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Television and Your Childs Development

Thoughts for parents about the effects of television watching on children Current research highlightsthat it is not only what we watch on TV that has effect, but the watching of TV itself regardless of

program content.

Childrens Development Needs

Children learn to know the world through all of their senses which are at first interdependent. For

example seeing something new means little until the object is held, weighed, manipulated and touched.

This requires the will to move, to experience, and to do.

The first seven years is the time when sensory and motor skills mature and through play the child works

to bring an integration of movement and sensory experiences. This is essential as a basis for concentration

and thinking. The second seven years is especially important in the mature development of breathing,

rhythm and the childs life of feeling.

Television and Speaking

! child learns to speak through movement. !t first sounds are accompanied by whole body movements.

The childs body moves in response to the speech of others. This continues in a less obvious way

throughout life. Through television, language is heard by the movement and feeling expressed and directhuman contact is not communicated.The TV set does not require any verbal response thus speech is

discouraged.

Eye Movements Can Be Impaired

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"hen we watch television our normally active eyes are reduced to focus on a single area. For a young

child the necessary practice in moving, co#ordinating, focusing and strengthening the eyes is considerably

reduced. $ormal eye movements are rhythmic. To succeed in reading, rhythmic and well#controlled eye

movements are essential. Children with learning problems often have impaired visual development.

%mages created on the T& screen are composed of '() lines, with *++ dots appearing () times per second.

This puts a considerable strain on the brain and the eyes, especially of young children whose eye musclesare still maturing until '# years of age. -rograms on T& are consciously created with several cuts per

minute. apid changes of content, new visual perspectives are commercial tricks designed to hold

attention, but what do they do for our eyes and attention span.

Television Ae!ts Brain Development

Television addresses only a limited area of cerebral functioning. /rain waves produced during T&

viewing are primarily !lpha waves 0 those occurring otherwise in sleep. This leads to a trance like state,

so that the brain receives information without any conscious analysis or selective association. T& viewing

prolongs dependency on the right hemisphere. !s the brain develops, children shift from a non#verbal

1right hemisphere, dreaming consciousness, to a verbal logical 1left hemisphere.

2any skills necessary for reading, eg analysis, auditory association, phonics, symbol recognition and

handwriting, are associated with left hemisphere. Children who are slow to read are frequently one#sided

in their development and T& viewing can increase this imbalance.

The sleep like state of !lpha brain waves produces poor concentration. Television Can 3imit 4ensory

-erception To be able to make meaningful what is seen and heard sensory input from other areas is

necessary 0 especially important are sensations of touch and movement, which are closely associated, for

example, with the visual cortex. "ithout input to these areas real seeing or visual perception does not

develop. &isual input or what is seen does not become meaningful without this wholeness of experiencein the young child.

An integration o sensory e"perien!e is essential to learning#

T& stimulates only vision and hearing and therefore promotes a sensory disintegration. 5as Television

!ny 6ducational &alue7 For many children television is a 1look and forget medium8 real learning is an

active process. Children need to do as well as look in order to retain experiences. %mpressions left by T&

are often superficial.

Children watch passively, without engaging any inner effort or will 0 which active learning requires,9e.g. learning to read:. T& can produce passive children, weak in motivation and will power. ! ; was not as successful in language and concept development as

expected. 3ight viewers showed more gains in learning than heavy viewers. ! ?anish report, which

tested viewers directly after a new program, showed that most viewers could answer only (.) questions

correctly out of ;(.

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$hat Can $e Do To %elp &ur Children'

;. estrict firmly the number of programs watched, especially on school nights. %f you are resolute

enough and both parents agree, get rid of the set altogether. @r put it away and use it only for special

occasions.

(. @ffer alternative activities of a creative sort 0 crafts, puppetry, dressing up, drawing and painting,

modelling, pets, hobbies, sports, music, dancing, nature study, gardening, etc.

A. 6ncourage reading. ead aloud to the little ones.

B. !im at positive family integration 0 interesting meal times, bedtime stories, singing, nursery rhymes,

etc. -lan festival activities at Christmas, 6aster, and so on.

). Try to find others in your neighbourhood who think the same way and help each other.