Influence of Television (Children/Teens)

Outline

Introduction

Discussion

A. Influence of Television (Children/Teens)

Conclusion

Introduction

Television plays a prominent role in the lives of young children. According to a nationally (i.e., USA) representative telephone survey, approximately 99% of young children live in a home in which there is at least one television set, with the majority of homes possessing two or more sets. Forty-three percent of children between three- and four-years of age have a television in their bedroom.

Moreover, 32% of children under the age of six live in a household in which the television is on most of the time or always, regardless of whether someone is actually watching it. According to Centerwall (1992, p.4) 21 % live in households with the television on half of the time. Given that television is so common in the households of young children, it is not surprising that they spend a considerable amount of time engaged in television viewing. Reports of the amount of time children under the age of six spend watching television range from 1.19 hours to 4.0 hours daily (Centerwall, p4). However, it should be noted that the variation in viewing time among children is large, ranging from zero to approximately six hours per day in a single study.

“Television is a way to reveal the negative roles to society. It is a way to damage a person's thought about the real world”, in contrast, “television today is considered to be the most important and most respected form of transmitting information (Centerwall, p4). Its' easy accessibility means that it has the largest audience of all forms of media and therefore the greatest impact”. In other words television has proved to play both a negative and positive role in today's life. Adolescents may acquire very unnecessary information from media sources such as television, but they also obtain a great amount of information through educational programs.

Preschool age children are not only exposed to television at home, but also in daycare settings. Children in daycare are exposed to 1.39 hours per day in home-based daycares and .36 hours per day in centre-based daycares. Combined with the parental reports of viewing at home, a preschool age child may watch as much as 5.39 hours of television per day. Considering most parenis are unaware of the exact time spent at activities in their child's preschool, it is unlikely that they have included time spent viewing at preschool within their estimates of television viewing time and, thus, parental reports given in studies may be inaccurate (Buijzen, p437).

Television also accompanies many of the daily activities of young children. For example, 53% of children under six-years-old often consume snacks or meals in front of the television. Furthermore, television is now a common element of bedtime for some children. Thirty-seven percent of the children who have televisions in their bedroom go to bed with the television on half of the time or more. These data reveals that television is not just a primary activity for young children, but also a secondary activity that occurs ...