to health problems. Research suggests an excessive amount of television can affect the child’s behavior because when a child is exposed to violence for such a length of time the child has a chance of developing aggressive behavior that can later lead to violent tendencies in their youth as well as into adulthood. When raising a child a parent wants their child to be...
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...The Impact of Caregivers Using Television as a Babysitter Composition and Communication II Comm/156 August 19, 2012 The Impact of Caregivers Using Television as a Babysitter Caregivers using television as a babysitter adversely impacts the growth and development, physical fitness, and social life of children. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) stated, on average a child in America watches three to four hours of television a day (AACAP, 2011). This happens in most households because caregivers tend to have children watch television to be occupied. The problem with this is children are not getting the interaction with others that is needed to advance their social skills. Watching television and not going outside to play takes away the ability to get in the required exercise that is needed, therefore, leading to childhood obesity. Working, busy, or unconsciously aware caregivers are letting children sit in front of the television hours upon hours to entertain themselves. Whether caregivers are using television as a babysitter so they can do other things, to take a break from entertaining children themselves, or as a learning tool; television should be watched in moderation because it impacts the growth and development in children. The first two years of brain development are the most important. This time period is when children are learning to talk and play. The American Academy...
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...Review of Literature: 1) Duration of TV Viewing: According to the A.C. Nielsen Co. the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (28 hours / week) i.e. 2 months of nonstop TV watching per year. Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children : 3.5 minutes / week. Number of minutes per week that the average child watches Television 1680 minutes (4 hours/day). 70% of day care centers use television during a typical day. Dietz WH, Strausburger VC & et al in 1991 study entitled “Children Adolescents and Television” revealed that – American children spend more time in front of TV than at any other activity, with the exception of sleep.8 The same research shows that American children spend an average of 2 & 1/2 to 4 hours per day watching television depending on their age. The amount of time spent by American youth in most investigations was around 3-5 hours /day.8 The Kaiser report found Children ages 8 to 18 spent an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes a day consuming media for fun, including TV, music, videogames and other content in 2009, according to a 2010 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The report was based on a survey of 2,002 third- through 12th-graders, 702 of whom completed a seven-day media use diary. That was up about an hour and 17 minutes a day from five years earlier. About two-thirds of 8- to 18-year-olds said they had no rules on the amount of time they spent watching TV, playing...
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...The effect of television on a childs attention span Samantha Martin COM/156 May 6, 2012 Jodi Galvan Axia College of the University of Phoenix The effect of television on a childs attention span In watching my 13-year-old daughter, and constantly trying to get her to complete the simplest of tasks such as loading the dishwasher. I have often wondered if watching too much television has anything to do with her inability to complete the smallest of tasks. Some people think that children who watch too much television are likely to develop ADHD; however, it may be the opposite. The child who is prone to Attention problems may be drawn to watching television to sooth their minds (New Scientist, 2007). Is it possible that children too watch much television? According to Eric Landhuis of the University of Otago, children should not watch more than two hours of television per day (New Scientist, 2007). More than two hours of television can lead to attention problems in adolescence. Children who watched more than three hours of television had above average symptoms of ADHD (New Scientist, 2007). Rapid scene changes can over stimulate the brain. Recently their was a controversial news story on how the rapid scene changes in the cartoon Sponge Bob Square pants on the network Nickelodeon over stimulated the young brain of children under the age of six. The over stimulation can make real life seem boring. Landhuis goes on to say, “children who watch...
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...deferred imitation from television by 6- to 18-month-olds. Developmental Science, 10(6), 910- 921. This study was designed to gauge the growing body of evidence that examines infant imitation from television both immediately and after a delay. Children were tested in two very controlled manners for this study that only deviated in one way. Some children were shown a demonstration in person (3D) and the others were shown the exact same demonstration via television (2D). This was the only difference in the two demonstrations and therefore created no bias. The study found that imitation from television can occur in infants as early as 6 months of age. The findings of this study also suggest that imitation from television continues to be challenging throughout the second year of life, but repetition may be the key. The results of this study raise several questions and further research is required to disentangle perceptual and representational/cognitive load explanations. This source would be very useful in my research and provides information from an unwavering study that produced very clear and concise results. Barr, R., Shuck, L., Salerno, K., Atkinson , E., & Linebarger , D. (2010). Music interferes with learning from television during infancy. Infant and Child Development , 19, 313-331. Retrieved from www.interscience.wiley.com doi: 10.1002/ icd.666 This study was conducted to expand on previous studies regarding learning from television and imitating the target...
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...How Too Much Television Can Harm a Child’s Development For the past 20 years, studies have linked excessive TV viewing to childhood obesity, poor brain development, lagging educational performance, sleep disturbances and diminished physical activity (Is Television Harmful For Children?, 2010). Children are very impressionable, so sitting in front of a television for long periods of time can have a negative outcome. While a child’s brain is being molded, they are more susceptible to act out learned behaviors from their favorite television shows. Parents have the responsibility to mold their child’s brain and not have it rot out from too much exposure to television. Children's television viewing should be limited to less than 2 hours a day in order to avoid too many negative effects. Violence is something that is hard for children to avoid on television today. Children are at risk of viewing this violence because they are watching more than the suggested amount of television. When children see this violence, they think it is cool and fun, so they want to try it out. They are taught that the images of violence are amusing. Many children who view too much violence can end up committing crimes. According to How TV Affects Your Child (2011), “TV violence sometimes begs for imitation because violence is often promoted as a fun and effective way to get what you want.” (Violence) When children see their favorite character bopping someone on the head to get what they want, it sends...
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...Television and Children Kolby Timpson COM/172 1/15/12 Don Glaze Television and Children Television can be both a valuable asset as well as a negative influence for children of all ages. By introducing educational programs to children at young ages, it can help expand their learning potential in the future. On the other hand, it can also teach children to be lazy, and less motivated to learn from other sources then the television. Having proper guidelines in place and making sure enough exercise is being done will help promote future positive television behaviors. Sometimes being a parent can be hard and without proper guidance and research, it can be difficult to know what to do in tough situations. New age studies have shown a positive impact on the development of children when good guidelines are in place when it comes to television. In America, children that are aged 2-11 are watching more television than they have been in past years. Up to date research from The Nielsen Company show that kids aged 2-5 currently spend more than 32 hours a week on average in front of a television. Kids aged 6-11 spend less time in front of the television, about 28 hours a week, mostly because they are likely attending school for more hours in a day (Nielsen Company, 2009). 71% of kids 8-18 years old actually have a television in their rooms. Many people actually only consider television as the only resource of television. Nowadays there are several different ways to access television...
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...ENG 120 Children and television: A lethal combination? Many people believe that television can be good for young children and it helps to develop their mind before they attend school. While this may be true, it may also has an overall negative effect on children. Television can be lethal because it teaches children and culturally structures their mind. If a program on television shows a person eating spaghetti with his hands and a child watches this, then the child with think that it can be ok to eat spaghetti with his/her hands. In the developing stage of a child’s mind, everything that is being exposed to them is going to have a profound effect on them. We could say that only certain programs are carrying positive messages whereas the negative impact of television may be dominant. Overall, the television exposes the child to violent/deviant behavior, children build some of their morals and ethics from television and television also causes sleeping defects, obesity and other illnesses. Television can promote certain behaviors to children at young ages, for example if a child is exposed to violence on television, then that program is promoting aggressive behavior and the child can then begin to act more aggressively. Many researches show how television programs negatively affect children and their behavior from a process called imitation. Moreover, children, who are exposed to television programs showing violence, are more or less likely to affect their...
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...643419 ASSIGNMENT: A Report on Active Theory of Television Viewing Course: Jnr2223 INSTRUCTOR:Kioko Ireri, Ph.D. SUMMARY PURPOSE Delivered for the fulfillment of a Bachelors Degree in Mass media SCOPE: The Report covers the Active Viewing Theory, its contribution to understanding media effects on audiences documented challenges from research scholars. Presented To: Kioko Ireri, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Journalism & Mass Communication Patron, Journalism Club, Journalism Department United States International University-Africa. Introduction This theory finds its roots in Bandura’s 1977’s social learning theory which states that some prim aspects of television programming normally get and retain the attention of the viewers. It is therefore from here that Bandura suggested that once a child is exposed to the television programs, perceptive watching followed by an almost automatic attention and interpretation. This is a theory then that rests under media effects category. The many researchers who have put its hypothesis to research over the years have all tried to ascertain whether it is true indeed that viewers get directly involved with the media messages they consume from the media (Television) This theory however hasn’t really been accepted across by all media researchers as some have come out to question the perceived active television watching by the audiences saying that in reality television viewing as relates to the audience is more of reactive...
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...is the high definition televisions and video game systems that allow viewers to see details and intricate designs crystal clear. Also the high demand of cellular phone productivity has increased the security and communication of cell phone users everywhere across the globe. Though the effects aforementioned are incredible, a child does not view these technological advances the same way as an adult may. Therefore, the effects of technology on children tend to be more negative mainly because of excessive use. Television has become a necessity in every household and can be found in almost every room of the house. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that seven in ten children in the District of Columbia have a television set in their room, and time spent watching television has increased by an hour and a half within the last five years (Lamontagne, Paloski, and Singh, 2010). Television viewing has increased because programs are designed to immediately grab anyone’s attention. If the program fails to do so, the viewer just simply changes the channel. As for a child, the child can subconsciously relate the same concept of changing the channel and quickly tuning out what is not immediately attention grabbing to everyday routines like conversations. Though television causes short attention spans, there are programs that may help a young child learn quicker like the show Sesame Street. That does not mean a child should watch countless hours of television; a limit should be in...
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...The Educational Value of Television Young Children grow up with an attachment to their favorite television shows and fall in love with the characters they see. These relationships can blossom into life lessons on friendships, manners, early learning education, and much more. The results from the adults in their lives not fostering these relationships correctly and limiting the viewing to age-appropriate shows are not evident until later when it has affected the child. The early years of a child’s psychological and cognitive development are the most important. When parents allow younger children to watch shows targeted for older children (and adults), their cognitive development bypasses the fundamental lessons teaching them about issues and problems they are not yet equipped to handle. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study noticed there were unique reciprocal effects between positive parenting and child's cognitive abilities found at nine and twenty-four months. (Park, 2012) Adults must understand the necessity of age-appropriate, learning-leveled television shows for children to prohibit the detrimental effects that watching inappropriate television shows has on them. The relationship between a child and the television shows they watch can have a huge impact on their lives. There are cartoon shows that teach math skills, problem solving, natural science, engineering, music, collaboration, and second languages along with intrapersonal, emotional, and social skills. These...
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...Effects of Television on the Youth COM/172 Effects of Television on the Youth Children and their television usage has become an extreme epidemic that has led to many other worldwide problems concerning our children like obesity, sleep patterns, behavior, and academic downfalls. Parents find themselves asking too often, how much television is too much. Being a parent myself I have been able to witness the affects television can have on young children and how serious it is. More now in the 21st century than ever before, parents seem to be gone longer hours and unattached when they are finally home; this might be part of the problem leading to the television epidemic. Television is affecting our children and the family structure as a whole. Parents and guardians need to start taking steps to making a change. Brain Development As television becomes an uncontrollable issue as time passes, some researchers argue that it can effect brain development long term. Television viewing starts earlier than other forms of media often before the age of two (Burke, 2005). There is even a television channel just for babies. Television takes up time that could be used for physical and social interaction which is critical to a baby’s development. Studies have found that television watching before the age of three slightly hurt several measures of cognitive development later in life...
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...The Effects of Mass Media on Adolescents Kelsey Wyatt Western Governors University Abstract This Paper contents reviews of several studies conducted on the effects of mass media on children and adolescents. Most of the research suggests that over exposure and unsupervised use of mass media outlets can alter the psychological development of children, as well as create anxieties in adolescents. All of the researched reviewed examines the effects of all media other than book content. Research has shown that consuming too much mass media at a young age can alter the social and psychological structure of adolescents. Mass media can even desensitize youth to unhealthy behavior and effect their education. One of the more noticeable changes in the 21st century has been the growing media consumption, availability and influence. A major consequence of this growing influence is the negative effect it can have on a children’s well-being. Parents no longer have to worry about the influence of “bad” friends but the “virtual” bad influence readily at the fingertips of their children. According to the U.S. census over 80% of adolescents own at least one form of media technology (Comer 2008). The use of this technology is increasing every year with text messages and social networking being an easy access to both youths and adults. A survey was conducted in 2010 by the Kaiser Family Foundation on daily media usage. The survey found that children 8 to 18 logged an average of 6 hour media...
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