Television Negatively Impacts Children
Watching Tom and Jerry, as a youngster was an intrinsic irreplaceable feeling. The program would not teach anyone anything besides how to trick someone. However, it was fun watching the show; it is still fun watching it till date. For kids in this era, the amount of screen time has increased alarmingly due to increased streaming channels and programs at the children’s disposal. There are streaming channels for kids such as Netflix, Disney Junior, Disney +, Nickelodeon, Amazon, Cartoon Network, and Baby TV. These channels offer interesting programs for children such as Shimmer and Shine, Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse Club House, Kipo and the Age of Wonder beasts, and Tom and Jerry. Children seem to be glued to them because of the interesting content they offer. Nonetheless, kids’ shows contain many fantasies in which the children want to be immersed. They are funny and very engaging. For instance, in Dora, the Explorer, Dora and Boots ask the viewers to help them solve their adventures. They give the children to participate in their fantasies, making the children want to spend more time. Parents also have it easy as the television relieves the parent’s time from watching the child and doing other activities. The television can be a virtual nanny and a teacher at the same time. However, television does more harm than good to the children.
Television has more cons than pros on the proper development of a child. In the article, The Good and Bad Effects of TV on Children, Tumbokon writes, “TV viewing takes away the time that your child needs to develop important skills” (para 4). During the development of a child’s brain, it is important that the child is aught and exposed to a different set of skills that the child would use when growing up. This is the same reason as to why there are different subjects taught in school; to impact the child with different skills and knowledge. A child’s necessary skills when growing up cannot be achieved only by staring on the television. These skills include interaction skills, speaking and listening skills, creativity, motor skills, and reading skills. The child must develop these skills at a younger age of two to five years. However, spending most of the time being on the screen will strip off from the child the opportunity to interact with others, learn how to read at their own pace, and practice it. Having a child sit in front of a screen would also strip off their time in which they should learn other motor skills such as riding a bike, sprinting, or even walking. According to Tumbokon, “A 2019 study led by Dr. Mireia Adelantado-Renau suggests that excessive television watching among children has been shown to decrease attention and cognitive functioning and to increase behavioral problems and unhealthy eating habits” (para 10). The children tend to replace sleep and other important activities, such as working out and screen time. This behavior may lead to the child being lazy or even being obese. The children take snacks, have less physical activity to burn calories, become introverts, and pay less attention to people around them other than the television. Habit is second to nature, and when a child adopts these habits at a young age, it will make the child grow into an unhealthy and lazy adult. However, Tumbokon writes, “Preschoolers who viewed educational programs tend to have higher grades” (para 25). Some of the informative programs include Brainchild and Ask the Story bots on Netflix. Television can positively help develop a child’s brain as not everything is taught in class. Some programs offer knowledge beyond the course outline, which enables the child to perform better than others. All in all, the cons outweigh the pros in matters concerning television watching for children.
There are benefits for children to watch the television, but they come with a cost. I can relate to this because when I was a child, I loved watching Tom and Jerry. I traded my interaction with children in the neighborhood for the cartoon and made me appear as “the weird kid” on the block because I was an introvert. The cartoons entertained me more than how other children my age would make me feel because of the fantasies they created. I did not see the point of playing with other children, get into fights, or hurt each other; it did not seem realistic. Ironically, what felt more real was the world that I imagined whenever I watched these cartoons. However, the world did not turn out as I expected. Nonetheless, unhealthy eating habits started cropping up, and I gained weight tremendously. I would spend more time sitting down and staring at the screen and burning fewer calories. It became a concern when my BMI shot at an alarming rate. However, some shows were very informative. I learned more words growing up through the television. Sadly, the cons of spending more time on the screen took a huge toll on my interaction skills and healthy habits. In the future, I would balance my children’s activities; there would be a screen time of informative programs only and time for the children to acquire other skills. After all, too much of everything makes Jack a dull boy.
Work Cited
Tumboko, Ronaldo. “The Good and Bad Effects of TV on Children.” Raise Smart Kid. 28 December 2019, https://www.raisesmartkid.com/all-ages/1-articles/13-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-tv-on-your-kid