Television and Children

Dr. Parang Mehta, MD.

For three decades now, the issue of television viewing and its effects on our children's bodies and minds has been hotly debated. It's been studied by sociologists, researched by scientists, debated by educationists, and we now have a pretty clear idea of the effects of television.

Is it a Problem?

Yes, it is.

Children in America watch an average of three hours of television programs a day. Apart from this, they also use the television for other things like movies on video discs, and games. It is estimated that children spend about the same number of hours before the television as at school. So much time spent with television promotes sloth, obesity, poor school performance, and poor activity and fitness. It also reduces social interaction, both within the family and with friends.

Television viewing, especially in the evening is a cause of sleep disturbance, like bedtime resistance, anxiety, sleep onset delay, and reduced sleep duration. A television set in the child's bedroom is obviously wrong, since it adds heavily to television watching.

Frequent exposure to violence in television programs has been repeatedly found to be linked to real life aggressive behavior among children. Most programs that children watch, including cartoons, contain violence. Music videos, so popular among older children and adolescents, often show weapon carrying, alcoholic drinks, smoking, and drug abuse.

There is good content on television, of course. There are channels entirely devoted to the natural world, and many channels carry child friendly programs promoting information, education, and general knowledge. Some programs teach children about the world around us, friendship, cooperation, and even school subjects. These programs are a valuable resource, and children should be encouraged to watch them. However, even these channels sometimes depend for their survival on advertisements for unhealthy food, cigarettes, and alcoholic drinks.

What Can Be Done?

Watch television with the child. Presence of a parent inhibits the watching of certain programs. Besides, we can switch channels if the content gets unsuitable for children.
Discussing the content with the children after the show is over helps them draw the right conclusions.
Restrict the television watching to an hour or two each day. Encourage the child to select informational and educative programs.
Be knowledgeable about the effects of television on children, including violent/aggressive behavior, poor body concept and self image, early sexual activity, and substance abuse (alcohol and drugs). Forewarned is forearmed.
Encourage reading, sports, hobbies, volunteer activities, and other pastimes. Children always turn to the television if they have nothing else to do.
If the parents do not watch much television. the children probably won't either. Parents do serve as role models.
We should write to television channels, producers, and directors about unsuitable content in a show or specific episode. Also to politicians to prohibit unsuitable programs and advertisements.
Television is often used as a baby sitter. It's tempting to keep a toddler occupied by turning on the TV, but this temptation should be resisted.

Laying down the law about television can lead to confrontation in the family. Children don;t take well to arbitrary commands. A calm explanation about why certain programs are off limits will have better results, and help children to learn family values.

Best of all, of course, is to give our children so many alternatives that television gets neglected. We can take them to the library, museums, parks, games, social activities and other places where much can be learnt. This requires a massive outlay of time and effort from us, of course, but aren't our children worth it?

Last revision: September 16, 2011

Television Effects on Children

Children watching television often eat a lot of snacks. The advertisements on television often lead children to eat fattening foods. Added to these the reduced activity because of television viewing, and obesity is very likely.
Fat children grow up into fat adults. Obesity can cause diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and early death.
Late night television watching, or very stimulating or scary programs in the daytime, can cause reduced and poor sleep. Poor and insufficient sleep leads to poor school performance, depression, and poor self esteem.
News isn't harmless. Children who see violent clips are often scared, believing such things can happen to them. Besides, news programs contain as much advertising content as other programs.
Excessive television viewing reduces social interaction, sports activities, and peer relationships.
Children emulate what they see. TV shows smoking, drinking, violence, sex, and other behaviour undesirable for children.
Oh, you think cartoons are safe viewing for children? Here's Tom bashing in Jerry's head with a hammer, there we have Bluto crushing Popeye with a roadroller, and over here — well, you get the idea.

Not Just Obesity

It's obvious that television viewing promotes sloth and overeating, which lead to obesity. What is not so well known is that it also causes eating disorders, especially in adolescent and teenage girls. Watching slim models and actresses on various shows has a deep impact on young girls' psyche.

In Fiji, television was introduced in 1995, and the only channel showed programs of American, British, and Australian origin. Girls who watched television were 50% more likely than others to see themselves as fat. Symptoms of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia have increased five fold since then.

Contact Information

Dr. Parang Mehta,
Mehta Childcare,
Opposite Putli, Sagrampura,
Surat. Tel: +91 98241 53923.
Email:

Caring for Childhood