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Television and Children

In: English and Literature

Submitted By jodee770
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Television and Children In the last couple of years the growing concern over the effect of television on children has gripped the nation. Studies have shown that today’s shows on television have a negative effect on the social behavior on children, causing them, among other things, to be more hostile toward others, and interact less with others. While in the past, cartoons could have been an easy target by parents and other watchdogs on this issue, these days, other types of shows and programming have been culprits as well. The suggested solutions on how to remedy this stem from parents connecting with their children. As the saying goes, easy to say, but hard to do. In today’s busy world, parents often miss how big a presence television is in their children’s live. According to the University of Michigan Health System, “television viewing among kids is at an eight year high” (Boyse, 2010, para. 6). Children spend an average of 32 hours a week in front of the television, collectively from watching movies, playing videogames, or just watching shows on TV. As their parents get busier with work, children spend more time finding ways to entertain themselves, and the most obvious choice is the TV. Television executives are aware of this, of course, and today many shows are being geared toward babies and toddlers as opposed to past generations, making television the number one teacher in the early lives of these young ones. According to Jerry Odland (2004), “young children are spending more time watching television, playing video games, or interacting with a computer screen than they do exploring books.” Older kids have a different set of issues; “44% of kids say they watch something different when they’re alone than with their parents” (“Facts and TV Statistics,” 2001, para. 11) with 25% of them choosing to switch to Music Television (MTV). If older children have to

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