How Television Images Affect Children

by Ron Kaufman

"[A nursery school teacher told me] her children were crudely bopping each other much more than previously, without provocation. When she remonstrated with them, they would protest, "But that's what the Three tooges do." This attitude did not signi!y a serious undermining o! character. But it certainly showed me that watching violence can lower a child's standards o! behavior. "ecent psychological e#periments have shown that watching brutality stimulates at least slight cruelty in adults, too." $$ %r. Ben&amin poc', !rom the boo' Baby and Child Care, ()*+
,i!ty$seven percent o! television programs contain "psychologically harm!ul" violence, according to a study !unded by the cable television industry. The study, released ,ebruary -, ())*, trac'ed .,/00 hours o! television programming. This was the largest sample ever analy1ed by researchers. Oh, that s ridiculous! Television is not harm!ul, it's &ust entertainment. But can the steady !low o! images watched nightly !rom television screens across the country be so easily dismissed as sim"ly entertainment# 2! the sheer volume o! absorbed images is considered, how can what is shown on television have no e!!ect on one's own mental images3 And i! new mental images are created, shouldn't it be logical to say that they can have an e!!ect on behavior3 But the argument that television has a signi!icant e!!ect on children should not rely on studies alone, but on common sense. When a child is placed in !ront o! the television his !ocus cannot be diverted and his ga1e cannot be bro'en. That child only has eyes !or the video screen. The bright colors, 4uic' movements and sudden !lashes capture the child's attention. 5nly the rare child !inds the television com"letely uninteresting. 6ven i! only cartoons are watched, most children !ind the images presented on the television set mesmeri1ing. Television programs have the power to in!luence a child's entire daily schedule. "They say they that they go to school "a!ter 7uc'leberry 7ound," eat a T8 dinner "during 9illigan's 2sland," and go to bed "a!ter :harlie's Angels," writes ;ate <oody in the boo', $rowing %" On Television. =nsupervised, a child could watch T8 constantly $$ endlessly. A widely 4uoted !igure is that, on average, a child watches between !our and !ive hours o! television each wee'day, and ten hours on aturday and unday. 2n a >uly, ())* speech, ?resident Bill :linton noted that, "a typical child watches ./,000 hours o! television be!ore his or her (+th birthday. ?reschoolers watch .+ hours o! television a wee'." 2n the li!e o! children, watching television is a signi!icant sensory e#perience. <any children easily spend more time with the bo# than they do with any other !orm o! entertainment. "6ach year children read less and less and watch television more and more. 2n !act, Americans o! all ages watch more television each year," writes <oody. "The typical child sits in !ront o! the television about !our hours a day $$ and !or children in lower socioeconomic !amilies the amount o! time thus spent is even greater. 2n either case, the child spends more time with T8 than he or she spends tal'ing to parents, playing with peers, attending school, or reading boo's. T8 time usurps !amily time, play time, and the reading time that could promote language development." Watching T8 is a passive event. :hildren $$ and adults $$ remain completely immobile while viewing the bo#. <ost viewing e#periences, at least among Americans, are both 4uiet and non$interactive. All attention is given to the images. ">ust li'e the operating room light, television creates an environment that assaults and overwhelms the child@ he can respond to it only by bringing into play his shutdown mechanism, and thus become more passive," states a pediatrician 4uoted in the <oody boo'. "2 have observed this in my own children, and 2 have seen it in other people's children. As they sat in !ront o! a television that was blasting away, watching a !ilm o! horrors o! varying 'inds, the children were completely 4uiet. . . . They were hoo'ed." Aoo'ing at a television screen does not magically remove a child's energy !rom within him. A highly active child will remain inactive while watching T8 because that is what the medium re4uires. 2n order to receive stimulation !rom the television, the child must be passive, and accept the predetermined !low rate o! the images. Both mind and body are passive Bcalled an alpha stateC allowing the child to concentrate on the vast, and o!ten !ast, array o! bright pictures. "The picture on the T8 changes every !ive or si# seconds, either by changing the camera angle or cutting to an entirely new scene," writes <oody. "5ne researcher re!ers to these events as &olts "er minute, noting that as time is cut up, the brain is conditioned to change at the e#pense o! continuity o! thought. "Adults and children are conditioned to instant grati!ication and crisis at many levels."

:hildren absorb millions o! images !rom the T8 in &ust one a!ternoon's viewing session. And what are they watching3 2! the child's T8 set has cable, his choices can range !rom between /0 and -0 di!!erent channels@ all o! them showing di!!erent programs. But i! the most recent survey is accurate, the odds are that what children are watching is probably violent. With !unding !rom the Dational :able Television Association, a group o! researchers at the =niversity o! :ali!ornia at anta Barbara reported in ,ebruary, ())* that /- percent o! T8 programs contained violence. The researchers warned that "the ris's o! viewing the most common depiction o! televised violence include learning to behave violently, becoming more desensiti1ed to the harm!ul conse4uences o! violence and becoming more !ear!ul o! being attac'ed." This is an important point. 'iewing large amounts of T' violence does not necessary cause a child to act more violently, but it can contribute to "romoting a view that violence is common"lace in everyday life as well as creating a heightened fear of being assaulted on the street( The =:AA report also concluded that television showsE ?erpetrators o! violent acts go unpunished -F percent o! the time. About ./ percent o! violent acts involve handguns. ,orty$seven percent o! violent situations present no harm to the victims and /+ percent depict no pain. 5nly G percent o! violent programs show nonviolent alternatives to solve programs. ?remium movie channels such as Time Warner's 7B5 and 8iacom's howtime had the highest proportion B+/ percentC o! violent programming. The broadcast networ's had a much lower percentage o! violence BGG percentC. 8iolence on television is not a new phenomena. 2n ()*+, Action !or :hildren's Television BA:TC was !ormed to try and convince the ,:: to limit violence and !orce the networ's to show more educational programs !or children. %espite the prodding o! A:T, :ongress and ,:: did nothing to promote children's television. 2n !act, in ()+F, the ,:: ruled against providing any provision !or children. 5ne response to this ruling was :B canceling the popular Ca"tain Kangaroo and replacing it with the :B <orning Dews. ,inally, .. years a!ter the creation o! A:T, :ongress passed the :hildren's Television Act o! ())0 which directed the ,::, in reviewing T8 broadcast license renewals, to "consider the e#tent to which the licensee. . . has served the educational and in!ormational needs o! children." :ongress also prohibited indecent broadcasts outside o! "sa!e harbor" hours B(0 p.m. to * a.m.C, the hours when it is least li'ely that unsupervised children will be in the audience. And with the passing o! the Telecommunications Act o! ())*, :ongress re4uires television manu!acturers to install "8$chips" into new sets. With a ratings system designed by the networ's themselves, the chip would bloc' out violent programming. ,:: :hairman "eed 7undt said he is prepared to !orce the networ's to adopt a system to rate programs. "2nstead o! !ighting the tide o! scienti!ic and lay opinion, broadcasters and cable operators who want to show violent material at times when large numbers o! children are in the audience should label their shows !or violent content. 2! they adopt such an approach now, they will avoid losing in the upreme :ourt and the court o! public opinion," he said in ,ebruary, ())* speech. 2n >uly, ())*, the White 7ouse, the !our ma&or broadcast networ's BAB:, DB:, :B , ,5HC and the Dational Association o! Broadcasters agreed to support a new proposal to re4uire broadcasters to air three hours o! 4uality educational programming each wee'. With the government !inally ta'ing steps to improve children's television, the !ocus then must turn to parents. Awareness that e#cessive T8 viewing is not benign and can have serious e!!ects on a child's behavior and attitude is important. 5bviously, turning o!! the set is the best solution. 5therwise, T8 programs should be discussed within the !amily. %oes the violence, se#ual attitudes, stereotypes, and advertising methods shown on television bene!it or hinder the way you want your child raised3 ,:: :hairman Dewton <inow called television a "vast wasteland." Thirty years later, he spo'e o! the medium againE "2n ()*( 2 worried that my children would not bene!it much !rom television, but in ())( 2 worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it. 2n ()*( they didn't ma'e ?9$(F movies, much less D:$(-. Dow a si#$ year$old can watch them on cable." ,or !urther readingE T6A682 25D, ;2% , 2D%6:6D:I, 825A6D:6 AD% T76 ?=BA2: 2DT6"6 T. ?66:7 BI "66% 7=D%T :7A2"<AD ,6%6"AA :5<<=D2:AT25D :5<<2 25D, %=;6 =D286" 2TI :755A 5, AAW, ,6B"=A"I ), ())*. "6<A"; BI T76 ?"6 2%6DT, T76 ,2" T AA%I, T76 82:6 ?"6 2%6DT AD% <" 95"6 2D 5?6D2D9 AD% :A5 2D9 TAT6<6DT AT T76 :72A%"6D' T6A682 25D :5D,6"6D:6, >uly .), ())*.