Television's effects on children's academic motivation and development

Television's Effects Outside The Classroom On Children's Education And Development

In a world where children have access to hundreds of channels of television, 24-hours per day, there has been a concern raised that all of this commercialized media is rotting a generation of brains. Children's television has evolved from a handful of educational programs on PBS and a few hours of Saturday morning cartoons, to a constant stream of multiple channels dedicated solely to children's programming. In America, the average youth spends 900 hours per year in school, and 1,500 hours per year in front of the television (Herr, n.d.). The Kaiser Family Foundation notes that two-thirds of infants and toddlers watch 2 hours of television each day. Kids between the ages of 8 and 18 spend approximately 4 hours in front of the television each day and an additional 2 hours on the computer, not including time spent doing homework ("How TV," 2009). However, watching television, outside of the classroom, has both positive and negative effects on children's education and their physical and social development.

History of Children's Programming

Children's programming began in the 1950s as televisions became a part of the American household. By 1951, there was up to 27 hours of children's programming on the networks' schedules. These early forays into children's programming echoed the successful radio programming for children and centered on action-adventure. By the mid-1950s, children's television had established itself in the Saturday morning slot, and by the end of the decade the 30-minute, weekly format was popularized. In the 1960s, the Saturday morning cartoon became the staple of children's programming ("Children and television," 2008).

Although the revolutionary Sesame Street, that would forever change the face of children's educational programming, came on the air in 1969, the bulk of children's programming in the 1970s continued to be the low-cost, highly watched cartoon format. The advancement of cable and the VCR saw children's programming moving beyond the national networks and cartoons, to include game shows, live action, drama/adventure shows, and more. The Children's Television Act of the 1990s was reflective of the concern parents and educators had about the increasing numbers of hours that children were spending in front of the 'boob tube'. In response, an increase in educational shows joined the television line up, with "eight of the nine Peabody Awards for children's programs (awarded) for informational or educational programs" ("Children and television," 2008).

Television and Cognitive Development

One focus of television's effects on children centers on the potential effects this medium has on their patterns of understanding and thinking. Concerns have arisen, in the past, regarding television's ability to mesmerize children's attention, as well as overstimulate them. One worry was that children entered an altered state of consciousness when watching television. However, this concern has received very little support from previous research. Instead, one theory that explains children's attention to the television is the visual stimulus that occurs, due to the movement and visual complexity of the medium ("Children and television," 2008). Other research has linked active watching of television with comprehension.

Research has shown that children's programming that features visual and auditory signals that suggest to younger viewers that the programming is made for children, that their attention is drawn to that content. It has been found that children become bored when the material is no longer comprehensible. In addition, their attention can be deflected when distractions occur. These attentional patterns to television are segmented into specific stages. Before the age of two, children's attention span to television is fragmentary. During preschool, their attention span increases, with a large increase in the ability to pay attention to patterns beginning between the ages of 24- and 30-months. The visual attention to television begins to decrease around the age of eight, as the child's attention pattern begins to become more adult-like ("Children and television," 2008). It has also been found that children perceive television differently than adults.

For children, understanding a television show requires tasks that are fairly complex. These include selectively being attentive to the events on the program, the perception of the organization of the events, and inferring things from implicitly given information. By examining both visual and verbal decoding, comprehension research has determined that both cognitive development and experience are functions of comprehension. For these reasons, younger children often have difficulty comprehending television, due to their difficulty in comprehending the events sequences, inability to separate central from peripheral content, and inability to understand causation. Younger children, under the age of ten, also have difficulty processing complex storytelling features such as flashbacks and point-of-view shots ("Children and television," 2008). Exposure to television, however, helps develop comprehension by exposing the children to more experiences.

Television and Learning

As noted earlier, Sesame Street was a groundbreaking children's program when it began in 1969. Today, more than six million preschoolers watch the program, each week, around the world. Sesame Street is also one of the most studied pieces children's programming. This research has yielded a growing body of knowledge. Included in this wealth of knowledge is the theory that young children can learn skills from Sesame Street, and that this contributes to early educational success for viewers. The format of Sesame Street has been repeated in other Children's Television Workshop productions, as well as other producers of children's programming. These programs teach a variety of educational skills ("Children and television," 2008). As two examples -- preschoolers can learn the alphabet from children's program. Grade schoolers can learn about different wildlife from watching nature shows ("How TV," 2009). Children's programming also has social skills benefits as well.

In addition to teaching children educational skills, children's programming also shows them prosocial behavior. This behavior that is socially acceptable is modeled for children and can include lessons on self-control, cooperation, sharing, helping, and tolerance for differences in others. One classic prosocial children's program is Mr. Roger's Neighborhood ("Children and television," 2008). Despite the research showing the positive educational benefits of television, this medium is often criticized for interfering in education.

There are complex relationships between television viewing and intellectual ability, achievement, literacy, and grades. In fact, the relationship between academic performance and television is not clear cut. Research has shown that children who watch a large amount of television typically do poorly in school, yet those who spend a moderate amount of time in front of the television do better than non-viewers. There is a small negative relationship between television viewing and a child's IQ. However, there are significant subgroup differences. There are several examples, such as -- a high IQ is positively related to television viewing for children until they reach their teens. In addition, the negative relationship found with television viewing and IQ is stronger for boys than girls. Another important subgroup difference that is lost in the generalization of the subject of children and television is that television viewing and reading are positively related, up to a viewing of ten hours per week ("Children & television"). In addition to the direct skills television can teach, it is also a perfect medium for indirectly teaching as well.

Socialization is an important concept children's television can teach, especially sex role and race role socialization. However, children's programming often finds females and minority races underrepresented. Additionally, stereotypes can be present that negatively affect what children learn about the world outside.

Advertisements on programming also affect what children learn indirectly, leading to increased requests to buy products, obesity and alcohol and cigarette consumption ("Children and Television," 2008).

The Negative Effects of Television on Development

For children under two years of age, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children do not watch any television. This recommendation is in light of the understanding of how critical the first two years of life are to brain development. Some surmise that television viewing, as well as other electronic media, can interfere with playing, exploring and interacting with others that are all part of healthy social and physical development. This concern continues as children get older and television takes away from time that could be spent reading, doing homework, being physically active, playing with friends, or with the family ("How TV," 2009). Excess television can be harmful in other ways as well.

Consistently spending more than four hours per day watching television has been linked to a higher incidence of obesity in children. Children who watch violent acts on television are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior. In addition, these children are also more prone to be frightened of the world around them and believe that something bad is going to happen to them. Television also reinforces unhealthy behaviors, such as drinking and smoking. It can also reinforce racial and gender stereotypes ("How TV," 2009).

Television and Violence

To say that there is violence on television is a bit of an understatement. By age 18, the average American child has seen 200,000 acts of violence on television. One primary concern is that children may become desensitized to violence and, therefore, more aggressive (Pearl, 1984). Television programs often glorify violence, making it appear to be fun or an effective means of obtaining a goal. This violence isn't only performed by the bad guys on television; the good guys commit acts of violence as well, further graying the issue for children. To further confuse children, the bad guys aren't always held accountable for their actions, on television programs ("How TV," 2009). Not only are these bad examples to be setting for impressionable minds, but violence can also be scary for children too.

Dennis (1998) notes younger children are most likely to be frightened by violent scenes and scary images. Although they can be told that what they're viewing isn't real, it's little consolation because it's difficult for young children to distinguish between reality and fantasy. The result of this exposure can be nightmares, behavior problems, and difficulty sleeping. Even older children can find violence of television frightening. Whether the violence they're viewing is on a fictional program, a reality-show, or on the news, it can still be scary for them. As children get older, it is easier to reason with them, however. For this reason, it's important that adults discuss what's been seen on the program and reassure the child to help ease their fears ("How TV," 2009).

Television and Risky Behavior

As mentioned, another effect of television that is a concern for researchers, educators, and parents alike is the promotion of unhealthy, or risky, behavior. A two-week study in July 2005 found that during primetime hours, of 7 to 10 p.m., "sex was referenced 1.8 times, drugs 0.6 times, tobacco 0.3 times, alcohol 2.4 times, and violence/crime 6.0 times per network. Messages advocating exercise, anti-drug advocacy, and anti-smoking advocacy were each shown 0.2 times per hour; while anti-alcohol advocacy was shown 0.1 times per hour" (Suzuki & Yamamoto, 2008). One of the most commonly found places for the promotion of unhealthy behavior, outside of the television program itself, is in television commercials. Both programs and commercials are rife with depictions of risky behavior including: drinking, smoking, premarital sex, and substance abuse (Forbes, van Teigilingen, & Clark, 2007) -- each depicted as being fun and cool. To make matters worse, rarely are their discussions associated with these depictions about the consequences of these types of behaviors ("How TV," 2009). These have a direct effect on children.

Studies have found that teenagers who view a lot of sexually explicit television are more likely to initiate sex, or they are more likely to take part in sex earlier than teenagers who don't watch sexual content on television. Underage drinking too is associated with alcohol advertisements on television. As alcohol advertising has increased over the last few years, more children have been exposed to these advertisements. A Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth study, over the five-year period of 2001 to 2006, "found that youth exposure to alcohol ads on TV increased by 30%" ("How TV," 2009). Smoking too, although banned from advertisements, is portrayed frequently on television and children who watch five or more hours a day are significantly more likely to smoke than those who watch less than two hours each day.

Television and Obesity

Along with mental development, the concern of the effects television has on physical development, and specifically obesity, have been a recent focus of research for some time. A linkage has been found between excessive television watching and obesity. Children are inactive when watching television and have a tendency to snack, contributing to the problem. In addition, while watching television, they're subjected to advertisements promoting unhealthy foods, drinks and snacks. Studies have found that by reducing the amount of television watched, weight gain in children was lessened as well as body mass index. According to the American Medical Association, one factor that increases the risk of an infant from becoming an overweight child is allowing infants to watch television (Rowland & Wallace, 2009). This is not just an American phenomenon.

Chang and Nayga (2009) studied the rising childhood obesity in Taiwan. Noting that this trend was becoming a major public health issue, the researchers examined the effect of television viewing, by children, and fast-food consumption, on obesity in children. A nationwide survey was conducted and it was found that television viewing hours and fast-food consumption were positively correlated, leading to obesity.

Conclusion

Over the last half century, television viewing for children has increased dramatically. From a limited number of children-centric programs shown on a weekly basis, today there are entire channels devoted to solely children's programming. In addition, children now have access to hundred of other channels, 24-hours per day. There are both positive and negative effects of this viewing outside of the classroom. From teaching children specific educational skills and social skills, to encouraging literacy, with limits television can be of benefit to cognitively and socially developing children. However, television has also been linked to increased obesity, poor grades, increased violence, and increased likelihood that the child will partake in risky behaviors. For these reasons, parents must understand that, in moderation and with the right programming, television can be a valuable tool; however, unmonitored and unlimited access can result in significant negative effects.