What Is Television Really Doing to Children?

As we already know, television has changed the world and how we view it. In today’s world, majority of what we see on the television ranges from violence to sexuality to profanity. There is no doubt that whatever is shown on the television can not only easily influence the behaviour of adults, but also the most vulnerable minds which is that of young children. Television can greatly affect the development of the brain in young children. Not only that, but the amount of time spent on the television can be detrimental to children’s physical health.

Television has a negative impact on children that can affect them in numerous ways including mentally, emotionally, and physically. So the question is, what impact does the television have on our children’s mental health? The first two years of life are the most critical for the development of the brain. This means that young children’s brains are more open to learning and enriching influences. It also means that young children’s brain are much more vulnerable to developmental problems should their environment be negative or un-nurturing.

Many studies on the effects of TV violence on children have found that children become immune or numb to the horror of violence and accept violence as a way to solve problems. This means that the viewing of television violence by children can cause aggressiveness which means more violent children who will grow into violent adults. Children are our number one imitators. Just ask any mother whose had her 3 year old daughter walk into the kitchen with bright red lipstick smudged all over her lips and eye shadow covering their entire eye. Why?

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Because that’s what she sees her mother do every single morning before she leaves for work. Point is, what children see, children do. Television can also affect some of the most important areas of children’s life, like the classroom. Results of an investigation done by the Quebec Longitudinal Study of child development exposure showed that watching too much TV as toddlers resulted in a 7% decrease in classroom engagement as well as these children have a harder time focusing in the class. We cannot continue to set our children up for failure.

Letting something like the television which parents have so much control over, control us is only harming our children. Not only does television affect children’s mental development, but also their physical health. A television often takes the place of interactive experiences that children are supposed to be a part of. A child who watches more than 2 hours of television a day has a 17% of becoming obese, a 15% chance of having cardiovascular system problems, and an increase of cholesterol in the blood.

Now what do you usually have beside you when you’re watching your favorite daytime soap opera? Yep, you got it, a bowl of potato chips! This is exactly what children do when they’re watching their TV shows. Deneke 2 Kids are starting to become less active and lazier and it’s becoming a greater risk factor for adulthood obesity. If parents don’t start taking responsibility of what they’re letting their children do, their kids are going to be pointing their finger to their parents asking why they let them do this while signing up for the 30th season of “The Biggest Loser”.

Excessive television viewing among young children has been linked to negative impacts on early brain development, and lifelong physical health. Early exposure to television can affect a child’s mental development as well as physical health. So parents replace those TV’s in your children bedrooms with books and do more fun and active activities with your kids so your child doesn’t become one of these statistics.

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