Naima, a good friend sent me several emails regarding television and I have to say I agree with most, if not all the points presented. I do believe in visual media, but uncensored programming and advertising seems to be a huge detriment in today’s society. As I look back to my own childhood, much of my bad behaviour could be attributed to the influence TV had in my life. From storming off to wherever when I got annoyed to yelling back at my parents and outright being disrespectful…I learned it all from watching other kids my age behave in such a way on TV.
I did NOT write the following, I’m taking this from an email circulating around the web. If anyone knows its origins, kindly contact me so that I may properly attribute the authors.
Almost half of U.S. kids spend at least two hours a day watching TV. While this may sound harmless enough, numerous studies have come out showing that TV is definitely taking its toll on American children.
For instance, a study in the April 2004 journal Pediatrics found that every added hour of watching TV increased a child’s odds of having attention problems at age 7 by about 10 percent. Those who watched for three hours a day between the ages of 1 and 3 were 30 percent more likely to have attention trouble at age 7 than those viewing no TV.
The notion that kids watch far too much TV is a no-brainer, literally. My strong recommendation is to minimize TV watching to no more than a few hours per WEEK, as a short attention span is only the beginning of the problem with TV. Here are some of the other negatives of kids watching TV:
- TV will change your child’s views and food choices
- TV will make your kids fat
- Make your kids more materialistic
- Cause your children to go into more debt as adults
- TV will cause your children to be more aggressive
- May lead to smoking
- Will increase your child’s risk of becoming seriously injured
Although you may be accustomed to turning on the TV to entertain your kids (or yourself), there are many other options out there. Here are 20 to get you started.
|
|
I’m happy to say that I do not own a TV. A small investment in a DVD player and my laptop are all that I need in order to expose my children to programming that I deem suitable, and to be rid of those terrible advertisements designed to affect their consumer choices. I know that many will disagree, but I am merely presenting one option among many. What do you think?
Related posts:
