Television and other media such as internet, news papers etc. has become an important part of in every ones life. Studies show that children and adolescents around the world spend their maximum time watching television than they do in any other activity with an exception in the time of sleeping. It is estimated that 99% of American families have TV sets. In many houses they have more than one TV sets an average family owning 2.75 sets (Stanger and Gridina, 1999). Additionally, today technological development is at a fast pace and it is certain that the day is not too far when internet broadcasted television programs will reach all over the world. The objective of this paper is to find the impact of introduction of live television broadcast over the Internet.
Too much, unsupervised use of computers and televisions, particularly when combined with use of screen technologies, such as television, can place children and young adults at risk for harmful effects on their physical, social, and psychological development. Excessive time in front of a screen can deprive them of time for organized sports and other social activities that are beneficial to child development (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1992). Besides, children and teenagers may be exposed to violent, sexual, or commercial content that can have long-term negative psychological effects (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999).
Though there are several positive aspects of these media on youngsters, it is more of the negative aspects that are of great concern. Television can be influential in developing value systems and shaping behavior among children and teenagers. Unfortunately, much of today’s television programming is violent. Youngsters concur some of the negative moral influences through television such as media violence, portrayals of sexual exploitation and attitudes, vulgarity and rudeness, intense and disturbing imagery.
They also see alcoholism, drug abuse, and other kinds of disturbing activities in television. When they watch these programs with violence in the absence of supervision from their parents, they are at great risk. Since in many houses, both parents are working, children have more unsupervised time of watching television. In such cases, parents will not even be able to keep a track on the channels that children will watch in their absence. Many times such viewing of television may spoil the behavior and they may get into life threatening habits.
Today, crime continues to be an important social and economic issue all over the world. Weather a crime is committed by and adolescent or an adult, both are punishable. Over the past few years legislatures across the nation have enacted a variety of laws and policies to “criminalize” criminal behavior by judging and punishing adolescent offenders as adults. In addition, several states punish juveniles as adults, including imprisonment with adults in state prisons. Despite recent evidence of the adverse effects of these laws on public safety and recidivism, the federal systems and nearly every state have expanded the use of adult court and punishment for adolescent offenders (Dual sanctions study, 2005). It is no doubt that television and media has a great influence on the increasing rate of juvenile crime.
Children and adolescents who spend too much time in front of computers are expected to be displacing activities required for healthy development and increasing their risk of diseases such as obesity. In addition, their increased computer time could expose them to harmful impacts on the entire body especially their eyes, backs, and wrists (Alliance for Childhood, 2000).
Excessive computer use may affect children’s as well as adult’s social aspects. For instance, in case of teenagers it is said that by the age of about fourteen years it is the interactions with family, peers, school, community networks, and media that play an important role in the development of interpersonal skills and social competence. Youngsters who spend more time on computers and television will most probable lack these abilities.
Research show that computers are now become the friend and this has arisen concerns that children who form “electronic friendships” instead of human friendships. This may hinder in developing interpersonal skills. Researchers also have documented negative social effects from time spent on computers. For instance, in the school setting, although group use of computers is more common, concerns have been raised about the possibility that computers may be used to replace, rather than augment, child-to-child and child-to-teacher relationships (Alliance for Childhood, 2000).
Similarly, a study of the effects of Internet use among a group of 93 families found that, during their first year with access, teens spending more time online experienced greater declines in social involvement and increases in their feelings of loneliness and depression (Kraut, et al. 1998). Youngsters concur some of the negative moral influences through TV such as media violence, pornographic sites, passive watching – the “couch potato” syndrome, alcoholism, drug abuse, and other kinds of disturbing activities. Statistics suggest that the average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18. These may lead to serious psychological problems.
Children, who view violent events, are also more likely to believe that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them. These could have serious negative influence on the growth and development of the child. Sexual activity among the teenagers and the problems associated with it is a widespread concern all over the world. Although with the efforts over the years there is a reduction in teenage sex, still it continues to be a problem and this is also the negative influence of media on young minds.
The alarming statistics from different parts of the world on teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDs have been a major concern. A study points out that 12% percent of teen males and 10% of teen females have had heterosexual oral sex but not vaginal intercourse (Mosher et al., 2005).
In conclusion, if we compare the positive and negative sides of television and its impact on youngsters and children, it can be pointed out that television and other media have more probability to have negative influence than positive ones. It is important that if television is watched, it should be allowed only for a limited time and also under the supervision of parents or elders. Excessive television and media exposure is definitely going to harm youngsters and children.
References
Alliance for Childhood, (2000) Fool’s gold: A critical look at children and computers. College Park, MD: Alliance for Childhood, 2000.
American Academy of Pediatrics, (1992) Fitness, activity, and sports participation in the preschool child. Pediatrics (1992) 90 pp. 1002–1004.
American Academy of Pediatrics, (1999) Media education. Pediatrics 104 pp 341–343.
Kraut, R. et al. (1998) Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist 53 pp 1017–1031.
Mosher WD et al., Sexual behavior and selected health measures: men and women 15–44 years of age, United States, 2002, Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, (2005), No. 362.
Stanger, J.D. and Gridina, N. (1999) Media in the Home 1999: The Fourth Annual Survey of Parents and Children, The Annenberg Public Policy Center of The University of Pennsylvania, Survey Series No. 5, pp 3-30.