Effects of Exposure to Televisions on Children

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Effects of Exposure to Television on Children

Research conducted by The National institute of Health and Common Sense Media has concluded that too much exposure to the TV impacts negatively on the health of children and teens. It has also been shown to have children develop behavioral problems and poor social skills. This has been aggravated by the sheer number of weekly children programs available in the TV channels.

This means that there is need for control on the amount of time spent in watching TV. Parents may have a hard time doing this due to work commitments and this has led to the rise of gadgets or devices that can be connected to the television system. These devices work on a pre-set time that automatically switches off the TV once the allocated time has been exhausted. Examples of these devices include Time-Scout Monitor and TVB-Gone. Since these devices work on one TV alone, parents are always encouraged to reduce the number of the TVs at home or purchase enough devices.

Research by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has shown that the social skills and behavior of a child vary according to the age during which the viewing occurs. The research showed that timing the amount of exposure is important in ensuring the children are brought up without having social or behavioral problems. Children under age 2 would not have adverse effects on their social skills by excess exposure. However children aged around 5.5 years would start having fewer social skills, exhibiting behavioral problems and have poor sleeping patterns.

Television sets however can be used to improve the language skills in children by the use of captions on the television sets. These enables children develop an understanding and familiarity with the words captioned in relation to what the speaker on TV is saying. This is an effective of improving reading skills in children due to the brain being able to process visual images faster than audio messages. Children are also able to associate between what is being shown and what has been heard faster than in adults and that aids immensely in their quick understanding.

Reference

Strasburger, V. C. (2011). Children, adolescents, obesity, and the media. Pediatrics, 128(1), 201-208.

Schramm, W. (1961). Television in the lives of our children. Stanford University Press.