The document discusses the debate around whether children's television should be controlled or restricted. It acknowledges that while some research has found negative effects of excessive TV watching, such as reduced vocabulary, other research has found TV can promote learning when it includes educational content. The document argues that with proper guidelines on content and time spent, TV can have benefits for children such as learning, being inspired by others' talents, and gaining exposure to different cultures and current events. Overall it concludes that an outright ban on TV is unfair and may deprive children of important learning opportunities or leave them seeking entertainment in more dangerous places.

1. Children’s Television Is Dangerous Thus Should Be Controlled
Public awareness can be referred to as the imperative
responsibility that community interest and acquaintance plays in
building and maintaining sustainable societies. This is an
activity that requires effective communication to be
accomplished, for one has to understand the group of people in
the society that the information is targeting. Technology is
essential in the modern world as it has brought forth evolvement
in all fields. However, there have been many cases globally
concerning the same, where the same people concerned in
bringing change to the universe are still the same ones against
their craved creations, inventions and innovations. Debates
concerning children and television (TV) have been viewed
worldwide as a vice by some people who argue that it is passive
and low-intellectual activity and hinders brain development. On
the other hand, others disagree and claim it is a channel of
learning for children and that the condemnation of television is
a mere ritual without a real force. The main question is; who is
right?
Watching television is imperative for everyone in the family,
right from the youngest to the eldest both as a tremendous
educator and entertainer. As much as we condemn the issue of
watching TV in children, they shouldn’t be cut off from it, but
we can put measures on the amount of time spent gazing at this
electronic. For instance, children who are in their first two
years, which is considered to as the critical period for brain
development, should not be allowed to watch too much TV as it
would stand in their societal and family development. In the
case of preschoolers however, public TVs can be used to
facilitate in alphabet learning. Visual lessons are considered the
best in passing of information to people even in conference
meetings which means that, it would also play an important role

2. as the kid will develop both pronunciation and writing of the
letters of the alphabet. For grade-schoolers however, it is a
channel to educate them on wildlife on nature shows/programs
(Paediatrics & Child Health: Impact of media on children and
youth, 2016).
Basically, we learn positive behaviors in the same way that
we learn the negative ones. In the same way that a child learns
aggression from the programs they are exposed to in the media
content, in the same way will they learn positive attitudes.
These attitudes are developed from the content that the child is
exposed to while watching the TV; either pro-social or
antisocial content. Pro-social effects of media content will
typically be feeble that the unsociable effects. This is because,
pro-social effects habitually involve acting against a person’s
self-interest compared to antisocial effects which engross acting
our conduct. In an experiment conducted about the effect of
media content on children, it was concluded that those who self-
exposed themselves to pro-social content had sturdy positive
effect as their counterparts. Pro-social media content will
encourage individuals to take action that is against their
motives. Therefore, if programmers would regulate the quantity
of media content to be displayed on the TV, there would be
positive effects associated with children watching the TV
(JSTOR: Prosocial Television and Young Children, 2016).
While many of the parents advocate for cutting off children
from watching the TV based on the negative effects associated
to it, they should know that much education can be learnt from
it. You can imagine a child growing up to the age of going to
school and knows nothing about their country’s history. Most of
us who have known much about histories have learnt it from TV
programs such as documentaries from History Channels. They
offer the best information one could ever get about the past
events. Some may argue that books in the libraries can offer this
information if a child would ever need it for assignment
purposes, but it is worth noting that visual learning is more
effective if accessible (APA PsycNET, 2016).

3. Talk about nurturing gifts and talents. Most of the people that
have risen to fame have associated it to the TV programs. This
happens through interviews, testimonies and/or performances
from these public images from TV shows such as American Idol
which provides a chance for people to show their talents to the
world, also gives motivation to children as well as guidelines by
teaching them what the judges look for in such forums. In case a
child has that talent, they will grow up knowing the rules and
involved in their world of talent, thus equipping them with
courage. There are parents; for instance, who is too busy
chasing money that even helping their children to discover their
talents becomes hard. How easy is it to help children nurture
them? It is at this point that children turn to the media looking
for the missing piece which is readily available. On the other
hand, there are talents in dancing such as ballet dances,
ballroom dances and many more, that a child will perfect
through certain programs. Though others may argue that there
are schools which offer these classes, we can still find learning
from the TV as a channel to put more emphasis. In addition, it
gives the child courage in believing they can, as inspired by
those who have crossed that river before (PBS Parents: Children
and Media, 2016).
There are some basic things that a child would learn from
media. A good example is what can be referred to as ‘how-to’.
With TV channels such as HGTV and the Food Network which
offer training on cooking tips, a child in a position to learn
cooking methods which is a basic need and which in turn would
become a profession in future. In addition, there are programs
which will offer excitement to children as they aspire to know
the outcomes. A good example is the Amazing Race where
everyone is always eager to know the winner in the long run.
This comes along as an advantage to children who are not into
sports (PBS Parents: Children and Media, 2016).
Nothing is as beautiful in this world as diversity of cultures. It
would not be possible to tour every country around the globe
with an aim of learning their traditions and culture, some which

4. are very interesting. Every person, a child or adult, would want
an exposure to these diverse cultures at first hand but, all things
held constant, resources offer the greatest obstacle to such
amazing experiences. A child may be interested in knowing
more about Africa, the only way to quench such a thirst is
through the TV where people who travel around the world
learning cultures will provide such information. The best way to
learn these cultures is by watching traditional activities such as
drama series with multicultural characters.
It is unfair to argue that TVs causes low-level of intellect to
children. There are certain programs which will have need of
extensive thinking to comprehend the ongoing activities.
Complex TV shows like Heroes and Battlestar Galactica will
induce the child into deep thinking on the events and prediction
of their outcomes. This is brainstorming. What else would
emphasize intellectual growth other than brainstorming? The
more the child digs deep into understanding the show, the same
way will they in class to grasp as the teacher teaches. This also
provides the child with basis on how to argue in a debate to
support their proposals or opposes with creativity and
confidence. This unshaken confidence nurtures great leaders in
future.
In the current education system in many countries across the
universe, children in school are asked questions related to
current events of their country. Some at a higher level will even
be tested in an examination by the teachers. If these children are
cut off from watching news, how would they be expected to
answer these questions? There is need for exposure to the
country’s progress. They are part of the state, and if we lock
them out, they will know nothing about their country, nothing
about the world. In the end, we will be raising children with
deficiencies in global knowledge; forgetting that everything
nowadays has become global. In addition, in the many programs
those parents maybe condemning against watch by children,
there are others with the right content that is meant to transform
the child. Programs that inspirational are healthy for the child,

5. some which may offer spiritual guidance and nourishment for
those that have been brought up in a religious background,
affirming their faith. Such may not be offered in educational
institutions due to the mixed-up cultures as well as inter-
religious groups.
Notably, there are certain traditions or customs that we grew up
with/in and eventually became a part of us. The issue of TVs
giving an opportunity for a busy dad and mom and the rest of
the family joining together for bonding as they watch a program
together has long been embraced. Why do we want to cut it off
now? An action such as excluding children from such custom
will cause stress to a child. They will tend to think that they are
unwanted and in the process inflict fear, pain and negativity in a
child’s mind which will eventually lead to interaction
difficulties both socially and in the family. What we have
implanted in this poor mind, self-hatred, lack of confidence,
hate to the public and family which is dangerous. Not unless we
are willing to nurture ‘monsters’.
Most parents either do not realize or/and if they if they do, they
will always then tend to ignore the fact that, children need a
break as well from school. Who said that going to school for a
kid is not a task just like going to work for a parent? The fact
that they are in school, as most parents/guardians argue, doesn’t
mean they are in a comfort zone. They also are engaging both
their mental and physical realms to work, they will be fatigued,
bored to some extent and they will need time to relax. And not
just to relax idle, relax doing something constructive. School is
tiring as work is, if a parent needs a break, so do this child.
Some will be heard arguing that it will affect their performance
levels, but done in the right way, it won’t. To be honest, a child
who knows that they have permission to watch TV during week
days tend to work faster on their homework, schoolwork,
freshen up and settle down for their favorite programs.
However, this permission should be granted with specific
guidelines on what to watch and for how long. It is good for
parents to know that, they do not just give the guidelines and

6. that’s it, no. the decision making process should involve the
children so that parents will make them understand why the
measures are necessary. That way, the child will comply easily
to the rules.
Studies and experiments conducted by certain institutions and
physicians have only come up with the negative effects of
watching TV such as reduced vocabulary. Conversely, others
have shown that depending on what the child is watching, they
can either develop or damage their vocabulary capabilities. A
study conducted found that children at two-and-a-half (2/1/2)
years of age watching three different programs, that is Blues
Clues, Clifford and the Dragon Tales and Dora the Explorer,
were recorded to an amazing outcome of vast vocabularies and
escalated communicative languages (KidsHealth: How TV
Affects Your Child, 2016).
The greatest challenge facing this concern is built around
parental thoughts. Most of them if asked, to be truthful and
honest to this debate their arguments are fabricated about their
upbringing. They would want this because their parents
restricted them from watching the TV regardless of their
academic capability. There are children born intellectually
bright, others moderate and others poor. All are important in
school for they have different talents. Parents should know that,
raising their children on the basis of how they were raised is
unfair. It is understandable that they want the best for their
children, but that shouldn’t mean depriving them the right to
entertainment.
As much as restricting children from watching the TV on
the basis of making them spend much time in their studies is
imperative as the greatest inheritance from a parent, it is as well
worth noting that, depriving them the right to watch TV is
perilous for it gives vacant for idle minds. Would a parent
complain if a child is lost in drugs due to bad company? Goes
clubbing? Get caught by the long arm of law in suspicious
venues? What if they are lost in acts of immorality? The only
rationale behind this would be they exposed their children to

7. such hazardous activities as they were on the run to look for
better ways to spend their extra time or even relieve their stress.
References.
APA PsycNET (2016). Retrieved on 18th March 2016 from
http://psychnet.apa.org/journals/hea/28/4/404/
JSTOR: Prosocial Television and Young Children (2016).
Retrieved on 18th March 2016 from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1128830?seq=1#page_scan_tab_cont
ents
KidsHealth: How TV Affects Your Child (2016). Retrieved on
18th March 2016 from
http://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/tv-affects-child.html?WT.ac=
Paediatrics & Child Health: Impact of media on children and
youth (2016). Retrieved on 18th March 2016 from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729691/
PBS Parents: Children and Media (2016). Retrieved on 18th
March 2016 from
http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/article-faq.html
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