Much of the debate over TV and kids centers on V-chips, rating
systems and adult content. By the latest estimates, the average
child watches 10,000 murders, rapes and aggravated assaults per
year. The connection between TV violence and violence by young
viewers has been drawn by thousands of studies. While much is
made of children's programming, 95 percent of children's viewing
time is spent watching adult shows.
TV
helps teens form attitudes about guns, drugs and morality. For
little kids, the link between TV and real-world violence is proven
by preschools and day-care centers that first banned Ninja Turtles
and then Power Rangers because children imitating cartoon heroes
were hurting each other.
Still, some experts believe that the content of what kids watch
is beside the point. The sheer number of hours spent watching
-- American children spend three to four hours every day in front
of the tube, more time per year than they spend in school -- means
that kids have all but abandoned social interaction and are bombarded
by hours of advertising. Experts are concerned about how this
affects not only children's learning but also their physical and
emotional health.
Hey, it’s educational!
But aren't kids learning from a steady diet of Barney and Sesame
Street? Maybe not. Teachers attest that real learning for children
is not passive. It involves hands-on involvement, discussion and
interaction between teacher and student.
Winn argues that while they may allay guilt for parents who rely
on TV to occupy their kids, educational programs are relatively
useless to preschoolers. They may be able to sing their ABCs and
recite what they hear, but Winn contends that kids don't grasp
the concepts.
The job of a preschooler, she says, is to work out family relationships,
become self-directed and less dependent and learn basic communications
skills like reading, writing and talking. Not only is a TV unable
to teach these things, but the passivity of watching undermines
a child's instinct to pursue these skills. After all, the average
preschooler spends more time watching TV than in any other activity
besides sleep.
Winn points out that while adults compare TV shows to real life,
children (with their limited life experience) tend to do the opposite.
For kids who spend more time with TV families than their own,
this can be especially evident. Actors are predictable and their
intentions are always clear; TV families are funny, attractive
and come with their own laugh track. Problems are easily worked
out in half an hour.
In
comparison, real life is complicated and the plot is hard to follow.
And sadly, the conversation that might help real families to connect
is usually crowded out by the seven hours a day that the TV is
usually on.
Obesity and the loss of play
In the last decade, doctors have focused on the physical impact
of TV on children. American kids spend less and less time in healthy
activity. Slowed metabolisms from inactivity, snacking while watching
TV and the temptation of commercials selling candy and sweetened
cereals combine for a huge physical impact. Rising obesity has
been linked to the inactivity of TV couch potatoes in countless
studies, though few such studies are reported on commercial TV.
While the connection between obesity and TV seems clear, a less
obvious atrophy can take place. According to Winn's essay "The
Importance of Play," TV robs children of the greatest motivation
to invent, pretend and imagine: boredom. She is particularly concerned
that busy schedules and hours of TV mean no free time for kids.
Play, she points out, is serious business: It's practice for life.
Toledo-area psychologist and mom Jeanne Dennler agrees. She attributes
the academic and social skills of her children, Kim, 18, and Jeff,
15, to limits on TV. "Interactive and creative play is developmentally
important," she explains. Dramatic play involving costumes
and pretending and interaction with siblings and neighbors is
healthy for kids. Children with developmental disorders especially
benefit from sequential play, such as creating stories with dollhouse
families.
Dennler adds that for children with social problems, TV and videos
can become a substitute for real relationships. "They may
use it as an avoidance thing," she says. And teenagers, who
can be antisocial anyway, may hide behind TV as well. "The
worst thing a family can do is give an adolescent a TV in his
room," she says, adding that at least the TV might lure teens
to sit with the family.
TV and academics
As many parents can attest, TV wins out over homework every time.
Some teachers have surrendered all attempts to get kids to study
at home. TV remains a tough competitor even in the classroom.
One teacher quipped, "I can remember when a film strip about
cell division was a big deal. Now we have to compete with MTV."
Teachers complain that students have short attention spans, and
one researcher has theorized that some hyperactive behavior may
be a child's attempt to recreate the fast-shifting stimulus of
TV. Teachers who taught before and after the easy accessibility
of TV say students today are less able to read and write and passively
accept information instead of thinking critically.
Seventh-grade
teacher Nancy Griffin has noticed that kids tend to reproduce
the latest movie or TV program in their writing assignments. She
had to institute a "no blood, guts and gore" rule for
stories. "I just added the word 'psychopath' to the list
of words no longer allowed in my class," she adds. Winn thinks
it's no coincidence that the nation's SAT scores began their decline
in 1964, the first year kids "exposed to large amounts of
television during their language-learning years" were tested.
Values and commercials
Some parents feel they're fighting a losing battle to teach their
kids good values. Parents want daughters to have a healthy attitude
about their bodies and avoid the self-criticism and disordered
eating so common today. They want kids to make good decisions
about sex and drugs, tobacco and alcohol, violence and guns. They
want them to think for themselves and not be pressured by peers
into taking risks. But in the tug of war over kids, families are
pulling against TV -- and hour for hour, TV talks to children
a lot more than parents do.
To
complicate matters, parents have only common sense and heartfelt
advice to offer, while TV is backed by millions of dollars in
high-tech, slick advertising encouraging kids to conform, often
making parents look foolish in the process.
Kids are the fastest-growing segment of the consumer market, and
materialism is good for the economy. Little children are vulnerable
because they can't question the accuracy of ads. School-age kids
are sitting ducks for giant marketing machines like Disney, whose
movies are combined with fast-food trinkets and movie-du-jour
merchandise. Many cartoons are thinly veiled marketing promotions
for action figures or spin-offs of toys already on the market.
Older
kids struggling with identity and popularity issues are easy prey
for ads claiming they'll be uncool unless they buy the right shampoo,
shoes, designer clothes or acne cream. These commercials make
teens feel dissatisfied with themselves, their appearance, their
possessions and their love lives. They tempt kids to cave in to
peer pressure and follow fads. The ads are profitable for advertisers
but costly to the self-esteem of their viewers. This is especially
frightening at a time when skeletal models and "heroin chic"
are the latest trend.
TV as babysitter: what are the costs?
Many families battle daily about how much time older kids spend
in "zombie mode." Why then do parents encourage little
kids to sit mesmerized in front of the tube? When asked, parents
admit that parking their preschoolers at the TV is easier than
trying to make dinner or do household chores amid children's demands
… easier than dealing with squealing kids racing through
the house … easier than picking up the puzzles, crayons
and toys that active children scatter.
But experience suggests that the quick fix of TV makes parenting
more difficult in the long run. Kids who never learn to entertain
themselves rely on TV or a parent to provide "something to
do." Teachers and parents who remember childhood before TV
make the same observations: kids used to be busier, happier, more
resourceful and less "under foot." The childhood culture
of jump rope, paper dolls and collections seems to have given
way to kids huddled around a flickering TV screen at home or at
a friend's.
Retired mom Betsy Ford, whose six children are grown, says, "You
didn't have to keep kids occupied. They had the imagination to
do it themselves." Other '50s moms recall the ways they got
some time to themselves -- afternoon naps or "quiet times"
that lasted well into the school years. Others found that half
an hour of undivided attention initiating a tea party, making
dough to mold or teaching a child to string beads could "jump
start" independent play.
Notions of families singing around the piano, listening to the
radio or reading aloud together sound pretty old-fashioned and
impractical to some. Amidst tight schedules and the double workload
of home and job, it's hard to find a moment to spare. To make
things worse, many parents watch TV in one room while the children
watch their own shows or play video games in another room. Two-income
families and single parents who lament having only evenings and
weekends to spend with kids might consider how many hours they
could find by unplugging the competition.
Will my kids be weird?
According to families who are living "unplugged," once
the family has regained more clout with kids than the TV, kids
may not care about friends' TV-related conversations. Pediatrician
Joanne Reid remembers the day her daughter came home from school
and asked, "Mom, what's a Power Ranger?" Mom checked
the listings, and they watched the show together on their home's
seldom-used TV set. Halfway through the show, her child stood
up, declared "This is stupid," and went off to play.
Kids who haven't been indoctrinated into TV culture or whose parents
have lives and interests outside of TV viewing may be more objective
about the value of what they watch. Some parents report that their
kids can be quite smug about not watching and complain about friends
who "never do anything."
Families who have unplugged the TV for a week or more list advantages
like family conversations and closeness. They say kids rediscover
long-forgotten games, books, hobbies and musical instruments.
Parents find time for projects around the house and yard (and
often find their sex lives improved dramatically). Ironically,
most families eventually plug in again, subsequently reporting
that life returned to the old way. Even families who limited TV
time said knowing that TV was an option prevented their kids from
finding other pursuits.
Deprogramming
Families who leave TV behind during vacations often recognize
what a gap its absence leaves. Kicking the habit may be especially
hard for small children, who like the comfort of routines. Toledo-area
mom Valerie Black was dismayed during a week-long Smoky Mountain
camping trip when Symonne, age 5, kept asking for TV. Even older
kids used to the passive role of being entertained by a TV set
may take more than a week or two to become resourceful, stop complaining
and take responsibility for amusing themselves.
While everyone is in transition, families might plan more outside
activities such as visiting museums, parks or libraries. You might
revive the lost art of conversation by asking kids' opinions about
current events and draw out discussions at the dinner table. Still,
parents should avoid the temptation to become the TV's replacement
by playing social director. Many kids discover the joys of reading,
playing an instrument or building a model after being driven to
it by sheer boredom.
Kids
can be required to take part in household duties; involvement
makes little kids feel grown up and reminds big ones that they
are part of the family, not guests to be entertained. And if all
else fails, says veteran mom Betsy Ford, when kids come whining
with nothing to do, "suggest that they vacuum. They'll suddenly
come up with an idea of their own."
Life without TV -- it's something to consider. While parents would
have to sacrifice an easy babysitter and give up the hard-to-kick
TV habit themselves, they could give their kids important gifts:
free time, study time, family time, imagination, health and the
chance to do instead of watch.
Kelly Averill Savino
is a potter and an attachment parenting, unschooling mother of
three in Ohio.
