Too much TV may negatively affect our children's sponge-like minds
Amanda Deane
Issue date: 1/21/09 Section: Opinion
By Amanda Deane
The content and amount of television that children are spending may have several unwanted outcomes later in life, and this is not new news.
It has been shown time after time how watching too much violence as a young child can create violent behavior among teenagers, for one example. "A feature that distinguishes childhood from adulthood is the strong eagerness to learn that marks the early years." (Dorr, 1986) It seems important to protect our young children's minds especially until they reach the formal operations stage during ages 11-15. This stage, stated by Swiss biologist of the early 1900's is categorized by 'a child's cognitive structures that are like those of an adult and include conceptual reasoning.'
This morning I called my cousin Kayla, who is five. She is a smart five-year-old, with long bouncy blonde hair and the wit of a teenager. I wanted to find out what children in her age group are getting from the media around them today, compared to my childhood. I wasn't too surprised at the answers I received. It was interesting to learn how my cousin experiences the media at her age. At her age she is still exceptionally visual and can only follow brief plots appropriate for her age.
Kayla is in what we call Piaget's second developmental stage. Since she is five-and-a-half, she is in the "preoperational stage." Typically, this stage characterizes that the child is 'not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations.' This stage may be crucial for what children view on television programs and on commercials if their parents aren't keeping a keen eye out. Here are parts of our conversation:
When I was asking her about her favorite TV shows and movies and what scared her about her favorite movie The Little Mermaid, she said, "Ursula gets blasted open and she's never seen again." I thought it was interesting that it made her happy when Ursula (the antagonist) was banished from Ariel forever. She said she didn't like the show What Not to Wear on TLC. Her parents might be making a big mistake by using the TV as a babysitter because she could get mixed media messages. One interesting statement she made was "We always watch a lot of TV at school, and movies."
The content and amount of television that children are spending may have several unwanted outcomes later in life, and this is not new news.
It has been shown time after time how watching too much violence as a young child can create violent behavior among teenagers, for one example. "A feature that distinguishes childhood from adulthood is the strong eagerness to learn that marks the early years." (Dorr, 1986) It seems important to protect our young children's minds especially until they reach the formal operations stage during ages 11-15. This stage, stated by Swiss biologist of the early 1900's is categorized by 'a child's cognitive structures that are like those of an adult and include conceptual reasoning.'
This morning I called my cousin Kayla, who is five. She is a smart five-year-old, with long bouncy blonde hair and the wit of a teenager. I wanted to find out what children in her age group are getting from the media around them today, compared to my childhood. I wasn't too surprised at the answers I received. It was interesting to learn how my cousin experiences the media at her age. At her age she is still exceptionally visual and can only follow brief plots appropriate for her age.
Kayla is in what we call Piaget's second developmental stage. Since she is five-and-a-half, she is in the "preoperational stage." Typically, this stage characterizes that the child is 'not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations.' This stage may be crucial for what children view on television programs and on commercials if their parents aren't keeping a keen eye out. Here are parts of our conversation:
When I was asking her about her favorite TV shows and movies and what scared her about her favorite movie The Little Mermaid, she said, "Ursula gets blasted open and she's never seen again." I thought it was interesting that it made her happy when Ursula (the antagonist) was banished from Ariel forever. She said she didn't like the show What Not to Wear on TLC. Her parents might be making a big mistake by using the TV as a babysitter because she could get mixed media messages. One interesting statement she made was "We always watch a lot of TV at school, and movies."
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posted 3/29/10 @ 5:24 PM EST
So, the conclusion - look after your kids!
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