How TV Can Be Dangerous for Your Children

Attention all parents: do you know television can be harmful to your children? I am here to tell you it can be. It is time that you take charge and interact with what your children are really watching. I promise you will not regret it. Many people believe that TV can be harmful unless parents take an active role in the child's life. If no one teaches children the morals to live by, then all they know is what they have seen on TV and that can be dangerous to them. From TV children can learn to be violent or kind, they can develop positive or negative role models and they can also be taken advantage of. I am here to prove that television is dangerous to children and provide research that supports my argument.

If one was to watch TV closely they too would see all the dangers that are presented to children. Most of the time children do not even know that they are being harmed. But, people do not want to protect children from television for no reason. If one were to page through Parade Magazine on July 23,2000 on page eight they would have found an article titled, "Teach Your Child The ABC'S of Protection". Or if one has ever read the poem, "Children Learn What They Live" written by Dorothy Law Nolte in 1972, one could see the dangers TV presents to children every day the watch TV. Television is obviously not aware of the article published in Parade Magazine, otherwise TV would know that children are being bribed and being presented negative idols. Also, television has not read, "Children Learn What They Live," other TV would know that every act of violence children see on TV influences them to be violent. For those who have not read the poem it goes like this: "If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight. If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive. If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves. If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy. If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy. If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty. If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence. If children live with tolerance, they learn patience. If children live with praise, they learn appreciation. If children live with acceptance, they learn to love. If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves. If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal. If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness. If children live with fairness, they learn justice. If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect. If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them. If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live"(Reference 4). If TV was aware of these publications I would not be here telling parents that the things their children view on television is dangerous to them.

It should also be noted that the concerns of television being dangers to children have been there from the beginning. TV first appeared in 1939 at a World's Fair, but regular broadcasting of television channels did not begin until the late 1940s. Parents, social scientists, and teachers, in the early 1950s, had already begun to question how television affects children. They thought children were watching TV too much, there were many advertisements directed towards children, and violence was becoming a problem. All of these issues arose in the infancy of television and they still exist today (Reference 1). If people experienced these problems in the beginning of TV and they still exist today I feel that you should be concerned about the dangers that affect your children and how you can help prevent them.

One of these many dangers is advertising. The Parade Magazine article states, "Bride. Strangers may try to get you to walk away with them by offering candy, toys, money, or even computer games. Don't fall for this trick." Think of all the millions of commercials one sees that advertise different products: and all the times you have been cheated by the product because you decided to buy it. That is the goal of advertising, to sell and make profit. Children are at risk when it comes to advertising, most do not even understand advertising. All they want is the new toy, game, or fast food item that they see being advertised while watching commercials. Children do not understand that the things they see on TV cost money; they just want what they saw. Television is bribing them with the new toys, games, and fast food items. TV bribes them by advertising things like the newest power ranger action figure, games like "Guess Who", or McDonald's happy meals, which of course comes with a toy. Most of television is comprised of commercials; take away the commercials and advertising is virtually finished. Advertising targets kids because they do not know any better. Consumer International, an independent non-profit organization founded in 1960 that represents consumer groups and agencies all over the world, posted an anonymous article on their website, Consumers International, stating, "

Many children, especially under the age of six, have difficulty distinguishing between advertising and programs, and most do not fully understand the purpose of advertising. It is not until around or after age 12 that most children have developed a fuller understanding of the purpose of advertising" (Reference 2). They agree that since many children do not understand that they are being tricked and lied to, it makes them the perfect target; they are vulnerable. When commercials come on the TV, children still think they are watching the program. They think the products being advertised are something they want, so they go and show their parents. Now the parents know that their children want it, but what if they cannot afford it? It creates tension among the family. John P. Murray, a director of School of Family Studies and Human Services and Barbara Lonnborg, a director of Public Service Division Boys Town claim that, "Advertising can cause children to 'want' toys or foods that they do not need and that their families can not afford. In addition to the tension that arise in families, many parents feel that advertising encourages their children to be too concerned about 'things' rather than people" (Reference 12). All children want is what see, even if they have no use for it. They start to become obsessed with material things, which lead to selfishness and greed. Parents start feeling bad too because they cannot afford everything their children want. The children also get angry at the parents because they are not getting what they want. Parents need to explain to them that advertisements are just bribes and that there are more important things than material things, like family and friends. Another negative thing about advertisements is children can form negative stereotypes from ads.

Anonymous students from the University of California did research and comprised a website, Television, about television issues. They state, "Advertising promotes the illusion of success, happiness, and sexuality, of course all through the consumption of the advertised products. It is simply selling a decorated lie" (Reference 3). These images will stick with them. Children begin to think that if they want to be popular and have friends they have to buy the latest pair of jeans or the hottest CD that just came out. By believing this they are being lied to; one does not become popular from buying a pair of jeans. To become popular one actually has to have an outgoing personality; jeans are not going to make one instantaneously popular. In reality it does not always work out that way. Advertising is a dangerous tool used to get kids to nag their parents to buy unnecessary products; it is simply a bribe.

Conversely, there are some people who think advertising is positive. Angela Ann Zukowski, the president of the National Catholic Association of Radio and Television feels,"Television commercials do, in fact provide us with some interesting possibilities for example, ads for things to eat and drink gives parents and teachers alike a chance to talk to children about good nutrition, to offer advice on what makes sense in a diet and what doesn't...Commercials about toys and games give parents and teachers the chance to talk to children about the value of money. About what is and isn't important. About having to decide what's worth spending money on and when saving money is really the wiser course". (Reference 1) That is a good point, but what about the parents who do not talk to their children about those issues or the ones who claim they do not have the time for that? Then their children continue to be deceived. I say that advertising should be limited and it is essential for parents to become active in their children's viewing. If they do not learn from their parents, then they will learn it from something else, like TV, and it will turn out to be a negative influence.

The next correlation with TV comes from the same Parade Magazine article stating, "Idols. Kids have many idols or heroes, like Santa, the Easter bunny, Xena, Hercules..."(Reference 5) Children do have role models and a lot of them come from television shows. But did you know that not all of their TV role models are positive ones? Many children are starting to have negative role models from violent shows. Children are starting to form role models from shows like, The Simpsons, South Park, The Family Guy, King of the Hill, and Futurerama. These shows promote violence, drugs, sex, and disrespect to parents and even friends. I would not want my child picking up these negative traits. The anonymous students from the University of California also agree, "Negatively, television is very influential on young children. Take for example a 6-year-old boy who beat up his little sister and then burned down his house. After interrogation, the young delinquent revealed his motivation for such crime came from the television show Beavis and Butthead" (Reference 6). Is that something you want your child to look up to? Not me. Children who are not taught otherwise, do not know any better. They will mimic what they see and if they are not taught, then that negative role model is who they want to be. They see these characters on TV and think they are so cool, so naturally they want to be just like them. Dr. Jane Ledingham, Director of the Child Study Center of the University of Ottawa claims,"By the age of three, children will willingly watch a show designed for them 95% of the time and will imitate someone on television as readily as the will imitate a live person...Young children do not process information in the same way as adults. Nor do they have the experience or judgment to evaluate what they see. For example, children between the ages of six and ten may believe that most of what they see on TV is true to life. Since they watch a lot of TV, this makes them particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of television". (Reference 7)

Children are vulnerable to these negative role models, unless taught otherwise. Laurel Preece, a media and communication specialist agrees that TV influences children, even in a negative way. On The Parent's Guild: Use TV to Your Child's Advantage website she agrees that, "TV characters and celebrities influence clothing choices, the way we talk, our hobbies and interest, the way we decorate our homes, and even the way we behave. Children are especially likely to imitate the clothes, hair styles, and behaviors of the TV characters that they admire. This may include using expressions from their favorite TV program or pretending to be a favorite superhero". (Reference 8) But parents are not teaching most children what positive role models are, so how can they know? Parents need to monitor what their children are watching and teach to them the morals they would like them to posses.

However, there are some people who feel that TV does have positive role models. The University of California students used a quote from Marshal McLuhan, who is an educator in mass media and has a PH.D in English literature. He states, "Television does more educating than the schools and all the institutions of high learning." The students continue, "Not only can television teach but also it is an easy way to convey current information out to the majority of the population" (Reference 3). But what if your children do not like educated TV? Then you have a problem. They will resort back to those negative role models, because that is what they watch and no positive role model is present. Unless parents can provide an interesting positive role model to them or teach them what a good role model is, children will have nothing else to turn to except negative role models.

My last correlation with TV comes from the poem, "Children Learn What They Live." The third line states, "If children live with hostility, they learn to fight..." Violence on TV is one of the most dangerous things to your children. Violence affects them the most and stays with them. Children see it so much on TV that they start to accept it as being right and resort to violence as an answer. They believe that whatever is on the television is right, they live what they learn. Kevin Szaflik, a station manager, produce, and director at WRHS television states, "Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows, in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or left unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in a child's behavior or may surface years later, and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency towards violence". (Reference 9)

Again, it can be said that children learn what they see. Researchers even believe that TV is responsible for violent behaviors. The Committee on Public Education says, "The recently completed 3-year National Television Violence Study found the following: 1) nearly two thirds of all programming contains violence; 2) children's shows contain the most violence; 3) portrayals of violence are usually glamorized; and 4) perpetrators often go unpunished" (Reference 10). Children's shows contain the most violence and shows are being glamorized while the violent people go without getting into trouble. I do not think that is a good thing for our children to be viewing. They will pick up what they watch and live by it. Violence just does not make children act aggressively either. Ledingham says, "Besides making children more likely to act aggressively, violence on television may have other harmful effects. First it may lead children to accept more aggressive behavior in other. Second, it may make children more fearful as they come to believe that violence is as common in the real world as it is on television" (Reference 7). I do not want my children growing up with violence and thinking it is a major part of the world and living in fear. The violence on TV needs to be toned down, especially in children's shows. After all they are all children and do not better.

On the other hand there are some people who feel that television is not that violent. Ledingham has also said, "But television is not always a negative influence. There is strong evidence that children's shows that were developed to teach academics and social skills can help children to learn effectively" (Reference 7). Well, what if the child does not watch educated shows or watches more violent shows than educated shows? They will remember the violent shows or accept it to be right. The violence in children's shows needs to be controlled and stopped; there is no need for it.

In conclusion, TV on its own is just another thing people view as a past time. However, it does promote many dangers to children, like violence, false role models, and deceiving advertisements. It is a very scary situation, but there is still hope. Parents can change everything if they star early and stay on top of it. Dick Wolf, producers of shows like Law & Order and New York Undercover, says at Children & the Media website, "It's an issue of parental responsibility, it's not the role of government..." (Reference 11). Become your child's most important role model and warn them against false advertisements, negative role models, and violence! Tune out the voice of the television so yours is the one that is heard the most! Do not let TV ruleyour child's life.

References
1) Zukowski, Angela Ann. "Children and Television." The Catholic World Nov./Dec. 1993:261
2) "A Spoongul of sugar." Consumers International. 14 July 1001 http://www.consumersinternational.org/campaigns/tvads/ 4 April 2002
3) "Advertising." Television. http://ic.uscs.edu/~pmmckerc/advertising.html 4 April 2002
4) "Children Live What They Learn." Empowerment Sources. http://empowermentsources.com/info2/childrenlearn-long verison.html 17 April 1997
5) Title of article unknown. Parade Magazine. www.parade.com date unknown.
6) "Hidden Messages." Television. http:ic.uscs.edu/~pmmckerc/underlyingmessages.html 4 April 2002
7) Ledingham, Jane. "The Effects of Media Violence on Children." http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/home/resource/famvlnc.html 4 April 2002
8) Preece, Laurel. "Of Interest." The Parent's Guide: Use TV to Your Child's Advantage. March 1997 http://npin.org/pnews/1997/pnews397/pnew397dhtml 19 april 2002
9) "Violence on TV: The Desensitizing of America." Ridgenet. 3 May 2000 http://www.ridgenet.org/szaflik/tvrating.html 24 Novermber 2004
10) Bar-on, Miriam E., et. al. "Children, Adolescents, and Television." American Academy of Pediatrics. 107.2 (2001): 423
11) Wolf, David. "Unsolved Mysteries: Should We Teach Value?" Children & the Media. June 1995 http://www.childrennow.org/media/mc95/media_report.html 18 April 2002
12) Murray, John P., abd Barbara Lonnborg. "Children and Television." Using TV Sesnisbly. March 1995 http://www.ksu.edu/humec/c&t.html 4 April 2002