The effects of Television viewing on children behavior

Technology could be beneficial to the growth of a child when the privilege is not used in an abusive manner. For instance, a child could use the technology to learn the alphabet from the television while older children could use it for research. Therefore, children are exposed to learning from the television program which they later apply in real-life situation. However, television viewing among children in the country has continually exceeded the time spent in class for their education (Collins & Halverson, 2018) . With this kind of system for the children, they are prone to be influenced in behaviors and perceptions. Children are likely to show the prosocial behavior they learn from the people they spend time with the most. Parents should be proactive to make sure that children watch only that which is beneficial to them so that harmful effects are decreased. 

Television viewing depending on the program the child is watching will impact on the knowledge of the children, attitudes and how they behave. Some of the major effects of television viewing include aggressive children behavior, poor eating habits, reduced interest in school work and stereotypes of race and sex duties (Olson & Ip, 2017) . Therefore, there is an existing causal relationship between the children’s perception about life and television viewing. In this research study, I am going to show the impacts caused by the children television viewing habit. 

Problem statement 

Television plays a major household role in the family setting which has currently become part of their lives. Children in the United States are spending more than four hours while watching their favorite television programs. However, it is important to remember that children are highly influenced by the things they see and hear compared to what elders tell them. This is why parents will always complain about their children being glued to the television all day long. It is the duty of the parents to take control of what and how much time is spent by their children while watching. 

Furthermore, the parents should choose what their children watch so that what they watch is educational. It is also important that they are taught to get involved in other activities other than staying all day long watching. This is because children television viewing has some positive impacts, but most of the negative effects are critical to impacting the life of a child and destroying their future. The child behavior will change to affecting their physical activities, social development, exposure to vice habits as well as consumerism (Gilbert-Diamond et al., 2017) . Television viewing for children takes away the opportunity to do their school work, family interaction, play or even exercise for weight management. 

The television program will in most cases distort the daily expectations of the children because of the fantastic performances they see. For instance, most of the children are into watching the acts of violence because they find it essential (Custers & Van den Bulck, 2017) . Therefore, the effects of television viewing on the children behavior should be assessed, evaluated and monitored so that solutions to prevent such effects are identified before it is too late. 

Literature review 

The study by Bar-on (2000), reveals that 15000 hours are spent on television viewing compared to 12000 hours that is used to attend class. Therefore, on average the hours spent on viewing add up to 3 hours in a day making a total of three years spent watching when they complete their high school studies. Furthermore, the author was careful to report the different kinds of programs most viewed by this group of the population. This makes the children vulnerable to the messages passed from these programs to what they are prepared to think and perceive. For instance, Bar-on (2000) identifies that 12000 acts of violence, 14000 sexual acts and 20000 advertisement is the capacity to which the child is fed from the viewing habits. The lifestyle adopted by this group makes it hard for them to differentiate between the performance and the reality in which we are living. Furthermore, the study shows that the negative impacts automatically outweigh the positive impacts of television viewing. Children will grow with an aggressive attitude and violent habits when they want something; their sex and sexuality habits will be disoriented, and their eating habits will certainly affect their ability to meet their nutrition needs. 

According to Lin et al., (2015), the topic on impacts television viewing has on the development of children is an important topic because it reveals the psychological effects of the content during and after exposure to television. Child development in this context has received different views from different people. The author has identified the difficulties available while trying to show the connection between the two. Television was made commercial in the United States in early 1940 which at that time increased the cohesion in the family unit but did not cause what currently is known as the negative effects. 

However, with progressed dependency on television viewing as a leisure activity, the question of reduced communication between the parents and the children emerged. Reduced monitoring, therefore, reduced television monitoring by parents which has led to the impacts currently felt in our society. Children are said to develop and relate to what they observe because they need to imitate someone as their role model. Therefore, due to exposure to violent acts, children will grow to exhibit violent behavior because that is what is built in them. Furthermore, Lin et al., (2015), has noted the impact of obesity that follows the television viewing for children. This is because these children spend more time watching and little time involving themselves in physical activities. 

According to Sijtsma et al., (2015) , the aftermath effects of the advanced technology which could to some extent be positive is well used but would have adverse effects if it is not used in moderation. Some of the identified benefits of television technology include children learning their alphabets and educational games. However, due to increased television viewing, time will certainly increase the weight of the children. The case study revealed a connection between obesity and the much screen time like approved by health experts. Children are inactive at that time they are staring and watching favorite programs during the day. 

Moreover, it is likely that they take up some snacks to keep them busy as they watch. Besides, the advertisements made encourage them to take unhealthy foods which have become their favorite foods. Studies carried out in line with this intervention show that as the time used to watch is reduced, the body weight index also reduced. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the time spent by children in watching so that they engage in physical activities. Sijtsma et al., (2015), has presented guidelines parents should use to limit screen time for their children depending on their age. This way it could be possible to prevent and control the impacts of television viewing. 

The growth and development of children are highly influenced by the things they see and hear and especially from the television. To some extent, the author identifies that the television programs could be educational to the children, but he also recognized that children had used most of their time to watch other unhealthy programs. Parents would not like it when their children imitate the violent characters they see and hear from television programs. According to Collier et al., (2016), too much time spent on television viewing will have adverse effects on the children; this including poor eating habits that would lead to obesity, reduced studying time, substance abuse and sexual habits before they understand their emotions. Therefore, there is a need for parents' intervention to prevent and control the effects of television viewing on their children. Parents could screen the type of programs allowed for their children to watch and at the same time limit the time they spend in front of the screens. It is important that parents take time with their children to watch together so that so they talk after the show and distinguish between the reality and what happened. 

Critical analysis 

The major contributors to the problem of prolonged television viewing 

Children in the current technological world have adopted a habit of learning about life, attaining problem-solving skills and developing a substantial knowledge by spending more time viewing the television. The internet use was at first seen as one-way television viewing would reduce, but this has not been the case. Television programs even boomed to another level even with the growth of social networks. One of the major contributors of prolonged television viewing is the fact that it plays the central role in bringing the family unit together compared to the other digital platforms. Therefore, parents do not find it necessary to limit the time spent by their children while watching. 

Nonetheless, children have many channels of entertainment to choose from which then prolong the hours spent in viewing the television. This means that different programs are presented at different times making it easy to complete one program and move to the next one on another channel.at no point will the child lack a program to watch and keep them involved. 

The causes of the problem of prolonged television viewing 

The children also find television viewing as a way to relax after a long day in school. Therefore, an addictive habit will be formed in children even as they grow because it will be difficult for them to avoid and leave the habit. As a result of addiction, children can rarely concentrate in school because of the excitement they hold to go home in the evening and watch a certain program. The cause of this kind could end up leading the children to some prolonged effects because of the prolonged time viewing of the television. This way children will be lazy to perform any household chores and most especially they do not have extra time to do them. 

Additionally, prolonged television viewing could be blamed on the parents because they have a role to play in controlling such behavior. Parents are very busy in their employment organizations fulfilling their dreams in their careers as well as fighting for their economic stability. Thus, parents are not in a position to keep an eye on what their children are doing. Also, parents have employed caretakers to washing clothes, cleaning up homes and even prepare food. Children are left with no physical activity to do while they are at home. Besides, the educational system stands to be blamed for this problem because it has played a great role in causing the problem (Collins & Halverson, 2018) . Children at a young age are exempted from carrying with them homework after school because of their tender age. However, this has played a great role in increasing their idle time at home which they use to view TV programs. 

The effects of the problem of prolonged television viewing 

Prolonged television viewing among children has some negative effects that raise the need to control the viewing pattern of children. The television is likely to affect the social interaction skill of a child with the society. The risks of antisocial society hold a high percentage together with the criminal behavior because of increased viewing of televisions. Children exposed to rape, armed robberies, and murder acts while they watch would in most situations replicate the acts in real-life circumstances because of the violent behavior that have been instilled in them. Also, it is unfortunate that the content of American programs has been highly sexualized. Furthermore, the use of vulgar language has increased which has influenced the values, attitudes, and beliefs children have about sex. 

Meeting the nutritional needs in a child’s health has also been affected in that it has declined. The urge for physical fitness has been ignored to the highest levels because children are spending most of their free time viewing televisions. Televisions have increased the food advertisements which children aspire to have for breakfast, lunch and in the evening (Borghese et al., 2015) . For instance, the consumption of cereals for breakfast has been increased due to this advert aimed at reaching the children. There is a direct relationship between the purchases made in the house and the frequency at which televisions are watched because of the consumerism aspect. Another effect of prolonged television viewing is the effects it has on the brain development of the child. A child requires space and time to develop, therefore, excess television viewing will damage the brain structure as well as it affects the behavioral status. 

The performance of these children in school has reduced because most of the time is used when viewing television programs. They no longer have time to go to the libraries or even take some time at home to revise. Therefore, the future innovation could also be reduced because of low educational systems adopted. Knowledge on basic life ideas will be lacking in the society which represent a huge societal dent. 

Problem resolution 

The problem has certain two measures that would be taken up to reduce the effects it has on children; this including the preventative measures and the control measures. One most common cause of prolonged television viewing is the fact that children have a lot of free time with them. Therefore, it is important that measures of control are taken so that the child is occupied in other activities other than viewing the television all day long. Hence, starting from the home setting, parents should take up the responsibility of making sure that their children are highly involved. This includes letting them do some household activities to keep their physical fitness. This is a way of encouraging children participating in playing activities for fun to reduce the chances of television addiction. Second, parents should be strict on what their children consumer so that their nutritional needs are met. Here, they should fight the consumerism that comes along with the television programs and advertisements. Besides, parents should limit television viewing per day to enhance the discipline of viewing (Collier et al., 2016) . During such viewing designated times, educational shows should be what is allowed for children so that television provides them with extra knowledge and skill. 

Advantages and disadvantages related to prolonged television viewing by children 

Television programs are in some instances used to teach moral lessons to the children so that in future they can utilize what they learned. Therefore, prolonged television viewing could create an aspiration in children to be morally upright (Sun et al., 2015) . This could also increase their desire to gain an education so that they get to better levels than those presenting the programs. A child could identify a role model from the program which raises the performance bar for the child in any sector of development. It could be in the music industry, art or education. 

However, prolonged television viewing has negative impacts on the life of the children currently and their future. The health, social, growth and development of the children are affected because of such practices. Children should be involved in more physical activities so that they can grow effectively and interact with society as they should (Raza et al., 2016) . The society interaction abilities are at a risk because of failed social interactions. 

Challenges and barriers to implementing the potential solutions 

Implementation of the potential solutions mentioned above is limited due to some identified challenges and barriers. The American communities do not have adequate space where children could play fun activities safely without injuries. Therefore, parents have kept their children busy with television programs to enhance their safety. It is rather costly for taking the children out for fun, therefore causing parents to save up for the future of their child limiting the ability to reduce television viewing addiction. Despite, the ability of parents limiting the times spent on television viewing by their children being a potential solution, most parents are not present to limit. The working schedule for them is busy, reducing the time they spend with their children, thus nobody to limit how much is too much for their children (Martin-Biggers et al., 2015) . The education system, on the other hand, insists on the importance of rest for the child after school. Hence, the children will still have spare time to view the television program before they sleep. 

Conclusion 

As mentioned in the essay above, television is a digital device that is highly used for entertainment most especially for children. Prolonged television viewing has its positive and negative impacts on the viewer, but the negative effects outweigh the positive. The causes of prolonged television viewing on children should be prevented and controlled to reduce the effects it has in their current and future lives. However, the current social setting in the country has highly encouraged this practice. Parents are working hard to make sure that their families are economically stable, but they forget about their role in properly raising their children. On the other hand, grounds for physical activities for these children have become unsafe for them because of the infrastructural developments. Therefore, it is important that precautions in prolonged viewing are taken by all the involved stakeholders to avoid the negative impacts. 

References  

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Borghese, M. M., Tremblay, M. S., Leduc, G., Boyer, C., Bélanger, P., LeBlanc, A. G., ... & Chaput, J. P. (2015). Television viewing and food intake during television viewing in normal-weight, overweight and obese 9-to 11-year-old Canadian children: a cross-sectional analysis.  Journal of nutritional science ,  4 . 

Collier, K. M., Coyne, S. M., Rasmussen, E. E., Hawkins, A. J., Padilla-Walker, L. M., Erickson, S. E., & Memmott-Elison, M. K. (2016). Does parental mediation of media influence child outcomes? A meta-analysis on media time, aggression, substance use, and sexual behavior.  Developmental psychology ,  52 (5), 798. 

Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2018).  Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital revolution and schooling in America . Teachers College Press. 

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Gilbert-Diamond, D., Emond, J. A., Lansigan, R. K., Rapuano, K. M., Kelley, W. M., Heatherton, T. F., & Sargent, J. D. (2017). Television food advertisement exposure and FTO rs9939609 genotype in relation to excess consumption in children.  International journal of obesity ,  41 (1), 23. 

Lin, L. Y., Cherng, R. J., Chen, Y. J., Chen, Y. J., & Yang, H. M. (2015). Effects of television exposure on developmental skills among young children.  Infant behavior and development ,  38 , 20-26. 

Martin-Biggers, J., Alleman, G., Hongu, N., Worobey, J., & Byrd-Bredbenner, C. (2015). Beliefs and Barriers to Limiting Screentime Behaviors by Parents of Preschoolers.  Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior ,  47 (4), S61. 

Olson, S. L., & Ip, K. I. (2017). Developmental Pathways to Aggression and Violence.  The Wiley Handbook of Violence and Aggression , 1-12. 

Raza, S., Awan, S., & Gondal, S. (2016). What are Your Children Watching? Teacher's Evaluation of the Educational, Emotional, Behavioral, Psychological, Physical & Religious Impacts of Cartoons on the School Going Children. 

Sijtsma, A., Koller, M., Sauer, P. J., & Corpeleijn, E. (2015). Television, sleep, outdoor play and BMI in young children: the GECKO Drenthe cohort.  European journal of Pediatrics ,  174 (5), 631-639. 

Sun, J. W., Zhao, L. G., Yang, Y., Ma, X., Wang, Y. Y., & Xiang, Y. B. (2015). Association between television viewing time and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of cohort studies.  American journal of epidemiology ,  182 (11), 908-916.