IMPACTS OF TELEVISION ON CHILDREN
Television has become a significant social phenomenon in Pakistan. There is no doubt that television has a great influence on children from a very early age itself and it will affect children’s cognitive and social development. The role that Television plays in socializing children is very great. Television can be educational and beneficial, but their negative aspect, such as the amount of aggressive and violent activity it displays daily, is causing grave concern to parents and educators around the world, especially in Pakistan. Whether and how we will manage to control the harmful effects of television and harness its potential for the good of children is a subject of ongoing debate.
Though not yet investigated empirically, TV viewing is, generally believed to generate social forces of undeniable influence in Pakistan. With more than 1.5 million sets in use and about seven hours of daily transmission, the number of viewers is now estimated to be over 12 million. These statistics may be modest by international standard but these are not insignificant in a country where' the rate of literacy and per capita income are still very low.
Children do not generally become consistent viewers until they are about 3 years old. Even then they do not watch the set constantly because their span of attention is very short. Os they get easily distracted. Now-a-days the working parents are so busy; they don’t have enough time spend with their kids. The mother has to do the cooking and look after the child simultaneously; there may not be servants also. So she switches on the TV and puts the child in front of it. Slowly it becomes addicted to the television. And the mother blames the child for regularly watching TV. Most of the ‘speech delay’ cases seen among babies are caused due to the excessive TV watching. Television watching is not interactive. It is a one way mode of activity. In order to develop speech, as the young one begins to produce the babbling sounds; we must reproduce a similar sound, so that the young one is motivated to talk more, which slowly leads to verbal communication.
TV viewing patterns are affected not only by program content but by the formal features of television as well, such as animation, high action, loud music and visual and auditory special effects. These formal features, which help to attract as well as retain children’s attention, are to some degree, independent of programme content, and they are important for younger and older children alike (Kapoor). Children increase their viewing time gradually until, in preadolescence, they are watching TV almost four hours a day, and housewives too watch most of the TV programmes. Often there is clash between their children regarding the channel they prefer. The elders would prefer the serials, while children want their favourite cartoons. Children watch a variety of programmes, boys prefer action, adventure and sports programmes, and girls prefer human social drama and music.
Small kids will not understand what they see on television, in a reasonable manner. Children must be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Displaying what has been called ‘magic window thinking’ the little kids are likely to believe that TV images are real as the people and things about them. During the age of 2 and 3 they come to understand that the characters and objects they see on TV are not actually present inside the set. As kids grow and their cognitive skills continue it improve, their ability to distinguish fantasy from reality improves as well. When they get older, children understand that shows are made up, scripted and rehearsed.
The impact of violence in television can be reduced by helping young children distinguish between what they see in Television and reality. We must also constantly inform them that television is an unrealistic portrayal of the real world and aggressive behaviours are not as universal in the real world as they appear to be on TV. If we go on watching interesting TV programmes we will not realize the time that has elapsed. Due to excessive TV watching our attitudes, moods, behaviour will all get affected.
Television viewing takes time, and may displace other activities, such as sports, exercises or even talking to others. Guests are not properly taken care of if they visit other houses during popular TV serials. Also, in most of the houses the TVs are placed in the drawing room. Even though we will talk with the guests, our attention will be constantly diverted by the TV. We must make it a practice to switch off the TV when guests come.
Earlier, children loved to visit other housed with their parents, but now-a-days, if we ask them to join us, they will say “Amma, please, we will sit at home and watch TV,” They prefer sitting at home and watching TV over visiting relatives or friends. Parents must also ensure that children are getting sufficient physical exercises. It is also not a good practice to place TV in the dining room. In the busy modern time, there is lack of communication between the family members. Watching television during dinning hours, however, will prevent family members from conversing with one another freely.
Some parents will switch on the TV and feed the children. The parents will be happy as the little one opens his mouth like gold fish and swallows the food while watching TV. The parent is not realising that she herself is developing in the child that habit of watching TV while eating food. Now-a-days some children watch TV even while doing home work. This practice must be dissuaded from the beginning stage itself. All the children’s programmes and cartoon channels are intermixed with advertisements. These advertisements have a definite influence on the tender mind. Fast food snacks filled with masala and aginomotto are harmful to health. As these snakes provide tattoos and stickers children often try to influence their parent’s consumer choice; parents must not entertain this.
The present trend in the theme of serials is not satisfactory. In all the stories, importance is given to the negative aspects of human personality. They depict the different ways to cheat other people, the unhealthy relationships between the husbands and wives, the shortcut ways to get money buy cheating people. Violence is given preference. By watching these types of serials, throughout the time, the behaviour of even the elder generation seem to have changed. They have become narrow-minded and they tend to find fault with others and enjoy gossips and go into negative thinking. In the past, grandparents loved to look after the young ones. But now the modern grandma is reluctant to find time to spend with their grandchildren among these never-ending serials. This is a cyclic process. Children learn through imitation, if they elderly persons are behaving like this, how we can blame the little ones” as a result a selfish generation is emerging!
The parents must go on talking to the child while watching TV, that is, they must explain the programme contents to they younger ones. This will help the children to make important connection between actions and their consequences. Studies have shown that children whose parents explain events and clarify information tend to be more imaginative, less aggressive and less hyperactive and tend to understand the contents of the programme better. But at present, the parents do not spend time with children, nor do they discuss the values of the programme. Co-viewing can also help a child to cope with the fear produced by the programme. The friendly relationship between the parents and children will also improve.
The programmes in the National Geographic Channel are also very informative; the travelogue helps to gather information on other countries. By watching such programmes we will get a feeling that we are actually visiting these places. The important buildings and places shown in such programmes give us valuable knowledge. Children will be able to know about and understand different culture.
The important thing to keep in mind is that parents must not blame the children for watching TV. Together they must prepare a tentative timetable for Television-viewing. Children must be given some time to watch their favourite programmes, but parents must have an eye on the programmes which the children watch. There must be open discussions among the family members and parents must provide a positive guidance to children. This will help them to learn to evaluate the TV programmes and what they see. Also, we must not discuss in front of the child his/her habit of watching TV throughout the time, even if that be the case. We must slowly steer him out of the habit instead.