It has been so clear that
for the past decay years since television was invented, it has been a free flow
of communication or information distribution in our society. It plays a very
significant role in everyone’s life. It informs, educates and entertain the
society and it acts as a bridge between the government and the general public.
Considering the great importance of television to our everyday life, it has on the other hand cause more harm to our kids. It
is not far from the truth that children are mostly influenced by what they see such
as images or pictorial views than what they are been told.
With the trend of what is going on in our
society today, it is so clear that TV has caused more harm to our steward due to
some kinds of programme that are been shown on daily bases. So many stations
shown in StarTime, GOtv, DStv decoders etc. when children of same age watch the same programme, they tend to talk and recreate parts of that programme in their
paly.
Here are ways in which TV can be of negative
influence on kids:
v TV steals children time from physical
activities: The truth is that children who spend hours watching TV usually
refused to do any physical activities at home. The time they should have used
in reading, doing their homework and rendering assistance to their parent is
spent watching TV set. Lack of physical activity and too much screen time
can cause vision problems and research has it that there is a direct connection
between TV time and obesity.
v Health Damage: Watching TV for a
long time can cause an adverse effect on the health of kids. If your child spends
long hours watching TV every day, there is going to be higher rate of
becoming obese, the reason for this is because when watching television, their
body is been relaxed and there is no much engagement of physical activities
such as running and jumping which will enhance burning of calories, increase
metabolism and build muscle.
v Brain development and behaviour: While TV is educational; spending longer time watching could affect the
kid’s brain development. This is because it has been reviewed that first
couple of years in a child life are very necessary for brain development. A
researcher reported that watching TV too much can alter brain
structure. Research also has it that a toddler who watches TV for more than two
hours a day can develop behavioural problems.
v Impacts Social
Development: Kids who watch a lot of TV
do not have time to play or socialize. There is usually less or no interaction
with peers and this can affect their social development. TV eats away children
the time they get to interact with their peer groups, which may affect their
knowledge and understanding of social interactions and behaviour.
v Exposure to Vices: Children are exposed to inappropriate content that has sex, alcohol,
violence and drugs in the cost of watching TV programmes. The worst part is that early exposure can even
give them a distorted view of these elements.
NOTE: You can’t control what is shown on
television and you may also not always be able to control what your kid
watches on the TV. But parents and
guidance has to take a stand when it comes to television if you must protect
your child from the damaging effects of television.
Make watching TV a fun family activity, instead
of a means to pass the time. This will discourage your children to watch it
when they are bored or alone at home.
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