The Bad Effects of TV Shows on Children's Development
Many parents are concerned that watching too much television will negatively impact their children's development. These parents have valid concerns, because watching more than two hours per day can lead to issues with development, including the development of a child's emotions, intellect and maturity, according to Laura Berk, professor of psychology at Illinois State University. The best way to avoid these negative effects is to limit children's exposure to television to less than two hours per day.
Emotional Development
Watching too much television has been shown to slow down, if not completely halt, a child's emotional development, according to David Shaffer, a child psychologist and author of "Developmental Psychology : Childhood and Adolescence." This is due to learning think, feel and react from television as opposed to through real-life experiences. Though television is not reality, children's minds are not fully able to differentiate fact from fiction. This often becomes a problem when parents choose to use a television set as a baby-sitter and have their children spent hours watching television as opposed to interacting with people. Shaffer says that problems with emotional development because of excessive television can lead to an increased chance of addiction, sexual promiscuity, depression, and violence.
Intellectual Development
Too much television can slow down a child's intellectual development if educational television shows are not watched. This is because children will often choose to watch entertaining television shows, as opposed to stimulating their minds with educational activities. Berk mentions that neglecting intellectually stimulating activities can lead to trouble in school and reduced intelligence quotient (IQ).
Development of Maturity
Children that watch too much television tend to have fewer real interpersonal relationships and interactions. Interpersonal interactions are a large part of how children develop maturity as they grow up, therefore, losing these valuable interactions to television shows leaves the children with a high likelihood of lacking in development of maturity. Though children interact with others at school, this makes up only a few hours a day. According to Shaffer, children require more interpersonal communication than can be had at school. Ideally, Shaffer says that children will interact with friends, family, and peers for at least two to three hours per day outside of school. Lack of this interaction, according to Shaffer, can lead to trouble in school, truancy, poor decision making, an increased chance of addiction, and violence.
Tags: much television, television shows, chance addiction, Children Development, children will