IN the last one hundred years, the world has changed more rapidly than in any other century in human history. In the last two centuries alone, a lot of scientific inventions helped the world transform quite quickly. No different will be the 21st century.
In this regard, television has played a vital, if somewhat controversial, role. From providing entertainment to disseminating information and from shaping opinions to influencing minds, it has undoubtedly played its part. And in the last few decades, with the advent of cable TV, television’s viewership has grown by leaps and bounds, and has made information readily accessible. Unfortunately, many informative bits turn out to be neither positive nor truthful. This affects young minds, who are not yet mature to decide what is good and what is bad for them.
American children watch three to four hours of TV on a daily basis and not dissimilar is the case with Pakistani kids, particularly in the big cities. Most of the programmes that are aired, even cartoons, contain violence in them. Many such shows glorify crime while trying to condemn them. They often show weird individuals, dealing with problems of life in a twisted, illogical manner, leaving young minds wondering whether lessons taught by parents and teachers are applicable in real life. All this is done in the name of fun, thrill, excitement and humour.
According to a research, “The time spent watching television takes one away from important activities such as reading, school work, playing, exercise, family interaction and social development.”
Various studies have shown that the children who watch TV excessively, that is, three to four hours a day, are likely to have a decline in their school grades, show less interest in work, exercise less and are often over weight and lazy. Other data suggests that exposure to media violence (TV and cinema) is one of the risk factors and makes children a bit more violent. Parents, teachers, psychiatrists and other individuals concerned around the world are now realizing the ill effects of excessive television viewing. A year ago, April 21-27, 2003 was declared the “TV turn off week” in the US. Parents were asked to keep their TV sets off throughout the week and involve their children in healthy activities. This was the ninth year in a row that such a week was celebrated. In 2002, 6.4 million people in the US turned off their TV sets for the whole week. This movement is gaining momentum and one hopes that it will reach countries like ours in the near future. While efforts such as the above will encourage healthier ‘screen free’ activities, a lot more can be done when television sets are on. In this respect, some of the recommendations made by the experts are as follows:
- View programmes with your children
- Select developmentally appropriate shows
- Place limits on the amount of TV viewing (per day and per week)
- Switch off TV during family meals and study time
- Switch off shows that you do not feel appropriate for your children.
Alternate activities that are suggested in child psychiatry literature include energetic activities, such as jumping and bouncing on old mattress. Throwing balls or soft toys at each other involving children with their older siblings and parents and playing with sand, water or clay — let them get a little dirty, it doesn’t matter.
It is also beneficial to involve children in household chores, such a cleaning, dusting, helping adults in the kitchen or garden. Activities like playing old fashioned board games, reading stories with lots of pictures in them and listening to the right kind of music and audio taped stories, which would stimulate their imagination, are also recommended rather than examining somebody else’s imagination on a screen in a mindless zombie-like trance.
These days, older children are also spending a lot of time on the Internet and playing computer games — which have similar implications. Children and adolescents should be spending more time outdoors, indulging in activities such as sports. This requires parents to take an active part in their children’s life. If they use television or the Internet as a baby sitter, than they should be ready to allow the media do the parenting for them. The ensuing undesirable consequences may effect young people’s minds as well as their intellectual and emotional development.
