Impact of Television on Children

Mathew George
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

“The imagination skills of our children are blunted on television, and their thinking is done for them.”

In today’s modern world of gadgets, television is one of the most popular devices that are used for entertainment by people across the globe. It has become quite common nowadays and almost every household has at least one television set at their place. Television is not just a source of entertainment, but it has made the world look like a global village. It has many great impacts on people of all ages. Yes, it has a greater impact on children as well. It is an undeniable fact that everything has its own positive and negative impacts and so in the case with the rapidly growing usage of television.

Television is one of the most popular devices that are used for entertainment all over the world today. It has become quite common nowadays and almost every household has at least one television at their home. In the beginning, we see how it was referred to as the ‘idiot box’ by people in the past. This was mostly so because back in those days, it was all about entertainment. It did not have that many informative channels as it now has. Moreover, with the invention of television, the craze attracted many people to spend all their time watching TV. People started considering it harmful as it attracted the kids the most. In other words, kids spent most of their time watching television and not studying. However, as times passed, the channels of television changed. More and more channels were broadcasted with different specialties. Thus, along with entertainment, it has given us knowledge too.

Benefits of Watching Television

The invention of television gave us many great benefits. It was helpful in providing the common man with a cheap mode of entertainment. As they are very affordable, everyone can now own television and get access to entertainment.

In addition, it keeps us updated on the latest happenings of the world. It is now possible to get news from the other corner of the world. Similarly, television also offers educational programs that enhance our knowledge about science, wildlife and even more.

Moreover, television also motivates individuals to develop skills. They also have various programs showing speeches of motivational speakers. This pushes people to do better. You can also say that television widens the exposure we get. It increases our knowledge about several sports, national events etc. While television comes with a lot of benefits, it also has a negative side. Television is corrupting the mind of the youth and we will be discussing a lot about the same in this article.
How Television is Harming the Youth:
Television is an airing inappropriate content which promotes all types of social evils like violence, eve-tasting etc. Secondly, it is also harmful to our health. If you spend hours in front of the television, your eyesight will get weak. Your posture will cause pain in your neck and back as well. Just like any other technology, television can also prove destructive when you don’t use it in the right way. Limited and right exposure can help you save from these side effects.

Violent tendencies

Children are not mature enough to choose the right channel to watch. Watching inappropriate content can adversely impact their innocent minds. It can bring changes in their interaction and behaviour. One of the common examples is watching violent shows. Such programs make a child attracted to weapons and enact the scenes in the real life. He imbibes the same indecent language and use it in daily life. Not just the language but the mind also gets spoilt. It can make a child violent, unsympathetic, and aggressive that can damage his relations with people.

Reduces Physical Activity

Addiction to television lowers the physical activity in a child. Sitting at one place with eyes glued to the television screen not just makes one obese, but also prone to vision problems and body ache.

Poor Social Development

Television makes a child anti-social. A person who likes to watch television doesn’t feel the need to interact with others. This, in turn, affect his social development. Television negatively impacts their ability to communicate with people. It takes away the abilities to understand others and make one dull and boring.

Alters brain structure

Research has shown that excessive watching of television modifies the brain structure. Watching television more than two hours in a day results in behavioural issues and poor mental development.

Additionally, it also makes people get addicted to it. Surveys conducted from time-to-time shows us that many people get addicted to their TVs and avoid social interaction. This impacts their social life as they spend their time in their rooms all alone. This addiction also makes them vulnerable and they take their programs too seriously.

The most dangerous of all is the fake information that circulates on news channels and more. Many media channels are now only promoting the propaganda of the governments and misinforming citizens. This makes causes a lot of division within the otherwise peaceful community of our country.

To conclude, it is extremely important to keep the TV watching in check. Parents must limit the time of their children watching TV and encouraging them to indulge in outdoor games. As for the parents, they should not believe that everything on the TV is true. We must be the better judge of the situation and act wisely without any influence. If we limit all the negative impacts of television on the younger generation, it can become a very useful tool in education and enhance our knowledge about what is happening around us. Television can become the wings that will allow the educational world to fly farther and faster than ever before- only if we will allow it.

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Mathew George
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