The Debilitating Effects of TV on Children

The overeating during television occurs in keeping with the fact that TV is an extended, interactive, and unnatural form of dream vision AS waking vision. Bodily feeling/sensation is therefore reduced during TV (as is the case during dream experience), so the feeling of fullness is reduced/lacking. Dr. Joyce Starr agrees with this as well. (Television is an unnatural creation of generalized thought; accordingly, TV may be held to be a generalized hallucination.) The experience of sound and vision in/as TV is even more like thought than in the case of the vision and sound in the dream.

Emotion is manifest as sensory experience and feeling.

TV involves emotional detachment, disintegration, contraction, and loss; and this certainly relates to (or involves) depression and anxiety as well. Importantly, TV also reduces memory and thought; and this is also consistent with/similar to dream experience. Hence, the overeating while watching television relates to the reduction in thought and memory as well. Frank Martin DiMeglio (author/expert)

Television is only possible because this disintegration, reconfiguration, contraction (i.e., compression), and extension of visual sensory experience occurs during dreams. Accordingly, both television viewing and dreams may be said to include (or involve) reduced ability to think, anxiety, and increased distractibility. Television thus compels attention, as it is compelled in the dream; but it is an unnatural and hallucinatory experience. Hence, television is addictive. Similar to the visual experience while dreaming, television compels attention to the relative exclusion of other experience. Television reduces consciousness and results in a flattening of the visual experience as a result of combining waking visual experience with relatively unconscious visual experience. Television involves the experience of what is less animate, for it involves a significant reduction in (or loss of) visual experience. This disintegration of the visual experience (as in the dream) also results in an emotional disintegration (i.e., anxiety). That television may be so described (and even possible) is hard to imagine; but this is consistent with the fact that it took so very many different minds (and thoughts) of genius in order to make the relatively unconscious visual experience of the dream conscious. Since the thinking that is involved in making the experience of television possible is so enormously difficult, it becomes difficult to think while partaking of that experience. Television may be seen as an accelerated form or experience of art, thereby making someone less wary (or less anxious) initially, but less creative and more anxious (as time passes) as the advance of the self becomes unsustainable. The experience (or effects) of television demonstrates the interactive nature of being and experience; for, in the dream, there is also a reduction in the totality (or extensiveness) of experience.

Thought involves a relative reduction in the range and extensiveness of feeling. In keeping with this, dreams make thought more like sensory experience in general. Accordingly, both thought and also the range and extensiveness of feeling are proportionately reduced in the dream. (This reduction in the range and extensiveness of feeling during dreams is consistent with the fact that the experience of smell very rarely occurs therein.) Since there is a proportionate reduction of both thought and feeling during dreams, the experience of the body is generally (or significantly) lacking; for thought is fundamentally rendered more like sensory experience in general. Thoughts and emotions are differentiated feelings. By involving the mid-range of feeling between thought and sense, dreams make thought more like sensory experience in general. The reduction in the range and extensiveness of feeling during dreams is why there is less memory and thought therein.

Dream vision is generally closer (or flattened), thereby resulting in a loss/reduction of peripheral vision as well. Comparatively, television further flattens vision; and it also involves a reduction in peripheral vision.

In the dream, vision and thought are semi-detached from touch (and feeling). One may or may not be able to touch what is seen in the dream. In the visual experience that is television, the visual images may not be (and are not) touched at all. In the case of waking vision, one can [generally] touch what one sees.

It is not only in the dream that the vision of each individual person is necessarily different. That is obvious. Importantly, the experience of television is uniquely that of the individual.

Television may be understood as a creation of generalized thought. The ability of thought to describe or reconfigure sense is ultimately dependent upon the extent to which thought is similar to sense.

Television makes thought even more like vision than in the dream, thereby reducing thought and vision. Thoughts are relatively shifting and variable. Likewise, dream vision is relatively shifting and variable. In the case (and form) of television, the visual images become more shifting and variable than that of the dream; and this is in keeping with attention being compelled and sustained in conjunction with these images being even more like (or consistent with) thought. People tend to believe what they see (and hear) during television.

Ordinary (and natural) vision is removed and replaced in the case of television. Unlike art, which can be the interactive creation of any one person, television is impossible for any one person to possibly create or otherwise experience.

Television is an hallucination. Hallucinations are already known to be connected with/associated with/”caused by” all sorts of very serious mental/physical/emotional conditions or disorders. It is undeniable that this is a very important and serious matter.

During this past week I have learned a lot how watching tv can caused different side effects when you are doing it at a period of time. To much of anything is not good for you. As I read in my resources about Dr. Grohol explained our children our watching more tv now than ever. They are from the tv to the refrigerator, in between commercial breaks we have to put out children on a schedule and become better parents.

I have an eight year old who spend about an hour in front of the television set. That hour I think is not good for her. She isn’t focused on any one particular thing her mind races.She doesn’t keep still one minute she’s one place the next minute she’s in another place. she’s been diagnose with ADHD & ADD.That one hour of television has affected her tremendously.

I too grew up with a TV in our home but I truly can’t say that it was the “only” sourse of my problems as a troubled adolesent.I feel that watching my parents fight all the time, and peer preasure growing up were my biggest factors in my negative behavior problems.How you are raised is a big factor,sure…but as we grow older we know right from wrong and we all make our own choices in life!!!

The way I feel about children and T.V. is; Children have young growing minds and the more they hear,watch, and pick up on the more the mind grows and the curosity of the child begins. They stuff put on television shows today only corrupt the young minds of our children.Its to much violence and things young minds don’t need to be introduced to.I am a mother of three and I watch what my children are exposed to because I want my kids to focus on there education.

It’s funny how there are so many articles and studies done on the negative effects of TV on children, and yet none on the positive effects. Discussing TV shows and movies is common among children, and cutting your child off could simultaneously cut them off from their peers. Children also bond over new fashion fads or toy crazes that they see in commercials. And of course, television is useful in teaching children social skills. It’s critical that children know how to behave around their peers and how to socialize appropriately. Raising your children without television would be to cut them off from what’s going on in the world around them, rendering them socially awkward. My sister’s classmate was raised without television, and this girl could barely function in a social setting. She would make the most inappropriate comments at all the wrong moments. She tried to talk about what she had learned in her Bug Encyclopedia when the other girls were talking about Kelly Clarkson’s outfit in her newest music video. Children who grow up like that are generally excluded and are always different from the other children. As a parent, ask yourself if what you really want is for your child to be so different from, and have so little in common to his or her peers.

However, I agree that parents should be more focused on their child’s education than they currently are. Instead of attempting to restrict TV and create other stimulating activities for their children to do, parents should be more firm when it comes to their childrens’ schoolwork. My parents were no-nonsense when it came to school. I could watch television, but that report card needed to be all A’s. I learned from a very early age how to manage my time effectively. I knew that there was a certain amount of time that needed to be alloted to fractions and decimals or else my grade would suffer. I also knew that after I studied, TV was a great way to relax and my parents wouldn’t chase after me saying “Turn of the TV, let’s go for a nature hike or build with legos.” Creativity and imagination is great and all, but academic success is key. When I raise my own kids, I’ll make sure they know that schoolwork is more important above all, but I won’t hackle them with “creative projects” when all they want to do is relax after hours of studying. And really, what’s the harm in a couple hours of low-key entertainment and relaxation after all the homework is done?

WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?
In the past twenty years, the morals in television shows have transformed from family life to amateur imitation. Although both provide a form of awareness, each takes a different path. In the early 1990s, the classic hit series “Boy Meets World” was released, having children of its day watching the growth of young Cory Matthews, an average boy who faced problems with school, friends, and family. Cory is exposed to family struggles like divorce, brotherly squabbles, sex, and alcoholic abuse, all of which were family conversation the entire Mathew’s family talked about to come up with a consequence to Corey’s actions. However, for the past ten years the generation as modified its self to reality television shows, inviting America into the daily drama of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” or the struggles of early pregnancy on ABC Family’s “The Secret Life of an American Teenager”. The awareness of pregnancy, and struggles with friends and life are presented in two completely different ways.
What effects does it present on the viewers? Although “Boy Meets World” viewers were shown a censored form of issues such as pregnancy, drinking, and drugs, its viewers lack the reality of life. In today’s generation, we have become more accepting of early pregnancy, and with shows like “Secret life” children are able to be exposed to such issues early on in life. The ability for them to learn about the struggles that pregnancy, drugs, and drinking have on teenager allows them to make better decisions on how to deal with such issues. Although Corey discussed with his parents the issues of alcohol, parent abuse, and sex, the total expose or reality of the situation was never to its full potential, which takes away from the views ability to understand the entirety of the situation.
Many would believe that television has no effect on their personality, the decisions they make, or the way they dress because they are their own unique individual. However, I believe that many people these days are nothing more than a diluted imitation of television characters. I believe that, as oppose to the theme of family and morals in “Boy Meets World,” television has become a sense of awareness and more informational with a dramatic twist. For instance “The Secret life of an American Teenager” shows the struggles of a young 16 year old girl in high school being pregnant. Many parents would see this show as a life lesson that would promote the idea of safe sex, and absence. However, in the show the parents of teenager Amy Juergens, send her off to band camp where she has sex with a drummer named Ricky. After confirming that the pregnancy is true, she is forced to inform her parents. And like many parents, they are dismayed, shocked, and utterly disappointed, but by the end of episode the Juergens family decided to accept the pregnancy and work to build a better family. A clear point too many young children that if they become pregnant the end result will be acceptance. This episode takes away from the realty of such a major situation in any women’s life. In my case, if I came home pregnant at the age of 15 or 16 years old, I would have been most likely beaten, and kicked out of my house. The show takes away from the aspect of violence and reality of the issue, and substitutes it will hopeless romantic boyfriends, and supporting parents. As the seasons have continued the show has made a downward spiral in which everyone in the show is having sex, parents and students alike, and encourages marriage at a young age along with catholic children who are rebelling against Christian ways.
Megan Basham, from World Magazine wrote a review on the “Secret Life of an American Teenager” saying it “is the strongest evidence yet that the sexual content of television programs encourages adolescents to initiate sexual intercourse and other sexual activities” (Basham). I believe that shows these days cause children to imitate what is shown on television such as sex, verses try and relate to the moral of the programs to stay safe and learn from others mistakes. However, many of the shows that we find ourselves indulging in today do not have a clear message, some do not even have a message at all, that they are trying to bestow upon their viewers. Although “The Secret Life of an American Teenager,” may present the issues of pregnancy and sex in an idealistic manner, it does expose the life lesson of sex in high school to young children. At the end of each episode the main characters encourage children to confront their parents about issues such as pregnancy, anorexia, drugs, and alcohol abuse. The ability to see what these issues really do and the struggles teens have to face allows proper exposure to these concepts. On the other hand, the “Boy Meets World” strategy leaves children naive and unable to take the right actions when confronted with such issues. Although the thought of never being exposed to something sounds better, children are able to examine the consequences of life changing actions through television.
Watching my older sister as I grew up, I was able to understand where her conservative side of her personality comes from. Like many children, we were only allowed to watch television, we were not allowed to go to the movies, the mall, or sleepovers with friends, my parents were very strict about the things they would allow us to do. My family has become more liberal than they once were, and have become more lenient towards me and my younger sister. Parenting and family play a key role in the outcome of children, but parents are outnumbered on the amount of conversations they may have with their children as they grow up, and the amount of television programs they encounter. My sisters are a prime example of this concept. My older sister is very conservative when picking clothing, realistic when making decisions with money, and understanding of both sides of a story. My younger sister on the other hand is mostly the exact opposite, she enjoys pounding on tons of makeup, showing of her assets, and very outspoken usually curing after every word. Many psychologists have studied the comparisons between the oldest and youngest children to determine what behavioral effects are associated with each position within the family. Linda Musun Baskett from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock experimented on the ordinal position differences within family interactions, and came to the conclusion that “the greater conformity and lesser popularity of oldest children could be the result of greater contact with parents than with siblings and could result because first-born children experience more negative responses from others. Lastborn children’s alternations between interactions with adults and peers within the family could result in well-developed social skills, whereas fewer negative responses from others could be tied to less social anxiety” (Baskett, 1030). We are able to see that even though the first child in many families is an experiment child, they remain in close content with family traditions and ethics, as oppose to the youngest who is pampered with attention and feeds off their curiosity as a social butterfly.

Psychologists believe that television has a strong correlation with the behavior of children. The famous behaviorism psychologist, Albert Bandura experimented on children and their behavior as they watch the positive and negative reinforcements of others. The experiment he carried out showed children a video of a model punch, kick, and shouting various hostile phrases at the bobo-doll. In one video the children were shown the model being positively rewarded after beating up the bobo-doll, the other video showed the model being punished for her behavior. The children who watched the positively reinforced model were later caught imitating the behavior they had seen. Bandura social learning theory is known as the observational learning model. Robert A. Baron, discuses in his article “Aggression,” the ideas behind Bandura, and how “children learn to act aggressive when they model their behavior after violent acts of adults, especially family members. For example, the boy who witnesses his father repeatedly strikes his mother, will more than likely to become an abusive parent and husband” (Isom). This theory of Bandura goes hand in hand with my assumption of how television advocates the imitation in child behavior. According to Bandura’s research as television becomes more blunt, so will the society it broadcast to, thus fading morals and changing norms.
“Teachers and school officials claim that children bring to school what they hear at home, whereas parents insist that children bring home what they hear in school,” much like the saying which came first the chicken or the egg, no one can really say (Kaye, 431-432). Children of this day and age are surrounded by the concept of reality television shows. The humiliation of others entertains us so much, that many girls want nothing more than to pound on the makeup, dress skanky, and talk like a bimbo from the “Jersey Shore” or a stuck up snooty brat with lots of money from MTV’S “My Super Sweet 16”. Most of my younger sister’s generation has no respect for their elders, money, or even appreciation for themselves. It is always wise to remember when it comes to television “children are not passive recipients of televised information–a view that is in contrast with that of many social critics–but bring their own experience, knowledge, and abilities to the viewing situation” (Rolandelli, 49-50). It is reasonable to say that all girls go through a stage where imitation is one of the many steps towards growing up, and understand who they are. Others would say that parents are totally to blame for the way girls grow up. Both are valid assumptions, but with television and society turning towards sex and appearance, the values of my younger sisters generation are more likely to worry about how they will fit in. This need to fit in and imitation of what is seen on television may cause hasty decisions on sex, drugs, and alcohol in order to gain approval from their peers.
In today’s society, being older than what you are is a key concept as everyone is in a rush to experience things much earlier in life. For instance the younger generation is already wearing makeup at an early age, drinking at an early age, even having sex at an early age. The lack of morals has changed not only in our society but on the television shows viewers watch today. A decade ago, the generation was more prone to playing it safe, with shows like “Boy Meets World” verses the curious immature child of today, who engage themselves in shows such as “Jersey Shore” and “Secret Life of an American Teenager”. Where did the morals in society go, and what is with the pointless television shows about sex, drugs, and violence trying to advocate to the viewers. I cannot seem to understand why television has become such a downward spiral of disrespect, cursing, and lack of ethics. What will be in store for future generations?

Hi all, I posted a video on youtube, summarizing the ill effects of TV. Take a look and forward it to your friends and families. A little way to help the cause.
Thanks & Regards,
Pankaj