How Television and Computers Affect Kids

How Television and Computers Affect Kids

Have you ever felt hypnotized, entranced or transfixed? Television (TV) and computer consumption by children in today's society is felt in this way by an overwhelming majority. Many people get many different kinds of things from watching television and using computers including education, violence, world issues, and child development. Television has become a replacement for family interaction. Family dynamics could be suffering from these programs. The negatives of kids watching television and using computers outweigh the positives in my opinion.

You might ask yourself what is wrong with a little bit of television every now and then? But when it comes to your children, it is a huge deal. It may be great for parents, but television is not something kids should watch in excess. For parents, television can be a way of getting away from the kids. Kids can sometimes be in a parent's way, so it becomes a good stress reliever too often. To keep stress away, it can be used as a babysitter or to even keep them occupied when times are demanding around the house.

In the late 1940's, television had became one of America's newest arrivals. It was becoming more of a place for fathers, mothers, and kids to spend more time at. Even now, television is everywhere, but in 1946 there had been only about six thousand sets in the entire country. A fact that is almost stunning is that today more households have television than telephones or indoor plumbing (Greydanus 179).

Years ago the jokes had been clean and the controversy did not exist. Today there are more sexual innuendos and foul language. Kids will have distorted views of themselves and of the world if they watch too much uncensored TV. Many shows now seen on TV are uncensored and give the wrong impressions to children about important issues.

Parents would like their children to spend less time around televisions since it has pushed its limits. People know the influence that TV has on children, but they still try to go over boundaries. A "vast wasteland" was declared by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Newton Minow in 1961, which was at the height of TV's "golden age." Television has increased its volume of sex, violence, and bad language during the times that families want to watch TV together. Also, smoking, drugs and alcohol has become more readily used by teens because of the media influences (Eyer, Golinkoff and Hirsh-Paske 95).

Television violence has been a big impact on kids' lives because they can become aggressive and their behavior can change in a dramatic way for the worse. Violence that is in the home can also be a factor in a child's behavior. The kids who were more into the television shows that are associated with violence are more likely to grow up with that type of behavior. These kids are more likely to have a criminal record as an adult. The type of incidents that are likely to happen because of the affect of TV are chokings, knifings, fights, and other confrontations.

Children have become numb to the violence and media affects on TV. They see so much they are not even bothered by it. Once they become immune to it then you know that they have really been negatively affected by it. Car accidents, shootings with the police and incidents with animals are shown even more on TV. Kids think that since they saw other people do it, then it is okay for them to do it as well. There are so many "bad guys" in movies that the "good guys" even commit acts of violence (Seiter 1188-189).

The media has shown young girls body types that are unrealistic, and they try to be like the ones they see on TV. Girls think that they need to be a certain weight and height just to be like celebrities. They think that this will help them conform to a certain image. Girls will become anorexic or bulimic to try to look like other women on TV, and then some women become overweight because they do not think they are good enough. There are different standards of beauty for men and women. There are stereotypes for males, females, and different races and ethnic backgrounds in the media. In movies there is a lot more violence, sex, and drug use than there is on the television. It has become more graphic in movies than it was even a few years ago.

When kids are in the stage of phobias and fears, it is the most important time to keep them away from television. If they do watch anything that could scare them then you need to reassure them that it is not real and explain it to them. When a kid has imaginary friends, it is most important to let him explore his own thoughts and not watch too much television. Television can force kids to think that bad things such as wrestling or some kind of violence, is okay for them to do. They will not find their own identity by watching fake things on TV; they will only conform to something that the media shows as a positive (Brazelton 324-325).

Kids have found ways to try to "out smart" their parents and let them watch movies and TV shows that are not age appropriate for them. Some kids would tell them that they had already seen the violent parts of the movie on the previews so that their parents will let them go see the movie. Some kids are not allowed to watch these movies and shows until a certain age which is a good idea. Children should only see the shows that are age appropriate for them by their parents standards and what they have already discussed with them.

Technology has been dominating kids' activities. They become less focused on physical activities and more focused on TV and computers. Children know more about what is going on in the media than in their school and extracurricular activities. Kids who are more involved with their community are less likely to become involved with drugs and alcohol and getting into trouble. Even though it is easy for them to just sit down and watch TV, parents should encourage their children to become more active in their lives. Leisure activities should have goals other than just for pleasure. A not so surprising survey was taken by Sylvia Rimm (84-85) that showed that kids spent an average of 6.9 hours watching television or using the computer in a day.

Parents who use their gut feelings and trust their instincts are on the right track to finding ways of balancing TV time. If you think that your child is doing something that is wrong, they need to be confronted. TV has consumed them and taught them to become less active in life. TV affects kids by the violence it shows and how it makes celebrities appear. There are many ways of limiting them from watching TV and playing on the computer.

Guidelines should