by frog
The Herald leads this morning with the news that watching a lot of TV makes children dumb. Well, not quite: it leads with the news that there seems to be a negative correlation between the amount of television children watch and how well they do academically. That is: the more TV you watch as a child, the worse you do academically.
This pretty much comes down to an issue of parental responsibility. It is simply irresponsible for parents to let their children watch endless amounts of TV as they grow up. Sure, there are some reasons why parents often haven’t enough time to ensure their kids are doing more productive things than sitting in front of the box all evening, every evening. The fact that more and more families have both parents in full-time jobs, because they can’t afford not to, means less parent-child time and less parental oversight. That said, it does seem that too many parents don’t make enough of an effort to steer their kids away from excessive TV-watching.
The Herald story is based on an Otago University study comparing the academic achievement and TV watching habits of 1000 children in Dunedin. One of the study’s authors says things will get worse in the future, with videos, computers and the internet offering kids more and more “screentime”.
We should approach such statements with caution. It’s too simplistic to say TV and computers are bad, and books and time with other human beings are good. It actually depends what children watch on TV and what they do on computers. If the saturation advertising was taken out of children’s television, and a greater educational component was added, it could be a powerful means of education. The internet has been very positive in terms of allowing children to develop individual research skills and abilities to learn about the world. Sure, it would be a bad thing if technological advances simply meant more time playing violent video games and watching banal cartoons, but TV and computers can also be a significant force for good, so long as there’s adequate parental guidance along the way.
Published in Society & Culture by frog on Tue, July 5th, 2005
Tags: environment
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
fwwog you donts blame the tv or they stop watching yo pastor on tv3, tell us that the border closed .. the mains things is your dad fwwog, like if you gets the daddy fwwog with the dumbness it come out .. now if you gets the mummy fwwog with the dumbness you gets to jumps around lots at schoool mn things they gets you the ritilin, i sold mines to the girls next door .. they so dumb fwwog they watch Dr. Phil to helps them with the mummy fwwog
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
TV is bad, even when it is good. It is passive and mind numbing with several brain scan studies that point out that it induces a semi-hypnotic state in the viewer.
This is a very different result from the interaction that a computer provides, and as a result any conclusion that mixes the two will make serious errors.
TV time is also time “alone” and social intelligence and the ability to work with others is damaged by it. In this regard the computer is similar.
A lot of TV can make a whole country dumb. I’d have the damned thing shut off 4 hours a day at least, just to FORCE people to do something else… no it isn’t fair, or practical or reasonable or just, but the glass teat is a serious challenge to civilization.
respectfully
BJ
Like or Dislike:
1 
0 (+1)
Studies in the US tend to show that more than 8 hours of TV-watching per week is bad for kids. Oddly, often kids who watch 4 to 8 hours a week do better than those who watch none.
But correlation and causation are two different things.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
It’s interesting and difficult to interpret as Icehawke notes. But frog’s reaction of “If the saturation advertising was taken out of children’s television, and a greater educational component was added, it could be a powerful means of education’ is both worrying and unjustified.
Unjustified since the study provides no evidence that a change of programming would have any effect at all. Worrying, because it is yet again evidence that frog would like to use TV to promote a particular political point of view.
There are a range of possible factors involved. One is that this is partially self-selection. Kids with low initiative may tend to watch more TV and this trait may also lead to low motivation in education. Also the assumption is being made, by academics, that this lack of academic success is necessarily bad. Possibly, but also possible is that the TV addicts chose different, equally rewarding, career paths. Did Peter Jackson attend university?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
Just TV
http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive5.htm
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7229
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/03/020319075159.htm
http://life.ecureme.com/HealthyLiving/AlternativeLiving/al-c12-090204A UG.asp
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1979_March_April/Four_Arguments _for_the_Elimination_of_Television_Argument_Three__Effects_of
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/reviews/tubemovie.html
Televised Violence:
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p011070.html
http://www.killology.com/index.htm
VideoGames:
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20040114/Feature1.asp
Control:
http://www.atsnn.com/story/124672.html
Gender (OT):
http://wcvb-tvhealth.ip2m.com/index.cfm?PageType=itemDetail&Item_ID=84 51&Site_Cat_ID=6
God (OT):
http://db.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrain.shtml
There are few redeeming features to Television. It has the ability to provide
far more than it does, and it kills time of which we all have far too little.
When I want to turn off my brain, and that IS occasionally desireable, I can think of no more effective method than TV. However, turning off the brains of my Children is a dead loss as far as I am concerned.
respectfully
BJ
Like or Dislike:
1 
0 (+1)
er, sock, how on earth does it follow that frog’s call for more educational material on TV means that frog wants a particular political viewpoint to be aired. Surely educational TV programmes would be non-partisan?
Yes frog’s call implies government regulation of TV companies, but it does not mean government propaganda.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1 (-1)