Video Games or Too Much

¶ … Video Games or Too Much Television Is Bad for Children's Development

It is an undisputed fact that all that surrounds us have an effect on the way we think and behave. We are born in a world where every existing thing is a stimulus, a special invitation to react and explore, to respond to its more or less obvious calling. During this continuous interaction between man and his social and natural environment, something happens in the structures of both parties. Humans play a decisive part in changing their environment, in the same way the natural and social surroundings play on human development. Therefore, it's not an error to affirm that individuals, since their birth to their death, are in a permanent and much needed interaction with society and nature, interaction leading to mutual and dynamic influences.

Television, computer and other hi-fi gadgets are trade marks of men's modern times. Due to their rapid development and popularization, impressive habit-forming force, plus people's ever growing need for information, we witness their becoming an integrated and irreplaceable part of our lives. But did we ever stop to think about how, for example, television (the most popular of all complex gadgets) affects us? In what way does it influence our social behavior and thinking system, or even more important, how does it affect a child's development and further social integration? In our days, it seems like parents do not fully assess the consequences of transforming the TV and video games in the most common used babysitter for their children. The cause for this is the lack of time, together with an increased level of stress and exhaustion adults experience when trying to cope with both work and family demands (Clarke, 2007). Under these circumstances, it becomes imperative that the researchers focus their attention on determining how bad or how good is the "machine"-made education for children. Since infancy, individuals are exposed to the multimedia culture we proudly promote today, becoming "multimedia youngsters"(Neergaard, 2006). Before entering school, children are being introduced to the world of "multimedia wonders." According to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children in the U.S. spend approximately 4 hours a day in front of the TV, although the maximum recommended by the AAP guidelines for youngsters older than 2, is 1 to 2 hours a day (Dowshen, 2005). For children under 2, the guidelines say it should be no exposure to TV or other multimedia influences (Dowshen, 2005). Psychologists argue in favor of this advisory, stating that during this period (0-2 years), spending time in front of "the screen" can affect the infant tendency to explore and interact with people, replacing the time spent with his parents, playing with children from his peer-group, or getting acquainted to the natural environment, with TV time or video games time, thus negatively influencing his cognitive, emotional and social development (Dowshen, 2005).

But why is multimedia influence potentially harmful? In October 1993, a five-year-old boy from Ohio, USA, burned down the trailer he was living in, killing his baby sister. His mother immediately blamed it on the animated show that was on MTV, "Beavis and Butthead"- staring the adventures of two adolescent pyromaniacs- claiming that the show gave her son the idea to do such a terrible thing (Barbour, 1994). This true story is, in fact, an expression of the vivid debate concerning mass-media's capacity to induce violence and radical behaviors. The relevant connection between violence on TV or video games (bloody fights, weapons of any sort, monsters), and outrageous behaviors on children and adolescents has often been mentioned. To support this idea, numerous American studies suggest that excessive exposure to multimedia violence during childhood leads to aggression and antisocial conducts during adolescence (Barbour, 1994). Statistics say that children 2 to11 spend more than 28 hours weekly, watching TV (Barbour, 1994), absorbing contents of implicit or explicit aggression. It is recorded that a typical American child, by the age of 18, will have seen on TV more than 200.000 violent acts (Dowshen, 2005). This massive exposure happens during a child social, psychological and physical development, when he is absorbing an enormous amount of information from all possible sources, when he is learning the social and cultural know-how. In the absence of parental presence, a child sees in the "good-guys" on TV the roll models he is willing to follow (Dowshen, 2005), the hero-like figures he needs to imitate in order to shape his own personality (imitation is the basic form of learning- a Bandura), and become a valued member of the society. The problem is heroes on TV often resort to violence and are appreciated for that, which generates an unhealthy connection between aggressive behavior and social gratification (Dowshen, 2005). Add to the violence, TV images showing illegal or problem-causing behaviors, such as abuse of sex and substances or smoking. Children receive a questionable education when they are witnessing, at a young age, explicit sex, drinking and doing drugs in detailed images. To support the idea that image has an immense power of suggestion and persuasion, studies have shown that "teens who watch lots of sexual content on TV are more likely to initiate intercourse or participate in other sexual activities earlier than peers who don't watch sexually explicit shows" (Dowshen, 2005).

And yet, violence isn't the only threat to children's normal development. Video games and TV can be damaging in other ways too. At an age when individuals should exploit their physical potential, modern youngsters are spending too much of their spear time indoors, watching their favorite shows and movies on TV or playing video games from dawn till dusk. This evidently has a negative impact on their health, not only because watching TV or playing video games implies sitting for hours in a row, but also because these passive, inert activities induce a tendency to snack (Dowshen, 2005). Health specialists indicated a clear link between excessive TV-watching and obesity (Dowshen, 2005). The lack of physical effort, the absence of outdoor activities lead to one of the most sever and generalized health problem that children now face: obesity. With it, come exhaustion, heart diseases, high blood pressure and other social and psychological effects with an extended negative impact on a child's normal development. Studies show that by reducing the time spent by children in front of "the screen," the tendency towards obesity decreases- gaining less weight and thus staying more healthy (Dowshen, 2005).

Exposure to marketing messages, such as TV commercials, is another reason to state the negative influence of excessive TV-watching. Even if, at an early age, children don't understand that ads are for selling products (Dowshen, 2005), the potential impact is to be taken into consideration. Commercials often promote products (fast-food products, toys, cereals etc.) with the intention of transforming kids into active consumers, keeping in mind that children are very easy to impress (Dowshen, 2005).