Analyzing the Harmful Influence of Television on Child Psychology

This essay critically examines the pervasive influence of television on children, arguing that despite its potential for education, it primarily exerts a detrimental impact. The essay highlights how excessive television viewing contributes to behavioral issues such as aggression and imitation of ...Read More

Running head: TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
Television is a bad influence on Children
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1TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
Television has grown to become an integral part of households in the modern world. The
role of television has become indispensible in the present world scenario that it is impossible to
imagine life without television. It is a way by which entertainment is provided to people of all
ages specifically to children. Despite the fact that television is informative and offers valuable
information as well, it has been seen that children remain glued to their television sets all day and
do not take part in any sort of outdoor activities. It has been seen that children from age group of
2 to 18 years have a television set in their bedrooms. It has also been seen that children spend as
much as 5 hours on television and using all sorts of media (Huesmann and Eron).
Despite the fact that children love television and in certain specific cases it helps them a
lot, television is responsible for creating a negative impact on them. It has been seen that people
put forward the claim that children need to be allowed to watch television as it is informative and
educational. There are several children’s shows and pre-school training programs on television
which are explanatory and helpful for the toddlers to understand the basics of education.
However it can be said that though children can start watching television with educational
shows, they might be exposed to shows which are negative and inappropriate for their particular
age group. In case there are no adults around, the children might end up watching shows which
might portray violence and bad language. This might impact the minds or thought processes of
the children. The kids might begin to fear that the world is as bad a place as it is shown on the
screen (Radesky, Schumacher and Zuckerman).
Another problem with excessive watching of television on children is that they might
begin to emulate the behaviours which are being represented on the screen. In case negativity
and aggressive behaviour is represented in television, children might start to behave aggressively
and a negative behavioural pattern might begin to get etched in the children’s attitudes. In

2TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
addition to this children always prefer watching something entertaining than anything which is
informative or educational. The interests of the children start to vary and they prefer to settle for
movies and latest cartoons or game shows on television than anything which might help them in
their studies. It is seen that many children lack self discipline or learn it at a much later sage in
their lives. Therefore television and its constant attention lead to the loss in concentration and
even major lack of attention and discipline (Strasburger, Jordan, and Donnerstein).
Violence has a very important role to play in the different shows on television at present.
Allowing children to watch violence can corrupt their mindsets and might leave them as
undeveloped in their lives. Letting children watch problems can cause violence could corrupt
their minds. There needs to be a limitation on the types of shows which can be available for
viewership by the children. These days children have become more and more exposed to the
shows and their habits have also imitated their behaviours. Television also harms the health of
children. Children become obese and are usually less fit muscularly and they do not engage in
any sort of physical activities. The sleep patterns of children are also hampered and research has
shown that it has severe impacts on sleep problems even till adulthood (Singer and Singer).
The mindsets of the children are also bound to change with the unrealistic episodes and
shows which are portrayed in television. The children have short spans of attention and due to
this, the shows which are short and which portray problem solving as an easy way out, further
damage the attention spans and the proper understanding of the children. In case children keep
on viewing shows and television as a whole for long hours their thinking abilities might be
hampered and they might not be able to think clearly. There are shows where life is shown to be
easy going and luxurious. However this is not the ultimate reality in life. Children might not be
exposed to problems early on in their lives and they might not understand the importance of

3TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
struggle or sacrifice. The shows can further change their perception by showing issues which are
unrealistic or too easy going to be applicable in daily life (Livingstone and Bovill).
Another very negative impact of television is the habits with which its viewership is
accompanied with. Children who watch television usually take several snacks and watch
television. This amounts to unhealthy eating habits which might increase with the increase in the
viewership of television. Thus it is to be understood that the detrimental impacts of television are
not realised at first but the negative impacts are quite serious and far reaching. Research has
shown that the children who watch more and more of television have a higher chance of being
overweight. It has also been seen that the metabolic rate at the time of watching television is
lower than the time of resting. This leads to come to the conclusion that individuals have the
chance of burning fewer calories at the time of watching TV in comparison to when simply
sitting silently without performing anything (Hutchby and Moran-Ellis).
In addition to this there are several TV advertisements which encourage unhealthy
consumption habits. Therefore it can be said that majority of advertisements promote those food
stuffs which are unhealthy and detrimental. The unhealthy food and beverage advertisements
have a severe negative impact on the minds of the children thereby making them consume those
types of food which are unhealthy and also have severe impacts on their health (Boyland and
Halford).
It needs to be understood that the early years of a child’s life are most important and
therefore it needs to be ensured that a positive development takes place of each child. The early
years of a youngster are necessary for their development and too much viewership of television
can lead to the brain development of the kids being affected. In case the opinions of

4TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
paediatricians are to be believed, programming needs to be modified specifically for young
children. Sadly every channel is not filtered based on the child’s needs. Television is full of
advertisements and commercials which show risky behaviours which can impact the behaviours
of the children. The advertisements of liquor in television have the power of negatively
impacting the children and making them problematic individuals with negative characterisations
(Greenfield).
Television viewership can bring about harmful effects such as underdevelopment of
thinking skills, negative forms of behaviours and unhealthy lifestyles. The negative effects of
television viewership cannot be ignored and parents and guardians need to take care of the
specific fact. So long as kids are being considered and their life is concerned they need to be put
away from any sort of television viewership which is negative and harmful. Even if the negative
impacts are not understood at first, they have long lasting impacts. Once the impacts harm the
children at a later stage they or their guardians will not have any more control on their lives.
There have been several instances where children have resorted to unfair means in their lives
have become wrongdoers and have indulged in a lot of lies much of which has been due to
television.

5TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
References:
Boyland, Emma J., and Jason CG Halford. "Television advertising and branding. Effects on
eating behaviour and food preferences in children." Appetite 62 (2013): 236-241.
Greenfield, Patricia M. Mind and media: The effects of television, video games, and computers.
Psychology Press, 2014.
Huesmann, L. Rowell, and Leonard D. Eron, eds. Television and the aggressive child: A cross-
national comparison. Vol. 7. Routledge, 2013.
Hutchby, Ian, and Jo Moran-Ellis. Children, technology and culture: The impacts of technologies
in children's everyday lives. Routledge, 2013.
Livingstone, Sonia, and Moira Bovill, eds. Children and their changing media environment: A
European comparative study. Routledge, 2013.
Martins, Nicole, and Barbara J. Wilson. "Social aggression on television and its relationship to
children's aggression in the classroom." Human Communication Research 38.1 (2012): 48-71.
Owen, Laura, et al. "Is children's understanding of nontraditional advertising comparable to their
understanding of television advertising?." Journal of Public Policy & Marketing32.2 (2013):
195-206.
Radesky, Jenny S., Jayna Schumacher, and Barry Zuckerman. "Mobile and interactive media use
by young children: the good, the bad, and the unknown." Pediatrics135.1 (2015): 1-3.
Singer, Dorothy G., and Jerome L. Singer. Handbook of Children and the Media. Sage, 2012.

6TELEVISION IS A BAD INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN
Strasburger, Victor C., Amy B. Jordan, and Ed Donnerstein. "Children, Adolescents, and the
Media:: Health Effects." Pediatric Clinics 59.3 (2012): 533-587.