Opinion Essay
TELEVISION HAS A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON
CHILDREN’S
BEHAVIOUR By Natalia Chiacchiari Television has proved to be one of the most appealing electronic devices to arrive at million homes worldwide and probably children are the most magnetized by its magic. Little doubt is raised about broadcasters regarding children as one of the largest target groups among TV’s outstanding
audience. However, how good is TV for children? Although it is widely known that
violence always existed, it has never become so explicit on TV. The mere thought that children may have access to such tremendous acts of violence makes one wonder if they could ever imagine these things without television. Surely “the telly” is not a hundred percent to blame for children’s bad behaviour nowadays, though in my view, it is one of the main factors. Whenever TV is turned on, one is likely to see a parade of killings, bombings, assaults, bloodshed and so on and so forth, taken either from fiction or real life, in movies or in the news. Difficult is for adults to avoid catching at least an involuntary glimpse at these horrid scenes, let alone for children, whose curiosity is that of a cat. From my point of view, the growing rate of juvenile delinquency in the last decades (as reported by the U.S. Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention) and the ever-increasing display of violence, sex and drugs on TV have somehow
gone hand in hand. Leaving aside the economic and social factors that definitely lead children to misbehaviour, it is also clear that TV encourages children to act up. Even toddlers often regard what is shown on TV as absolutely normal and run of the mill actions. Middle-aged and youngsters in their twenties can now tell the difference between present programmes and the TV shows they used to watch when children. Certainly, old shows, which are probably “old hat” for third millennium’s off springs, were far more naïve. Still, not only did they invite children to boost their imagination but also entertained them to the highest degree. Furthermore, broadcasters were quite concerned for instilling morals into their youngest audience. To conclude, it is worth to point out that no violence was ever required to entertain. It gives the impression that TV producers started to employ violence overnight as their only resource to balance the lack of valuable ideas. All of a sudden, the kind-hearted imaginary superheroes were “overthrown” by real life avengers performing real life actions. Reality overcame fiction and once-hidden bitter feelings (such as feeling resentful about society and with a strong desire of taking revenge for whatsoever wrong was done to them) started to awake in the audience eventually affecting people’s own thoughts and children’s raw minds. On top of that, little surprise and amusement is left for children given that TV no longer provides the ever-promised world of fantasy that used to enchant them. On the other hand, it is common to see children trying to imitate the behaviour of a character in a show they have seen, due to TV’s involvement in social life. For sure, children do this as part of a game. At the same time, it is often heard of children committing adult-like crimes: children rob a bank, children assault elder man, children kill a toddler. Wondering if all this misbehaviour arises out as a game would not be unusual. Still, has TV’s influence on children gone this far?
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