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Studies have shown that when a baby chick, especially ducks and geese, breaks out of an egg, it will follow the first moving thing it sees. In like manner, when a child is propped up in front of a television as an infant, it too is likely to imprint on a cartoon child, or other make-believe person, and the more the child watches, the more likely it is that everything it sees is registered as real life.
When television first came to homes, in the mid1940’s, the programs had a completely different quality. Most were geared for family viewing, and those aimed at older children and adults did not contain much, if any violence, no disrespectful talk, and no sexual content. The programs communicated family values and high moral standards: children were obedient and respectful to their parents, parents always knew best; bad guys never got away, and were never, ever glorified. Immoral behavior was seldom even hinted at, and if it was, it was subtle and in language that children would not understand. When it was rumored that a program was coming on with a situation of a teenager having a baby out of wedlock, eyebrows were raised and the word went out that this was something that would not be watched. All programs went off the air around 10:00, and a test pattern, complete with an annoying static buzz came on, signaling that it was time to go to bed, and everything shut down. Even commercials were low key. During that conservative time, though, cigarettes and beer were advertised because society did not recognize their dangers; many even thought they were beneficial. Some ads even showed doctors recommending cigarettes. In later years, those were both banned.
By the early 1960’s educators and some parents were able to see that television viewing was addicting and they noticed a change in the habits of children. Instead of playing outside, being involved in sports, developing hobbies, and reading, children were watching television. The movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory even had a song about the dangers of it and recommended to keep children away from it and better yet, don’t even have it in your house.
Children and babies are especially attracted to anything that moves and has color, so all children’s television programming is very attractive to them. Some programs are beneficial, such as those shown on P.B.S., and a few on local channels like Little Bill. They can enhance their experience by taking them outside of their communities to show them wonders in the world beyond, increasing their vocabulary and language abilities, even opening creative doors; but even this viewing is better done with a parent who can interpret and interact with the child while watching, then turn the set off and direct the child to other activities.
Sadly many children are so addicted to TV that they feel deprived if they don’t get to watch it and even go through withdrawals if parents try to wean them away from it. One study showed that when the television of one family broke, they all felt nervous, argued, walked aimlessly around and felt hopelessly lost. They realized that the television had become part of them. Many experts agree that these feelings of addiction are true for all children who watch more than an hour per day. This means that most children’s viewpoints about television is very limited and needs to be looked at by way of what the child is unaware of.
Facts about feral children show that humans are the only mammals that need to be taught everything, and they will learn everything they’re taught. If the window of opportunity passes, the child can never learn to speak or read or communicate except with maybe a few grunts and pointing at what it wants. It stands to reason that when children watch violence they learn violence, and watching a lot of violence desensitizes a child so that when their friends get hurt, they don’t know how to comfort or feel sympathy. This lack of natural responsiveness affects everything in the home, but the child is unaware of how it affects him. He can’t miss what he never had. If the parents were also raised on violence, the condition is much worse and finally might result in human compassion being bred out of people as a whole.
Most parents today have concerns about their children’s viewing habits, but most, because of busy schedules, are not able to give the necessary time to preview what children watch, or even monitor the programs. There are parental groups such as: One Million Moms, Parent’s Television Council, and countless others around the world doing whatever they can to correct the damage done and prevent it from invading the future. They tell us that the programs children watch, from 3-5 hours per day, influence those children’s manners, attitudes, and behaviors.
Parental groups are finding that the more they watch the less exercise they get and the more obese they become. Family activities that parents and grandparents remember in their childhoods are a thing of the past and even though many try to turn off the television and interest their families in other activities, children have little to no sustained interest in things that move slowly or require thought. They are just too used to being entertained without putting in any effort. Interaction between family members grows less and less and sometimes becomes non-existent.
Parents are learning that their young children are not able to distinguish between fact and fiction. Children have jumped off of buildings and smashed glass with their bare hands, pretending to be Superman, ending up in emergency rooms. They are learning that superheroes and cartoon characters are causing their children to express violent behavior on the playgrounds, and that those who are bullied with violence, are increasingly more accepting of it, thinking it natural, because it’s done on television.
Parent groups and teachers who are working to alert all parents are often thwarted in their efforts. News programs, understandably, do not give adequate time to broadcasting the dangers of television programming and some school districts, or at least principals, do not want teachers to let parents know what they have heard children talking about at school. The fact is that for the past thirty years, or more, children as young as five have been seeing pornographic programming on cable channels, or by way of video on the television screen. Today, that age has dropped to children as young as four, who are talking about sex and the sex act because of things they have seen on television. According to one teacher “Some children talk incessantly about sex, giving graphic descriptions to their classmates.” When questioned about what parents have to say, the response is that the parents don’t know what to do, or where it’s coming from, as it’s not from their own home. This particular story took place in a Montessori School in an upscale neighborhood and the director did not want the teacher to tell the parents what she overheard.
The violence, sexual comments, obesity, decline of normal childhood interests and inactivity is very distressing to parents, and disrupting to the family. It’s most distressing to parents who had childhood interests themselves, because they see the difference in their lives and those of their children. The distress is less in the parents who were also raised on and became addicted to television, because it seems natural to them, but they are nevertheless concerned about the increasingly gross content.
Family traditions such as meals together, family projects, conversation, and bonding are all but replaced by the television. Our society has allowed our children to be sold to corporate America which has enslaved them to a constant and incessant desire for faster, louder, gorier, more explicit gross details to hold their attention longer: to pump in more commercials for sugary, fattening foods and more fast-moving toys. Parents, who are trying to give their children the best are at odds with these commercials and are complaining that they are causing a conflict in the parent-child relationship, as when the child asks for sugary cereal because it’s good for them, and parents have to explain that it’s not really so good, and there are plenty that are better. Besides this, commercials in general are saying, that people all have numerous deprivations and problems which can all be fixed instantly with their products: a faster shinier car, newer, cuter clothes, a beverage with a new taste, a pill, a cream; whatever is wrong in your life, can be fixed with their product, and children believe it. This gives them unrealistic expectations about life and without inspired thoughts from creative play; they are unprepared to take on life’s challenges as they get older.
Another account of desensitization reports that one child actually sat and watched television for five hours while his mother sat gagged and tied to a chair by a masked burglar, because he had told the child not to call the police until the program was over. This is also an example of not being able to distinguish fantasy from reality.
Interview with 1st Grade Teacher
Q. What are the effects that television has on children?
A. I think that there are many, and at least one is probably good, depending on the programs, but on a whole, kids are better off without it. I’ll start with the worst. Too many children, as young as Kindergarten, see every scary movie ever made. They have nightmares, many reoccurring; wake up in the middle of the night, can’t go back to sleep, wet the bed because they’re too afraid to go down the hall to the bathroom, get scolded or spanked in the morning and come to school sleep deprived and sad. How can they learn?
There’s too much violence in the programming and many children, especially boys, are acting out the karate chops and kick boxing. But what’s worse is the sexual innuendo and talk they come in with. In my first year of teaching, at a private school, while doing yard duty one day, I over heard my first graders talking about the naked ladies they see on newspapers on the corner. That led to a discussion about what they saw on the Playboy channel at their uncle’s house, and on and on. I was dumb founded. The bell rang and I brought my class in. I began to ask a few questions about what they were talking about, and the entire class raised their hand, all talking at once telling me about the things they’ve seen on t.v. ; things I never knew existed. Every child in the class of about 25 was frantically trying to explain a story. I stopped them and let them proceed one by one. Their stories were all different, but similar. Their parents all worked long hours and most were divorced. I finally asked them if, aside from this discussion, they ever thought about these things, and the most verbal girl blurted out that they think about it all the time. I spent the next hour explaining how some people are very bored and don’t have anything better to do than play with other people’s bodies, and because it so strange, other people who are very curious, want to see it and will pay money to see it, so that’s how it gets going, but the reason that they’re in school today, is so that they will become interested in many valuable things and be able to help others live better lives. I told the parents, one at a time as I saw them, and they had no idea that their children had been exposed to such things. I was very naive; I thought at the time that this was just an isolated incidence, even though it had affected every child in the room; but I was wrong. The next year, at public school, at recess, I observed one of my first grade girls giving “humping” lessons to her classmates, using the playground bench for her demonstration. When I questioned her about it she told me that it was ok, because she learned it on TV. Another time, I heard a first grader saying ugly things to a classmate. I immediately asked, “Who taught you to talk like that?” The whole class answered together, “That’s the way Angelique talks, on Rug Rats.” Do you want me to go on? This was almost 30 years ago; I have to tell you what it’s like today!
Q. I’d like to know more, but maybe we’d better get to another question. Are there other ways that you’ve thought TV was having an affect on your students?
A. Oh, yes, I can tell on the first day of school which children watch a lot of TV because they are always less able to listen, follow directions, and complete tasks. My suspicions are confirmed at parent conference time, because I always ask about student’s habits at home. The children who are the most busy helping parents with chores and playing outside, are always more capable, even when it comes to simple tasks such as folding paper or using glue. As long as they’re watching the TV, they’re not using their hands, so they’re not thinking or talking or using any skills at all!
Q. Do any of the parents use parental controls for their TV?
A. I never found any who had them, but the parents who were mindful, and understood the negative impact, monitored it, and were up on it, and usually watched a program with their child to see what was in it before it became an ok channel. However, one mother told her 8 year-old daughter at conference, “Do you hear what your teacher is saying? You may not watch MTV from the time you get home until the time you go to bed! ” I couldn’t believe my ears. I almost fell out of my chair, and this was not a young parent. Parents seem to have lost control over their own homes and families. Most parents had no idea about all these affects, but this was in the inner-city. It could be different in different neighborhoods--- but then, even my friends and family members tell me some astounding stories about things their children and grand-children are getting from the TV and some of them are fairly affluent, they go to nice schools, live in nice neighborhoods, so I don’t know.
Q. Well, since they know the dangers, why aren’t they monitoring better?
A. I don’t know, parents just don’t take the time. Everybody’s busy and no one is paying attention, that’s all I can say. It’s depressing.
Q. You mentioned that there might be some aspects of TV that are beneficial to children, what are those?
A. Well, programs like Sesame Street, and anything on PBS, Animal Planet, those are informational and decent and will broaden a child’s perspective. They also give examples of polite conversation, increasing vocabulary and such, but I don’t think that commercials should be geared to children, as much of the stuff is not good for them and then they pressure their parents for it. Q. Are there any other things you’d like to mention?
A. I guess I mentioned that watching TV is passive and the studies have shown that the mind, conditioned to passivity, looses its ability to be creative; that really shows up in all of their work at school.
Q. My niece was staying over at our house one weekend and she was watching a program that she said her mother saw nothing wrong with, but she’s only eight and the characters were teenagers and talking about boy/girl situations and other teenage things. I asked her to find something else and she got upset. What about those, so called, “harmless” programs?
A. Well, as you’re saying, it amounts to little children learning about teenage years and even though there’s no violence or overt sexual content, why does an eight-year-old need to be privy to teenage life for entertainment? I agree with you. Change the channel.
Q. Is there a way to complain about programming?
A. There’s the FTC, and of course you can write letters to producers and sponsors. There’s an email I get from a group called One Million Moms. They object to many things, from content to commercials and ads in general. They write a form letter for you with a link to the offender. All you have to do is sign your email address and press send. So many people are involved with them, sending those emails, that I hear back from them very often that something has been pulled from the air or that a sponsor is no longer sponsoring some product, so there are people out there trying to do something.
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