Children and Television

The “Did You Know 2.0” video offered the statistic that at least 20,000 hours of television had been watched by people by the age of 21. Within the shifthappens wiki, a topic on Sesame Street had been brought up by the user drewman152. He mentioned that the studio was letting go of 25% of their staff who were not main characters. Later he goes on to state, “Maybe this will give parents an incentive to spend more time with their kids and not rely soley on television programs for educational assistance.” (drewman152, 200) This was not something I thought about often, but I can see how the hours of television we watch as children growing up can look from the outside. (XPLANE, 2007)

As with anything, moderation is going to play an important role moving forward in this type of discussion. Are educational programs bad simply because they are on the television, tablet, phone, etc.? Not necessarily. While they do eliminate the experience of interaction between people, they are still learning when watching the right programs. It is when smaller children are spending more time and watching inappropriate programming for their age that issues may arise. Kids Health warns that watching over 4 hours a day, violent acts on programs, and risky behaviours are the most concerning watching behaviour seen among children and should be avoided.  (KidsHealth, 2016)

Drewman152. (200). Shifthappens – World Education by International Collaboration. Retrieved from http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/2001131

KidsHealth. (2016). How TV Affects Your Child. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/tv-affects-child.html 

XPLANE. (2007). Did You Know 2.0. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U