Children Watching Tv

Heather Dye
Mr. Cosper
Eng. 101
24 November 2014
Establishing Between Right and Wrong
Today everyone is becoming addicted to television, if not as a whole then maybe a particular series. While primarily young adults and teenagers are the ones being addicted, children have also taken a liking to television. Parents may not always have enough time to sit down and watch over what their kids are watching, and in result of that kids are watching whatever they want whenever they want. Children may be able to watch many shows that are out of their age range such as; PG-13, R-18, or even rated X shows. Watching television is bad for children because, violence in television causes aggression, may cause trauma, and children need to be more active. Children are like mockingbirds, anything you say or do, they will do the same, not because they want to misbehave, but because they don’t know any better. Many children shows nowadays include fighting in them, which is violence. So even if it is a kid show, it may not be as good as you think it is. According to futureofchildren.org, researchers show that children will imitate violent actions shown on television. The researchers collected more data when the children were older. The study showed that violence was still persistent in their lives, such as spousal abuse, choking, and shoving others. According to The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression, “Human and primate young have an innate tendency to mimic whoever they observe. They mimic expressions in early infancy, and mimic behaviors by the time they can walk.” This is more proof that children will do violent things as shown on television. In addition to added aggression, television may create trauma. Watching television might create antisocial behavior in children, which would be bad later in life. According to medialit.org children cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy, making it hard to distinguish real-life violence and television violence. Children will watch something on television that will make them not want to be in the real world in fear that it will happen to them. Watching television is equal to watching violence. 96 % of all television shows contain violence, which means a whopping 4% does not contain any violence. Sometimes children might watch a movie that is shown on television that is not good for their age group that may contain scary scenes. While the scars of being scared do not last forever, they can traumatize the child for a while. Things such as; ghosts, vampires, monsters, and killers can stick with the child for a while, even making it hard to sleep at times or be alone in the dark. Many kids will also suffer from panic attacks, or even anxiety attacks after watching something considered “scary” on television. The said children will become clingier as well, always looking for reassurance. In more severe cases, children will start to feel sick, or may become more paranoid. Which will give the child more problems later in life, such as, depression, paranoia, or even worse schizophrenia. Moving on from trauma, let’s take a look at how children can/need to be more physically active. If a child spends most of his/her time in from of the television they will never have time to be physically active. Being physically active helps in many ways. According to betterheaalth.vic.gov.au, some ways it helps is; it promotes a healthier lifestyle, it builds a strong foundation for strong bones and muscles, it cuts back child obesity by a lot, it improves self-esteem and so many more awesome benefits. Children who are not physically active do not have a chance to get those benefits. Being physically active also helps with the child’s thinking skills. The obesity rate among children have skyrocketed more than fifty percent in the last ten-twenty years. They would rather it inside and watch television then go play outdoors with their friends. While the children are not moving much watching television they do not work any fat off. Parents can help set a good example by turning off the television and playing with their children. Children with more involved parents are less likely to want to stay inside and watch television, they are going to want to go out and do fun activities with the parents. On the other hand, there are a few of beneficial children’s programming. According to a long-term study, children who watch more educational television shows are more likely to have higher grades in school and be less aggressive towards their peers. (Anderson et, al 2001). As opposed to children who watch whatever they want, being more aggressive towards their peers. According to raisesmartkid.com Scientists from the University of Siena have conclude that children are actually soothed by children cartoons, so a little bit of television will not hurt. Studies also show that children who watch more educational shows have a tendency of making higher grades on reading and math. According to livestrong.com there are also many benefits of children watching television, including inspiration. Television will help the child develop interests that they will want to further their education about. Anytime a child is wanting to further their education is good. Watching good educational shows such as; Sesame Street,
Dragon Tales, and many more options on “PBS” Will help with their social connectedness. They kids will have more to relate to and will learn to interact with other kids. Some other benefits of
Watching television would be possibly learning a second language, and learning to expand their imagination. Watching educational televisions also improves the children’s behavioral skills. As opposed to the children watching television that is not good for them having the opposite effect on their behaviors. According to an article on abcnews.org “Children imitate what they see on screen. During some research studies, kids have also been known to make higher grades on the SAT, better paying jobs, and also go off into college and eventually graduate with a degree. They imitate bad behavior, but also good behavior. Parents should take advantage of this,” said Christakis. (Author). Even though television may have some good benefits, in this situation, the bad outnumber the good. Because the bad situation of kids watching television is so high that is why I do not agree with it. I have shown you how watching television could be bad for younger kids, such as; violence in television causing aggression, kids may be traumatized by television, and it is bad for their active lives. On the other hand, I’ve told you how watching television could possibly help with their grades in school, as well as helping them learn social skills.

Works Cited
Gillham, Christina, and Anna Kuchment. "Kids: To TV Or Not TV." Newsweek 18 Feb. 2008: 60. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Magazines&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE|A174652751&source=Bookmark&u=avl_jeff&jsid=2398c876899b446159793a1ec3d05765>.
"Why Observing Violence Increases the Risk of Violent Behavior by the Observer." The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression. N.p.: Cambridge UP, 2007. Credo Reference. 1 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://athena.jeffersonstate.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cupvba/why_observing_violence_increases_the_risk_of_violent_behavior_by_the_observer/0>.

Walsh, Bill. "WhatWe KnowAbout Young Children, Tv, and Violence."Medialit.org. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014

Cabrera, Karen. “Benefits of Television” Livestrong.com. N.p.,
2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2014
"Children- Getting Them More Active." Betterhealth.vic.gov.au. 1 July 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Children_getting_them_active?open>.

Cited: Gillham, Christina, and Anna Kuchment. "Kids: To TV Or Not TV." Newsweek 18 Feb. 2008: 60. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Magazines&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE|A174652751&source=Bookmark&u=avl_jeff&jsid=2398c876899b446159793a1ec3d05765>. "Why Observing Violence Increases the Risk of Violent Behavior by the Observer." The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression. N.p.: Cambridge UP, 2007. Credo Reference. 1 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://athena.jeffersonstate.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cupvba/why_observing_violence_increases_the_risk_of_violent_behavior_by_the_observer/0>.  Walsh, Bill. "WhatWe KnowAbout Young Children, Tv, and Violence."Medialit.org. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014 Cabrera, Karen. “Benefits of Television” Livestrong.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2014 "Children- Getting Them More Active." Betterhealth.vic.gov.au. 1 July 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Children_getting_them_active?open>.