Is Television Harmful for Children?

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Is Television Harmful?

I have always found the controversy over children being harmed by television shows interesting. I feel that over the years this topic has changed quite significantly. I know as I was growing up watching television was considerably acceptable since the majority of shows were educational. However, as the shows progress to be less education and more entertainment based, it appears that television is corrupting the minds earlier than my generation. Due to this difference, I began wondering if there are any differences in theories about this topic for kids growing up in the 90’s and the kids growing up today.

As the years pass, I feel as though since my early childhood (‘92-‘98) the idea of watching television was more of a social norm and it was thought that there were no harmful effects on the development of the child’s brain. Now I want to dive further into this topic and figure out if there is a correlation between television and the development of the brain whether it is good or bad or is this topic just a myth. I feel this research should help me develop and understanding of allowing children to watch T.V. is harmful or not. In my opinion, allowing children to watch the educational shows is beneficial to their brain development. However, an excessive amount could be harmful for the children’s social skills and other aspects that are essential to their development capacity to understand difficult concepts as they learn.

There is a lot of speculation about whether television is for children in their early childhood. This topic is very debatable between scholars; there are some pros and cons with this topic. My opinion on this topic is that television is good for the children only in moderation. With ch...

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...al skills that the child needs to make friends. When a child watches television, they might accidentally catch glimpses of violent acts and children are known to mimic actions that they see. Television in moderation is good, but monitor what your child watches because you do not want them to mimic actions that you do not like. But make sure you encourage your child to go outside and play to develop social and physical skills.

Bibliography

Anderson, D. (2005). Television and Very Young Children. Pro Quest, 1, 7.

Chase, I. (n.d.). Raise Smart Kid. Raise Smart Kid. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.raisesmartkid.com/all-ages/1-articles/13-the-good- and-bad-effects-of-tv-on-your-kid

McDevitt, T., & Ormorod, J. (2013). Peers, Schools and Society. Child development and Education (pp. 570-609). New Jersey: Pearson. (Original work published 2002)

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