Some Facts About Children And Television

Till today, television is considered to be the most effective mass medium that can reach a large number of masses throughout the world. Though there are different ways of communication and entertainment that have been developed over the last two decades, still it failed to harm the popularity of television. Starting from the kids to the teens, from the middle aged people to the aged ones, everyone comes under the target group of this popular mass medium. In India, the first experimental television program was launched in the country. Bu the year 1975, seven Indian cities had access to television programs.

At that time Doordarshan was the sole provider of television programs in the country. National telecasts were introduced in 1982. Color television was introduced in the same year in India. Under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, Central Government had launched a number of economic and social reforms in the year 1991. These new policies allowed the private and foreign broadcasters to engage in limited operations in the country. By the end of the millennium, Indian television industry reached the zenith of its success. Now there are programs in the television that cater to the particular age group. For kids also, many channels have been developed. Though television is a potent tool to spread awareness among the common people, it has its positive and negative impacts also in every age group.

The children have become a potent target group for television channels. Moreover, through this medium, many advertisers of foods and toys easily convince the kids to buy the product or use the service. Most kids plug into the world of television long before they enter school. The audio-visual appeal in the television easily attracts any child. There is no harm in watching television; in fact it is a great tool for educating the kids also; but there should be proper monitoring from the elders on the the kids television watching habits. Television has a multi-sided impact on a child’s mental and physical well being.

Some of the impacts are briefly discussed below:-

1. A research study shows that child who watch TV for more than 4 hours a day, suffer from overweight. TV is basically a lean back medium and thus it involved no physical action of the viewer. This is the basic reason behind children getting weight these days.

2. Children, who are exposed to violent scenes and programs on TV, often suffer from mental depression. While watching a program, the viewer gets involved into it. These kids show an aggressive behavior and also become scared that the world is frightening and that something bad will happen to them.

2. TV characters often depict risky behaviors, such as smoking and drinking, and also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes. This can influence the kids to follow the wrong ways in life.

Children’s advocates are divided when it comes to solutions. Although many urge for more hours per week of educational programming, others assert that zero TV is the best solution. And some say it's better for parents to control the use of TV and to teach kids that it's for occasional entertainment, not for constant escapism.