here is no doubt that television

has a great influence on children

from a very early age itself and it

will affect children’s cognitive and social

development. In 1992, the American

psychologist Huston conducted a research

on TV watching and found that by the

age of 16, the average American child has

spent more time watching TV than

attending school!

The role that Television plays in

socializing children is very great.

Television can be educational and

beneficial, but its negative aspects, such

as the amount of aggressive and violent

activity it displays daily, is causing grave

concern to parents and educators around

the world. Whether and how we will

manage to control the harmful effects of

The impact of television

television and harness its potential for the

good of children is a subject of ongoing

debate.

Children do not generally become

consistent viewers until they are about 2½

to 3 years old. Even then they do not

watch the set constantly because their

span of attention is very short. So they

get easily distracted. Now a days the

working parents are so busy, they don’t

have enough time spend with their kids.

The mother has to do the cooking and

look after the child simultaneously; there

may not be servants also. So she switches

on the TV and puts the child in front of

it. Slowly it becomes a habit. After

sometime the kid becomes addicted to

the television. And the mother blames the

child for regularly watching it. Most of

the ‘speech delay’ cases seen among babies

are caused due to the excessive TV

watching. TV watching is not interactive.

It is a one way mode of activity. In order

to develop speech, as the young one

begins to produce the babbling sounds;

we must reproduce a similar sound, so

that the young one is motivated to talk

more, which slowly leads to verbal

communication.

TV viewing patterns are affected not

only by program content but by the

formal features of television as well, such

as animation, high action, loud music and

visual and auditory special effects. These

formal features, which help to attract as

well as retain children’s attention, are, to

some degree, independent of program

content, and they are important for

younger and older children alike (Huston

& Wright 1998). Children increase their

viewing time gradually until, in preadolescence,

they are watching TV almost

four hours a day. Although this may seem

to be too much, adults, especially people

who are retired and over 65, watch TV

even more than children. They simply

spend all their time inside the homes and

their only means of entertainment is TV

watching. And housewives too watch

most of the TV programmes. Often there

is clash between the grandparents and

children regarding the channel they

prefer. The elderly would prefer the

serials, while children want their favorite

cartoons. It might end up in a family tiff

even. In flats there is limited space, and

as the grandparents wish to watch their

favorite serial, the children who might be

studying at that time, get distracted easily.

The parents would be in a dilemma. If

they scold the child, the grandparents

would be indirectly affected. And we can’t

blame the old people; their main

entertainment is TV watching. There is

a positive aspect to this situation as well.

The presence of older people will prevent

the children from viewing horror movies

and adult movies. Children watch a

variety of programmes. Boys prefer actionadventure

and sports programmes, and

girls prefer human social dramas and

music.

Small kids will not understand what

they see on television, in a reasonable

manner. Children must be able to

distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Displaying what has been called ‘magic

window thinking’ the little kids are likely

to believe that TV images are real as the

people and things about them. (Huston

& Wright, 1998). (During the age of 2

and 3, they come to understand that the

characters and objects they see on TV are

not actually present inside the set.) As kids

grow and their cognitive skills continue

to improve, their ability to distinguish

fantasy from reality improves as well.

When they get older, children understand

that shows are made up, scripted and

rehearsed.

KERALA CALLING