Is TV the top environmental hazard for children?
Parents can sit around, worrying about all of their children's exposure to environmental toxins like lead, plastics, hormones and pesticides. But the biggest environmental problem for most children, according to a column by Todd Huffman, is television.Is TV good or bad? It can be either, according to Huffman. Used carefully, it can be fine, but most of the time, it is not being used carefully and parents are often clueless about what their kids are watching. Huffman also calls on the major television networks to realize that their free use of the airwaves includes a responsibility to the public. (Er, sure but what about cable, where I would say the worst content for kids can be found?)
What do you think? Do you think parents today are being sidetracked by all this talk of environmental toxins and the like, when the real threat is sitting right the living room?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-06-2008 @ 10:10AM
Chris V said...
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that children under the age of 2 do not watch any television. The supposed benefits of even educational programs like Baby Einstein are still unproven. Yet, direct interactions between parent and child have been shown to help child development. There are also concerns on how constructed media messages shape the minds of young children still learning to understand our world.
http://www.aap.org/sections/media/ToddlersTV.htm
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/archives/augdis.htm
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4-06-2008 @ 7:42PM
AML said...
My son is 9, and he has never been permitted to watch much TV, not because of the recommendations of experts, but because I wanted him to develop in an active rather than passive state.
He has always played video games, from Reader Rabbit Baby once he was old enough to sit up to his Xbox 360 today, although the content has been heavily monitored.
My rules for him include limiting blood (no red, no detailed gore graphics), a clear delineation between the good guys and bad guys must exist (no grey areas -- strict black and white definition), and the goal must be to be a hero, saving the world/universe, defeating evil, etc.
All gaming is in shared spaces -- no wandering off on his own -- and his friends are monitored to prevent exposure to unapproved games at friends' homes (you would be shocked how many parents permit 2nd and 3rd graders to play the Grand Theft Auto series, and how many of them become angry and defensive when you call them on it).
Supervision, involvement and interaction are the three most important elements of parenting, and I have found those things tend to slip in hoes where the television is utilized as a distraction for children.
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4-06-2008 @ 7:43PM
AML said...
Sorry -- that should have read:
"Supervision, involvement and interaction are the three most important elements of parenting, and I have found those things tend to slip in HOMES where the television is utilized as a distraction for children."
4-06-2008 @ 8:32PM
Deborah said...
? I watch tv with my nephew all the time and he's smart and healthy.
But the thing is, I watch it *with* him. If it's a Baby Einstein or whatever, (unless I'm feeling tired like crazy) I sit with him and point to various things and tell him what they're called. I tell him who's a good guy and who's a bad guy. I even go online with him! X-D I've made a monster! He now knows of the Google Images, and knows he can drag me to the computer, tells me what pictures he wants to see, and I'll do it! (I even taught him to call women "ladies," and his mom taught him how to kiss a lady's hand. He's a little heartbreaker already! ;-))
The whole thing is interaction. The whole "Hooked on Phonics"? It's programs that depend on parent/child interaction.
If you left a child for hours at a time alone in a house (or a room with all their physical needs), no one'd be surprised if the child developed problems like confusing fantasy and reality. But suddenly the reason of the developed problems blurs once you put the child in front of a TV? The problem is still the same: kids need a parent first, and Spongebob second.
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4-08-2008 @ 1:26PM
Karsten said...
Considering how much garbage parents and grandparents teach, show, introduce to, role model, etc. their children or grand children, TV in SOME CASES may be the better solution. I find it incredible how slow the vast majority of adults in the USA and Canada is reacting to the dangers our habits pose for the survival of humans (at least the numbers who are currently present) on this planet. And that is even though we more or less know better by now! If children learn from those people not much will change.
This said, I still have little hope for TV to be of much help. Most stuff you can see just caters to those majorities of people who don't care, don't want to know what really is going on, or prefer to get entertained while unconscious. I don't watch TV, but I used to and there should still be SOME shows or reports that are more informative and progressive than the rest. Even great. Those you need to have your kids watch. But then you are already more progressive and more concerned than the rest.
TV is a extremely useful medium to get a message across. It does this very well. What matters is the message, not the medium. TV does not fry brains - people design programs to fry brains.
With our without TV, what it comes down to in the end is: Parenting.
Cancel cable or satellite - go to your public library and get DVD documentaries. And watch them with your kids because, thanks to our education system, they might know more about environmental issues than you do.
Karsten
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