Family influences a lot, the television plays a very big part in influencing the development of children in today’s world. The statistics suggest that an average child watches TV for 3 to 6 hours a day, and that is a huge chunk of their waking time.
This habit of watching television has made many children to become obese, because they lack the exercise that young bodies really need for a healthy lifestyle. There was a time when children walked in from school, dumped their books in their rooms and rushed off to play their games of soccer, baseball, basketball, or just using up their energy tearing down the roads on their bikes or some sort of strenuous activity. But now their games are limited to video games and watching television. They have become what you call couch potatoes.
Children get exposed to adult behavior on television that is really not how people generally behave. But their constant exposure to the medium makes them feel that adults are constantly using bad language and exhibiting aggressive behavior and other inappropriate ways of living. Children will not believe that adults do not really behave this way.
When you watch any show on TV, there is constant exhibition of scenes where alcohol is used, profanity is rampant and violence comes up in every other scene. And because sex sells, as the saying goes, TV programs continue to show sexually explicit scenes quite often. They may be being shown these after certain hours, but there is no mechanism which prevents a child from watching that show. Few of them are repeated in the afternoons when children are at home. And at these times, adults may not be there in the house to monitor their viewing.
The advertising world uses TV quite a bit, and they continue to use sex to sell almost anything from jeans to cars using models who are scantily dressed, and even the sound tracks on some of these ads are poorly concealed sexual innuendos. Then there are of course the more adult ads which hype sex life, dating and videos that are not meant for the younger generation. Quite often the advertisement is only to catch eyeballs and has a very little thing to do with the actual product that is being advertised. And children are exposed to these ads, seeing the vast amount of time that advertising has in every program on TV.
Even daytime talk shows latch on to subjects that are really not suitable for children. They make exposes on public figures, ask very suggestive and explicit questions, and will do all they can to raise audience interest and get a few laughs. How suitable this is for children does not bother the TV honcho who is concerned only with ratings. If your personal life is shown on nationwide television, and all your secrets are exposed, people do not seem to mind as long as they are being paid well for appearing on TV.
Unfortunately, parents choose to let the television do the baby sitting so that they are free. They do not understand the constant exposure to poor behavior and exhibitionism that can lead their children on being tolerant to such behavior and they will think that it is the norm. Parents must monitor their children’s television viewing and make sure that they are exposed only to those shows that are of the right quality and suitable for children to view.
There are still a few quality shows on TV. The reruns of the old sitcoms are an indication of their popularity and there have still fun even today. It is best if you make a child accustomed to watching the TV only when you are around to supervise his viewing. Encourage him to get outside and play some sports, or get him used to reading books or playing board games with his siblings or friends. Do not get them to depend so much on TV.