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Television Has Its Good Side

Television Has Its Good Side

Television has become an important tool of entertainment and education for children. But
is television really bad for children or the other way around? Or maybe both? It depends, it’s
what programs and how many hours a day parents allow their children to watch that decide if
television affects the child positively or negatively. Television is not necessarily bad for children
as many parents and experts argue; there are plenty of educational programs out there such as
PBS that help young children prepare for school both mentally and socially. In other words they
tend to do better in school than those who are restricted to watch any television at all by their
parents or than those who watch the “wrong” programs for their age. Television has a positive
effect on children who watch age-appropriate channels because they learn good things from
them.
Television can be educational if used correctly by parents and won’t affect children
physically or mentally in a negative way. According to the American Medical Association
children who watch more than 10 hours of television per week are “more likely to be overweight,
aggressive and slow to learn in school”(Springen 293). That doesn’t mean television is a
negative influence on children, in fact watching age-appropriate channels and at least an hour of
physical activity a day will keep them from obesity and being slow learners. Letting children
under the age of 3 watch television can harm their “reading comprehension and short-term
memory” as a study by Seattle researchers shows(Stanton). The same study shows that children
between ages 3-5 can improve some of their “cognitive abilities” by watching television more
than 3 hours a day, this children tend to score high on the reading recognition part in tests they
take when they are 6-7 years of age. Children can watch television without missing out on daily
physical activities and still be smart kids....