Exploratory Research: Effects of Television on Child Development

This report, titled "Exploratory Research," investigates the effects of television viewing on children, exploring the potential for addiction and behavioral problems. The research, conducted by a student, emphasizes the importance of parental control over children's television time, highlighting concerns about exposure to unsuitable content and the impact on learning and social interaction. The report discusses findings from various sources, including polls and expert opinions, to underscore the need for parents to monitor and regulate their children's TV habits. It also examines alternative activities, like arts and crafts, and educational programs to foster children's development, suggesting ways to limit screen time and promote healthy habits. The conclusion reinforces the necessity of parental involvement in guiding children's media consumption to ensure their healthy development.

Running head: EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
Exploratory Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
Television is one of the most well-known mediums in the present day. It allows the
people of the world to watch anything on the television whenever they want to. However, this
factor tends to be a problem for the children because the children might get addicted to the
programs which they see on the television. As a result, this might affect the development of
the individuals themselves.
This report will find the various reasons why it is said that the parents should control
the television time of the children and in what alternative ways, the children would be able to
increase their knowledge. It would also state the reasons why watching television is not good
for the children as well.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Findings......................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Reference List............................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Television is one of the major technological boons in the lives of the human beings currently.
I feel that with the invention of the televisions, it has become easier for the human beings to
watch any kind of program which they like. This however, causes a problem for the children
who gets addicted to the cartoons and other programs which they watch on the television
itself.
As a result of this, the children feel only interested in watching television rather than
doing anything else. Having a three-year-old child of my own, who is addicted to watching
television, I believe that the parents should have some control over their children so that they
do not become too addicted in watching television itself. This is what I will discuss in the
research paper itself.
Discussion
As I had already said before, television might cause the children to become addicted.
This is evidenced by my own child wo is already addicted to the television and cartoons
which he watches all day. I have been looking for sources which will help me to understand
the reasons why the children watch television for such a long period of time itself.
In order to understand the reasons for the children getting addicted to the television, I
went out looking for the answers itself. I knew that the if my child watches television for a

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long time, it would be harmful for her as she will become addicted and will not be able to
learn new things or interact with the people around her (Robertson, 2013).
I wanted to find out how my child can be affected by watching television for long
hours, which made me look for the sources online and also in databases and in the libraries as
well. However, I was not able to find the desired information at the Anoka Technical Library,
which made me look for the information at other sources. However, I found the information
which I was looking for in The Points of View Database here a lot of experts have stated their
findings about the concept of “children vs television”. This helped me to get the desired
information which I was looking for at the library itself. I will discuss my findings in the
following paragraphs of the paper itself (Vittrup,2015).
Findings
While conducting the research on the topic as I wanted to, I came across a poll article,
in which I was shocked to find out that most of the parents are not even concerned with the
time that their kids spend in watching the television or the kinds of shows and programs
which they watch on television. I also found that there were also parents of the children who
claims that they have the control of the remote and the programs which their children
watches, so it prevents the children from becoming addicted to the television sets in the
country itself.

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The answers which I got form the poll itself made me realize that this problem is more
complex and alarming than what I used to believe myself. This is because there are a number
of reasons which makes me believe the fact that the parents should have form of control over
the children while they watch television. The first reason why I feel that it is important for the
parents to have control over their children watching television because of the fact that
spending more time in front of the television can lead to the development of behavioural
problems and that of obesity among the students themselves.
The second reason why I feel that the parents should have some control over their
children watching television is because of certain types of programmes which might not be
suitable for the students themselves. What I mean by this is the children might be exposed to
the programmes meant for the adults which might not be suitable for the students themselves.
In addition to this, I found that some experts are of the opinion that the children learn things
by facial expressions, tone of the voice and also the body language of the parents and those
around them.
These experts go on to state the fact that of the children spend more time watching
cartoons on television, then they miss out on learning opportunities as they would not be
interacting with other people in their homes. It is because of these reasons that the experts are
of the opinion that the parents should always have the control on their children watching
television itself.

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In addition to this, I had also come across an article in which the authors urge not only
the parents of the children but also the society to take actions regarding their children
watching television for a long period of time itself. These authors are of the opinion that the
many of the parents state that their children suffer from ADHD, which makes it difficult for
them to go to sleep. Therefore, the parents have no other options available to them rather than
allowing the children to watch television for long time.
I felt that the authors agree with me when they state the fact that parents must come
up with a number of steps themselves to prevent their children form watching adult programs
during the night. This is the reason why I believe that the parents should have some control in
determining which type of programs should be watched by their children and for how long
they should be watching the television themselves (Vittrup, 2015). In addition to this, I also
had come up with an article which stated the fact children should not be keeping televisions
in their bedrooms.
I feel that these experts share my opinion that the bedroom is a place where the
children should be sleeping instead of watching television. If the parents put a television in
the bedroom, the children might want to eat their dinner in their own bedrooms instead of
dining with his/her family.
I feel that the children dining with their families is an important quality because it
would allow them to interact with their parents, which I feel is very necessary for the children
themselves. Moreover, I also came across an article which states that the parents of the

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children should involve the children more in activities relating to the arts and crafts or other
activities, which would increase their learning skills in a much better way than it does instead
of the knowledge which they gain by watching television itself (Xu et. all, 2015).
Another reason why I believe that the parents should have control over the television
programs watched by their children is because of the programs that are not suitable for them.
In this case, I feel that the program developers should be able to know about the programs
and the type of effect it can have on the children themselves.
Regarding this issue, I came across an article in which the author suggests the fact that
the children should only be watching those kinds of programs that would be educational for
them (Robertson 2013). In relation to this issue, I think it would be wise to mention that the
YouTube Kids app, which has been mentioned by the author in the article, is doing the right
things. They have putting up shows which will allow the children to both learn and enjoy
from the programs shown there.
The author in this case states about the YouTube Kids app and lets the readers know
about the various ways in which the programs on such platforms can be used to help the
children learn interesting things. Moreover, I feel that the parents should make their children
watch programmes land channels like Nat Geo, Discovery and Animal Planet which would
allow them to increase their knowledge about the world (Nikken et. all, 2013).

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This I feel is a right strategy of getting the kids to both learn as well as enjoy by not
just using it as a marketing strategy itself. I feel that this is one of the ways that the
Government of the country can put a regulation on the type of the programs that the children
should be watching (Nikken et. all, 2015).
Moreover, I feel that the adult programmes with criminal activities if watched by the
students themselves, can affect their growth and development. I found my concerns supported
in an article which I came across in Points of View Database, which claims that the producers
of the programs should be blamed for the airing of criminal or violent content affecting the
children of the families.
In addition to this. I also came across the information in a 2007 article in which the
author mentioned the controversial repot which was released by the Federal Communications
Council (FCC), in which various issues relating to the broadcast of violent content on the
television was mentioned. All of these reasons are strong enough to make me believe the fact
that the parents have some sort of control over their children watching the television for a
long time in their homes (Lin et. all, 2016).
Conclusion
In following the information, which I found on the Internet and on the Point of View
Database, I strongly believe that the parents should have a strong control in ensuring the type

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of program watched by their children in television. In addition to this, I feel that the parents
should also limit the time the children watches television.
I feel that this is the only way in which the children would be able to grow up health
and be able to develop themselves into responsible adult citizens of the world itself. This is
the reason why I strongly suggest that the parents control the television time of the children.
Reference List
Carroll, J. (2006). One in Four Parents Worry That Their Children Watch Too
Much TV: Gallup Poll Briefing, 1. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.ahtproxy.mnpals.net/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=pwh&AN =23777516&site=pov-live
Gentile, D.A., Reimer, R.A., Nathanson, A.I., Walsh, D.A. and Eisenmann, J.C., 2014.
Protective effects of parental monitoring of children’s media use: A prospective study. JAMA
pediatrics, 168(5), pp.479-484.
Jackson, D., & Derbyshire, P. (2006). Parenting in Public: “Watching the Directives.”
Advances in Contemporary Community & Family Health Care, 23(2), 224. Retrieved
from http://search.ebscohost.com.ahtproxy.mnpals.net/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=pwh&AN= 25042 836&site=pov-live

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Lin, L.Y., Cherng, R.J., Chen, Y.J., Chen, Y.J. and Yang, H.M., 2015. Effects of television
exposure on developmental skills among young children. Infant behavior and development,
38, pp.20-26.
Nikken, P. and Schols, M., 2015. How and why parents guide the media use of young
children. Journal of child and family studies, 24(11), pp.3423-3435.
Robertson, L.A., McAnally, H.M. and Hancox, R.J., 2013. Childhood and adolescent
television viewing and antisocial behavior in early adulthood. Pediatrics, 131(3), pp.439-446.
Vittrup, B., Snider, S., Rose, K.K. and Rippy, J., 2016. Parental perceptions of the role of
media and technology in their young children’s lives. Journal of Early Childhood Research,
14(1), pp.43-54.
Xu, H., Wen, L.M. and Rissel, C., 2015. Associations of parental influences with physical
activity and screen time among young children: a systematic review. Journal of Obesity,
2015.