How MucH TV Is Too MucH?
Statistics tell us the average American child watches about four and one half hours of TV per day during the school year. During summer months, this number often escalates. For many kids, TV (or video) serves as an entertainment center, pastime, social stimulation, escape, companion, and on (rare) occasion, a learning tool. For many parents, TV serves as a convenient and cheap babysitter.
“So? What’s the problem?” you ask. The answer has to do with how much and what kind of daily TV viewing a child does.
An hour’s worth of a carefully chosen TV shows per day is probably no problem, especially if the show is educational. However, a reality check tells us the average child views much more than this – and precious few show are educational! In fact, TV is often the centerpiece of many families’ daily or evening functioning. And the types of programs watched are often violent, morally decadent, and toxic to a young impressionable mind – so much so that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently pronounced that a child under the age of two should not watch TV at all, as it often interferes with the healthy maturation and developmental tasks of children in this age range.
Excessive TV viewing often isolates kids, providing a
poor, vicarious substitute for real social interaction. I frequently hear of
siblings watching several hours worth of TV shows together, yet do not even
bother to carry on a civil conversation with one another. Likewise, TV
stifles parent-child interaction. Precious evening hours often are filled
with TV viewing, instead of desperately needed, meaningful talk between
parent and child. The dinner table is one of the few times a family can
congregate during a day to meaningfully interact – and even then, some
families leave the TV on! How very sad to rob a child of this important
quality time with family.
Furthermore, studies show that children are likely to eat more food than
normal when eating in front of the TV. The food choices are also likely to
be more fattening. America has more overweight kids than ever before in
history and one of the attributable reasons is chowing in front of the TV.
Sadly, TV only “exercises” the index finger from pressing the channel
changer, not exactly a cardiovascular workout.
Most TV programs are simply an escape from reality, a kind
of a “plug in drug.” TV tends to promote mental and behavioral passivity in
viewers, as the viewer is receiving information only, instead of being
creative, generative, or engaging in active or problem-solving behaviors.
Like a drug, TV has an addictive quality due to the inherent instant
gratifications of: high color, bigger than life action shows and
commercials, passive entertainment, escapism, artificial reality, and no
personal investment. Furthermore, because of the hypnotic state TV puts one
in, both subliminal and overt suggestions are easily absorbed by the
innocent and immature viewer. (An example of this is documented in numerous
studies showing how a child becomes more aggressive after viewing a TV show
or video that has also shown aggression or violence in it.) This dynamic can
be minimized when parents watch the show with their kids and discuss violent
episodes as they happen, helping put them into proper prospective through
sharing their values.
Parents NEED to set limits on their children’s daily TV
viewing and on what types of shows they watch. Most children are sorely
lacking in self-discipline and self-management skills (e.g., unable to
independently get up and dressed to go to school, make wise food choices, or
autonomously complete their homework). So, how can a child be expected to
independently make prudent choices regarding how much daily TV or what type
of programs to watch…and importantly, stick with it? This is the job of
parents! However, older teens (age 17 and 18) should be encouraged to begin
setting their own limits on TV viewing, periodically monitored by parents.
Setting a limit on the total TV, video, computer, and VCR time spent per day
or per week is a good intervention to help regulate the amount of passive
time each child spends doing these habits. For example, you may give each
child 10 hours per week and let them budget these hours, choosing the shows
they want to watch of computer games they want to play. This fosters wise
choices versus random, chronic viewing. Have each child keep a monitored log
of shows watched and time spent on the computer. This helps with short-term
memories or sudden amnesia.
Regardless of the age of the child, it is important for the TV NOT to be in the child’s room. That is like trying to refrain from eating potato chips while having a big open bag of them under your nose. Parents also need to set good role model examples and not be boob tube addicts, rather stay physically, mentally, and socially active.
Carefully selected TV shows can be useful for children and teens, in small doses. We parents would do well to spend more quality time with our kids: reading more books to each other, doing more activities together, as well as talking, hugging, growing and celebrating life together in the real world.