Children's Television

Children's Television

The children of America spend their time on many different activities.

One of the most time consuming activities is watching television. Most children plug into the world of television long before they enter school: 70% of child-care centers use TV during a typical day. In a year, the average child spends 900 hours in school and nearly 1,023 hours in front of a TV. Television plays a large role in the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children today. One good quality that television has is that it conveys information and happenings around the world that they may not otherwise know about, but some people have been questioning whether television does more harm than good. Many have been analyzing what affect violence in adult shows as well as children's shows may have on children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines say children older than two should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming. However, according to the AAP, kids in the United States watch about four hours of TV a day. And, according to the guidelines, children under age 2 should have no "screen time" such as TV, videotapes or DVDs, computers or video games, at all. The first two years of a child's life is the critical time for brain development. Such activities help young children develop the skills they need to grow cognitively, emotionally, physically, and socially.

Inappropriate television viewing may have an undesirable effect on learning and cognitive development. The time spent viewing television limits the amount of time a child has contact and interaction with other children, the number of opportunities a child has to use his or her imagination in creative play and the amount of time and activities devoted to acquiring reading and other skills. A reduction in the time spent on homework and other activities important for school achievement is associated with television viewing. Sleep is interfered with viewing late-evening television programs which results in fatigue and lack of concentration during the following school day. Excessive television viewing links with poor school performance and decreased scores on standardized tests of mathematics, reading, and written expression.

Appropriate television viewing may have positive influences on cognitive development and school performance but the negative influences outweigh the positive. Television introduces children to information concerning current events, science, politics, art, music, and literature. Educational programs for preschool children enhance the development of language. "Sesame Street" and "Barney and Friends" are good examples of American television programs that use television as an effective educational medium to teach school readiness skills such as reading and counting.

Vocabulary development of pre-school children aged two to five has shown a positive relationship between television viewing and language development. Vocabulary is both expressive and receptive. Expressive vocabulary is word production and receptive vocabulary is the understanding of spoken words (such as adjectives and nouns). Vocabulary also relates to syntactic ability which is the complexity of sentences and lexical ability (word diversity). These skills usually relate to toddlers and pre-school children who have this varied vocabulary competence. Research has shown educational television's positive correlation with increased scores in receptive vocabulary of pre-school children. "Sesame Street" was the main show researched which targets pre-school children and claims to develop vocabulary.

The effects of television on social development depend on how much a child watches a day. When researchers surveyed college-age students in speech classes with moderate and server communication anxiety, they found a correlation between the quantity of television viewed at age three to eight and the speech disorder. Communication anxiety often develops in the early years and is noticeable in many children. Genetic factors are taken into consideration during the research but evidence points to the environmental and social conditions that hinder interaction attempts and skills gaining. It was concluded that as a result of extensive exposure to television (more than two hours a day), the respondents missed opportunities for social and oral interaction in their pre-school years.

When a child's television viewing is kept in moderation and is of educational programs, expressive vocabulary can be promoted. "Blues Clues" and "Dora the Explorer" were found to encourage interaction and give children opportunities to respond. Such conversational shows such as "Clifford" and "Arthur" that model speaking and language interactions enable children to respond orally.

The average American child will see 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18. TV violence is often demonstrated and promoted as an acceptable and effective way to get what you want therefore it being imitated by children. The likelihood of aggressive or antisocial behavior is increased by the viewing of violent programs. This is especially true for males who are: emotionally labile, delinquent children, lives in violent environments and have developmental disabilities or disorders. The greater the number of violent programs a child views, the more aggressive the child may become. When a child is repeated exposed to television violence, their tolerance for violence may increase. They will less likely seek help from adults when dealing with aggressive behavior in real life situations.

Since children learn by imitation, suggestion, and example, not only can they learn aggressive behavior but they can also learn sociable behavior. Children who watch educational programs may learn positive social behavior and attitudes such as caring, cooperation, helpfulness, kindness, tolerance, honesty, and self acceptance. Educational programs may also enhance a child's ability to deal with an assortment of social issues, such as parental divorce and the arrival of a new sibling. Although educational programs are good for children, the present-day mix of television programs is such that non-educational programs outnumber educational programs.

Between six and ten years of age, parents spend less time with their children. This is due to the fact that children have begun school. During this time, children are quickly developing their own friends and are learning to become more independent rather than relying on their parents for everything. Parental influence in the life of the child is still very strong even though less time is being spent with the child. A strong