Edited and summarized from:
Josephson, Wendy L. "Television Violence: A Review of the Effects on Children of Different Ages" Media Awareness Network. Dept. of Canadian Heritage, 1995. Web. 21 Oct 2010.Televisions programs have become more vibrant, provocative, and full of violence nowadays. This article on television’s effects on children can also be considered for other types of media like big screen movies and internet.
There were 4 factors that determine television’s effects on children:
- Length of their attention spans
- How they process the information
- The amount of mental effort they invest, and
- Their own life experiences
Television’s effects according to age groups:
Infants (18 months old & below)
- Short attention spans
- Incapable of great mental effort yet
- Process television content as lights & sounds, understood little from it
- EFFECTS: mostly unknown, but infants still can imitate behavior from television if it is presented in simple, uncluttered and instructional manner.
Toddlers (2 ½ to 3 years old)
- Started to pay more attention to television content
- Limited understanding of the television content
- May imitate behavior they see on the television
- EFFECTS: toddlers love cartoons and can become committed to them. Their viewing pattern at this age will determine their viewing pattern later in life. Violent content can affect the children as they may copy the behavior.
Preschooler Age (3 to 5 years old)
- Started to invest more mental effort in television content
- Actively exploring the meaning in television content
- More attracted to vibrant sounds and images rather than subtle motives and consequences
- EFFECTS: can be exposed to violence if presented in vivid and attractive flashes of images like cartoon violence. Children became more agitated after watching violent content.
Elementary School Age (6 to 11 years old)
- Children develop cognitive ability to understands plots, subtle messages, and moral values embedded in television content
- Invest more mental effort if they liked the show, and less if they did not like it
- Less preference to sounds and images, more to program content
- Children started to like other programs besides cartoons and songs
- EFFECTS: since they can understand motives and consequences now, they will not imitate behavior if it is presented as evil, but will impersonate heroic act of their superheroes. They may be affected by violence if it is what the hero is doing, or if it is portrayed as normal or if they really like it.
Adolescence (12 to 17 years old)
- high level ability of abstract thinking and reasoning
- use less mental effort on television programs and watch less
- more interested in their real life (i.e. teenage romance, independence, and relationships) and view television content as superficial
- EFFECTS: Teens usually seeks something other than what television offers, like music videos, extreme sports, chatting, computer games, graffiti etc (although television now covers even these sorts of activities). Only small percent of adolescent may continue to watch television. Whichever way they may be exposed to violence, teens can be inspired by crime and violence if they think it was exciting or as an act of rebelliousness.
It is hard to separate children and cartoons. It is almost like robbing them of their childhood joy. Besides, television did have certain advantages such as:
- exposing the children things they might never see in real life
- providing exciting educational program, and
- as pastime activities
Parents should always monitor the programs watched by their children. However, Parental Control button and passwords is not enough, because it will only trigger curiosity and kids this day usually will find a way to break the code anyway or seek it from other sources. So, here are some suggestions, besides limiting the amount and type of programs to watch:
Infants & Toddlers – for infants and toddlers, Parental Control tools is sufficient, but parents must also observe their own viewing habits since children are highly influenced by what their parents are doing at this stage.
Preschoolers – parents can join their children as they watch television and encourage or discourage certain behavior from the television while providing comfort or distractions whenever needed so they felt safe when they are scared by what they see.
Elementary School Children – for older children, limiting the television content is not enough, although limiting the viewing time should still be implemented. Parents need to discuss, explain, and challenge television. As children became more critical on the television content, the violence will be less likely to be taken up by them.
Adolescents – since teens do not like to be told about something, it will be more useful to encourage them to express their opinions, analyze and question the programs they watch. If they appeared to be misguided, parents should also argue with them instead of just telling it is wrong. Teens tend to hold an opinion of their own despite pretending to hear what you have to say, hence it is important to provide good evidence and support when talking to them.
