Effects of Television on Children

We need to become aware of how TV is influencing children and ourselves, & do something about it.
Copyright, 1996 Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.

Agenda
Review of Research Issues: Violence, Values, Advertising

Actions Parents, Teachers & others can take Resources

Frequent, prolonged viewing of television by children leads to:

their diminished capacity for concentration

less skillful use of large muscles

decreased sensitivity to human suffering

decreased ability to distinguish between reality & fantasy

Additional effects of frequent, prolonged viewing of television by children:

diminished ability to engage in creative, original thinking

less expression of ideas in conversation

diminished capacity to see the relationships between cause and effect

Statistical Findings:
the typical American household has a TV turned on for about 7 hours each day
by the time youngsters graduate from high school, they will have spent 11,000 hours in school, but over 15,000 hours watching TV heavy TV viewers put in less effort on school work, have poorer reading skills, play less well with friends, have fewer hobbies and activities & are more likely to be overweight

Issue: Violence
20 to 25 violent acts occur each hour on Saturday morning childrens programs
before children complete elementary school, many will see about 20,000 murders and more than 80,000 other assaults some violence will be seen on realistic programs and some will be seen on cartoons these children will be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others

Issue: Advertising
Children younger than six or up to eight years of age do not understand that the purpose of advertising is to sell a product The average child may see more than 20,000 TV commercials each year

Advertising can cause children to want toys or foods that they do not need, and that their families cannot afford

What Parents, Teachers and Others can do:

Actively promote social, physical, cognitive & expressive activities as alternatives preferable to TV viewing View TV along with children & talk about what they see on television

With very young children talk about how violence is faked, and what would happen if your actually carried out those

More Actions to take:

Take extreme care in the selection of programs to be viewed by children, giving preference to those having characters who are appropriate role models for children Recommend that TV viewing for children under eight years be limited to a maximum of one hour daily

Resources
Marcia Pollack, SCAEYC John P. Murray, Kansas State University

Barbara Lonnborg, Boys Town