The Ancillary Impact of Too Much TV

There are of course many reasons to limit the amount of television that children watch, or adults for that matter. The major reasons, cited by over 65 organizations including, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The Center for Disease Control and a variety of government agencies , quite naturally focus on public health and social issues. In other words, the areas in which TV watching is impacting the country as a whole and may end up costing tax payer dollars down the road.

By jumping on the “No TV” bandwagon with their raison du jour, initial agencies get a bit of free publicity. That’s why you see, the top two reasons to limit TV, Obesity and Violence
getting so much play.

There are however, other reasons, ones that impact who your child becomes rather than what he or she becomes. Many of these ideas are espoused by parenting institutes, alternative education philosophies and health experts.

A few behavioral reasons to limit TV from surveys of consumer free homes:

Where there is boredom, creativity and self-motivation often emerge!

TV free children are readers

A much longer attention span in TV free children

The ability to entertain themselves for hours

Children get along better with no TV. The ability to entertain themselves and play for long hours with fewer sibling fights is commonly mentioned.

Comfort and ease in conversation and interaction with other adults outside the immediate family.

The best-selling book, The Plug In Drug, popular with health professionals and parents alike notes that:

Extensive television viewing effects young children’s verbal development

Numerous studies have shown a strong negative association between television viewing and school performance.

A final few thoughts, on an even more academic research approach, caution about the effects of the development of the brain.

TV imposes images on the viewer, rather than calling on her to visualize on her own.
Since children are learning how to form their own internal mechanisms for imagery, imagination and prioritizing of perceptions, reliance on an external source could stunt important development.

The poor sound of most TVs leads to a reduced range of auditory exposure.

Current cathode ray tubes (CRTs) expose the viewer to many fewer colors and in simpler combinations than in nature.

When watching TV, there is a general absence of satiety recognition, meaning that one does not have natural cues that indicate that the desire to watch has been satisfied and can now cease

Emotional and adrenaline responses occur that are disconnected from "real" experience, which could be problematic for young children, who are learning how to appropriately associate such responses with experiences.

My child does not struggle with his weight. Neither is he more violent than one might expect in a 5-year-old boy, in any era. We do however believe that the ancillary impact of watching too much TV is unimaginative children with poor problem solving abilities who don’t live up to their potential. And living up to his potential is all we can ask.



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