The Harmful Effects of Television Viewing on Children

Children and TV

Professor: Dr. Germain
Course Title: ENG090035VA016-1116-001 (Writing Fundamentals)
08/22/2011

Children and TV Watching

Every child loves to spend countless hours in front of the TV watching cartoons, and various TV programs. What a lot of parents don’t realize is that although watching TV keeps a child occupied and quiet, long periods of TV watching can be harmful to the child in three major ways I would like to discuss.
Children that spend hours in front of a TV are more likely to be overweight. Watching TV does not require a lot of movement. It requires sitting and the more a child sits the less active he is. As we know when you are more active is when you stay in better shape. Children should be involved in some kind of light to moderate activity every day that will cause them to move around and burn calories.
Children are also more likely to pick up on violence from some cartoons and TV shows out there. Although most cartoons do not promote violence directly, children do pick up on cartoons that show guns, knives etc. They can also pick these things up from shows that may not seem so violent but have connections to violence. This can cause them to show more aggressive behavior when they are faced with real life situations.
Lastly children that are exposed too much TV can show risky behaviors not appropriate for children. You may think a show is not bad but something simple as a child seeing someone smoking can provoke thoughts in the child’s head. Some TV shows and cartoons also promote racial stereotypes. All this can affect the child when they go out in the real world and how they treat others.
As you can see it is best to limit the role TV plays in a child’s life. Children should be exposed to a certain amount of hours of TV a day and also certain programs that are not G-rated should be blocked. This will help in developing and exposing the child to things when they are of the correct age.