| What
do I need to know about children and TV?
Television (TV) has its good side. It can be
entertaining and educational, and can open up new worlds for
kids, giving them a chance to travel the globe, learn about
different cultures, and gain exposure to ideas they may never
encounter in their own community. Programs with positive
role models can influence people to change
their behavior for the better. However, the reverse
can also be true: Kids are likely to learn things from
TV that parents don't want them to learn. TV can affect
kids' health and family life.
it's worthwhile for parents to think about what
role they want TV to play in
their family. Consider:
- A great deal is known
about children and television, because there have been thousands
of studies on the subject. Researchers have studied how
TV affects kids' sleep, weight, grades, behavior, and more. it's worth looking at what the research says when deciding how
to manage television in your family.
- Spending time watching
TV can take time away from healthy activities like active play
outside with friends, eating dinner
together as a family, or reading.
TV time also takes away from participating in sports,
music, art or other activities that require practice to become
skillful.
- TV viewing starts
earlier than other forms of media—often
beginning before
age two. In recent years, TV, video and DVD programs
geared to babies and toddlers have come on the market—and
now even a cable channel for babies. We don't know yet
what effect TV-viewing by babies may have on their development. We
do know that time spent watching TV replaces time spent interacting
with caregivers and other children. Social interaction
is critical to a baby's healthy development.
How
big a presence is TV in kids' lives?
- On average, kids
spend nearly 4 hours a day watching television, DVDs and videos [1].
- 68% of 8- to 18-year-olds
have a TV in their bedroom; 54% have a DVD/VCR player, 37%
have cable/satellite TV, and 20% have premium channels [2].
- In 63% of households,
the TV is "usually" on during meals [3].
- In 53% of households
of 7th- to 12th-graders, there are no rules about TV watching [4].
- In 51% of households,
the TV is on "most" of the time [5].
- Kids with a TV in
their bedroom spend an average of almost 1.5 hours more per
day watching TV than kids without a TV in the bedroom.
- Many
parents encourage tots to watch TV.
- Find out more about TV
in the lives of children ages zero to six.
As you can see, if your
child is typical, TV is playing a very big role in their life. Here
are some key research findings to keep in mind as you decide
what kind of role you want TV to play in your family:
- TV viewing is probably
replacing activities in your child' s life that you would rather
have them do (things like playing with friends [6] ,
being physically active, getting fresh air, reading, playing
imaginatively, doing homework [7] ,
doing chores).
- Kids who spend more
time watching TV (both with and without parent and siblings
present) spend less time interacting with family members. [8]
- Excessive TV viewing
can contribute to poor grades, sleep
problems, behavior
problems, obesity,
and risky behavior.
- Most children' s
programming does not teach what parents say they want their
children to learn; many shows are filled with stereotypes,
violent solutions to problems, and mean behavior.
- Advertisers target
kids, and on average, children see tens of thousands of TV
commercials each year [9]. This
includes many ads for unhealthy snack foods and drinks. Children
and youth see, on average, about 2,000 beer and wine ads on
TV each year [10].
- Kids see favorite
characters smoking,
drinking, and involved in sexual situations and other risky
behaviors in the shows and movies they watch on TV.
- More on how
television viewing affects children.
- For more detailed
information on these issues, read on.
Does
TV affect children's brain development?
With television programs—and even a cable channel—designed and
marketed specifically for babies, whether kids under two years of age should
be watching becomes an important question. While we are learning more
all the time about early brain
development, we do not have a clear idea how television may affect it. Some
studies link early TV viewing with later attention problems, such as ADHD. However,
other experts disagree with these results. One study found that TV viewing
before age three slightly hurt several measures of later cognitive development,
but that between ages three and five it slightly helped reading scores [11].
The American Academy
of Pediatrics takes a "better-safe-than-sorry" stance
on TV for young children [12]:
"Children
of all ages are constantly learning new things. The first
2 years of life are especially important in the growth and
development of your child's brain. During this time, children
need good, positive interaction with other children and adults.
Too much television can negatively affect early brain development.
This is especially true at younger ages, when learning to
talk and play with others is so important."
"Until more
research is done about the effects of TV on very young children,
the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics (AAP) does
not recommend television for children age 2 or younger."
In addition, TV can
discourage and replace reading. Reading
requires much more thinking than television, and we know that
reading fosters young people's healthy brain development. Kids
growing up in families in which the TV is on always or most of
the time spend less time reading and being read to, and are less
likely to be able to read [13].
What
about TV violence?
Literally thousands of studies since the 1950s have asked
whether there is a link between exposure to media violence
and violent behavior. All but
18 have answered, "Yes." The evidence from the research
is overwhelming. According to the AAP, "Extensive research
evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior,
desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed." [14]
- An average American
child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV
by age 18 [15].
- Two-thirds of all
programming contains violence [16].
- Programs designed
for children more often contain violence than adult TV [17].
- Most violent acts
go unpunished on TV and are often accompanied by humor. The
consequences of human suffering and loss are rarely depicted.
- Many shows glamorize
violence. TV often promotes violent acts as a fun and
effective way to get what you want, without consequences [18].
- Even in G-rated,
animated movies and DVDs, violence is common—often as
a way for the good characters to solve their problems. Every
single U.S. animated feature film produced between 1937 and
1999 contained violence, and the amount of violence with intent
to injure has increased over the years [19].
- Even "good guys" beating
up "bad guys" gives a message that violence is normal
and okay. Many children will try to be like their "good
guy" heroes in their play.
- Children imitate
the violence they see on TV. Children under age eight
cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy, making
them more vulnerable to learning from and adopting as reality
the violence they see on TV [20].
- Repeated exposure
to TV violence makes children less sensitive toward its effects
on victims and the human suffering it causes. Viewing TV violence
reduces inhibitions and leads to more aggressive behavior.
- Watching television
violence can have long-term effects:
- A 15-year-long study by
University of Michigan researchers found that the link between
childhood TV-violence viewing and aggressive and violent
behavior persists into adulthood [21].
- A 17-year-long
study found that teenaged boys who grew up watching more
TV each day are more likely to commit acts of violence than
those who watched less [22].
What parents
can do:
- According to the American
Academy of Pediatrics, media education can help kids
become less susceptible to the bad effects of watching violent
TV. Some studies have shown that kids who received
media education had less violent behavior after watching
violent programs. Teach your kids to be media savvy. Find
out more about media
literacy.
- Watch with your kids,
so if the programming turns violent, you can discuss what happened
to put it in a context you want your kids to learn.
- Know what your kids
are watching. Decide what programs are appropriate for
their age and personality, and stick to your rules.
- To minimize peer
pressure to watch violent shows, you may want to talk to the
parents of your child's friends and agree to similar rules.
- Visit YourChild: Managing
Television: Tips for Your Family for more ideas.
For more
on TV violence and kids:
Can
TV scare or traumatize kids?
Children can come to view the world as a mean
and scary place when they take violence and other disturbing
themes on TV to be accurate in real
life.
- Symptoms of being
frightened or upset by TV stories can include bad dreams, anxious
feelings, being afraid of being alone, withdrawing from friends,
and missing school.
- Fears caused by TV
can cause sleep problems in children [23].
- Scary-looking things
like grotesque monsters especially frighten children aged two
to seven. Telling them that the images aren't real does
not help because kids under age eight can't tell the difference
between fantasy and reality.
- Many children exposed
to scary movies regret that they watched because of the intensity
of their fright reactions.
- Children ages 8-12
years who view violence are often frightened that they may
be a victim of violence or a natural disaster.
How
does watching television affect performance in school?
- TV viewing may replace
activities that we know help with school performance, such
as reading,
doing homework, pursuing hobbies, and getting enough sleep.
- One research study
found that TV's effects on education were long term. The
study found that watching TV as a child affected educational
achievement at age 26. Watching more TV in childhood
increased chances of dropping out of school and decreased chances
of getting a college degree, even after controlling for confounding
factors [24].
- Watching TV at age
four was one factor found to be associated with bullying in
grade school [25].
Can
TV influence children's attitudes toward themselves and others?
Let's take a look at what kids see on TV, and how
it can affect their beliefs about race and gender:
- Children learn to
accept the stereotypes represented on television. After
all, they see them over and over.
- When non-whites are
shown on TV, they tend to be stereotyped.
- A
review of the research on gender bias shows that the gender-biased
and gender-stereotyped behaviors and attitudes that kids
see on television do affect how they see male and
female roles in our society.
- Television and movies
do not often show Asians or Asian Americans, and when they
do, they fail to show the diversity in Asian American culture [26].
- Thin women are disproportionately
represented on TV. The heavier a female character, the
more negative comments were made about her [27].
- In 1990's commercials,
white men more often were depicted as strong, while white women
were shown as sex objects. African American men more
often were portrayed as aggressive, and African American women,
as inconsequential [28].
- Ads for household
items, like cleaning products, usually feature women [29].
- G-rated movies are
commonly viewed by younger children—often over and over
on DVD, and perceived by parents as safe for little kids. However,
in these movies, whether live action or animated, males are
shown more than females, by three to one, they are not often
shown in relationships, and do not solve problems peacefully [30].
- In G-movies, characters
of color are under-represented, and are usually shown as sidekicks,
comic relief, or bad guys. Male characters of color are
more aggressive and isolated [31].
- Music videos over-represent
black males as aggressors, and white females as victims, compared
to actual demographic data [32].
- To learn more, visit
the Center for Media Literacy's page on Stereotyping
and Representation.
How
are children portrayed on TV?
A study by a group called Children
NOW of how children are shown on local TV news, found that [33]:
- Almost half of all
stories about children focus on crime (45%).
- Children account
for over a quarter of the U.S. population but only 10% of all
local news stories.
- African American
children account for more than half of all stories (61%) involving
children of color, followed by Latino children (32%). Asian
Pacific American and Native American children are virtually
invisible on local news.
- African American
boys are more likely than any other group to be portrayed as
perpetrators of crime and violence whereas Caucasian girls
are most likely to be shown as victims.
Can
TV affect my child's health?
Yes, TV
is a public health issue in several different ways. First
of all, kids get lots of information about health from TV,
much of it from ads. Ads do not generally give true or balanced
information about healthy lifestyles and food choices. The
majority of children who watch health-related commercials believe
what the ads say. Second, watching lots of television
can lead to childhood obesity and overweight. Finally,
TV can promote risky behavior, such as trying dangerous stunts,
substance use and abuse, and irresponsible sexual behavior.
Children who watch more TV are more likely to
be overweight
- University of Michigan
researchers found that just being awake and in the room with
the TV on more than two hours a day was a risk factor for being overweight at
ages three and four-and-a-half. [34]
- The effects can carry
on into adult weight problems. Weekend TV viewing in
early childhood affects body mass index (BMI), or overweight
in adulthood. [35]
- Researchers who investigated
whether diet, physical activity, sedentary behavior or television
viewing predicted body
mass index (BMI) among 3- to 7-year-old children, found
that physical activity and TV viewing are most associated with
overweight risk. TV was a bigger factor than diet. Inactivity
and TV became stronger predictors as the children aged [36].
- Children who watch
TV are more likely to be inactive and tend to snack while watching
TV.
- Many TV ads encourage
unhealthy eating habits. Two-thirds of the 20,000 TV
ads an average child sees each year are for food and most are
for high-sugar foods.
- All television shows,
even educational non-commercial shows, replace physical
activity in your child's life.
- While watching TV,
the metabolic rate seems to go even lower than during rest [37]. This
means that a person would burn fewer calories while watching
TV than when just sitting quietly, doing nothing.
- The food and beverage
industry targets children with their television marketing,
which may include commercials, product placement, and character
licensing. Most of the products pushed on kids are high
in total calories, sugars, salt, and fat, and low in nutrients [38].
- Results from recent
studies have reported success in reducing excess weight gain
in preadolescents by restricting TV viewing [39].
Childhood
TV habits are a risk factor for many adult health problems
- One study looked
at adults at age 26, and how much TV they had watched as children. Researchers
found that "17% of overweight, 15% of raised serum cholesterol,
17% of smoking, and 15% of poor fitness can be attributed to
watching television for more than 2 hours a day during childhood
and adolescence." This was after controlling for
confounding variables [40] .
Children
may attempt to mimic stunts seen on TV
- Injuries are the
leading cause of death in children, and watching unsafe behavior
on TV may increase children's risk-taking behavior.
- Kids have been injured
trying to repeat dangerous stunts they have seen on television
shows.
- Many kids watch TV
sporting events. Researchers surveyed TV sports event
ads to assess what kids might be seeing. Almost half
of all commercial breaks during sporting events contained at
least one ad that showed unsafe behavior or violence [41].
Watching
TV can cause sleep problems
- Television viewing
is associated with altered sleep patterns
and sleep disorders among children and adolescents.
- Regular sleep schedules
are an important part of healthy sleep. A recent study
found that infants and toddlers who watch TV have more irregular
sleep schedules. More research is needed to find out
whether the TV viewing is the cause [42].
- Those sleep disturbances
may persist. Teens who watched three or more hours of
TV per day had higher risk of sleep problems by early adulthood [43].
TV viewing
may promote alcohol use
- The presence of alcohol
on TV runs the gamut from drinking or talk about drinking on
prime-time shows, to beer ads, to logos displayed at sporting
events.
- Many studies have
shown that alcoholic drinks are the most common beverage portrayed
on TV, and that they are almost never shown in a negative light.
- Exposure to alcohol
use on TV and in music videos (such as on MTV)
is a risk factor for increased drinking in adolescents [44].
- Ads
for alcohol portray people as being happier, sexier,
and more successful when they drink. Alcohol advertising,
including TV ads, contributes to increased drinking among
youth [45].
- Television ads for
alcohol, such as "alcopop," which combine the sweet
taste of soda pop in a liquor-branded malt beverage, may target
youth, especially African American kids.
- The Center on Alcohol
Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University found that
in 2003, the top 15 prime time programs most popular with teens
all had alcohol ads [46].
- Find out more:
Kids who
watch TV are more likely to smoke
- Even though tobacco
ads are banned on TV, young people still see people smoking
on programs and movies shown on television. The tobacco
industry uses product placement in films. Smoking in
movies increased throughout the 1990s [47] .
- Internal tobacco
industry documents show that the tobacco industry purposefully
markets their product to youth. The industry uses
subtle strategies like logos at sporting events, product placement,
and celebrities smoking to get around the ban on TV advertising
for their products [48] .
- Kids who watch more
TV start smoking at an earlier age. The relationship
between television viewing and age of starting smoking was
stronger than that of peer smoking, parental smoking, and gender [49].
- Find out more about kids
and tobacco.
Kids get
lots of information about sexuality from television
- Most parents don't
talk to their kids about sex and relationships, birth control
and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Most schools do not
offer complete sex education programs. So kids get much of
their information about sex from TV.
- Kids are probably
not learning what their parents would like them to learn about
sex from TV.
- Sexual content is
a real presence on TV. Soap operas, music videos, prime
time shows and advertisements all contain lots of sexual content,
but usually nothing about contraception or safer sex.
- The number of sex
scenes on TV has nearly doubled since 1998, with 70% of the
top 20 most-watched shows by teens including sexual content [50]. Fifteen
percent of scenes with sexual intercourse depict characters
that have just met having sex. Of the shows with sexual
content, an average of five scenes per hour involve sex.
- Watching sex on TV
increases the chances a teen will have sex, and may cause teens
to start having sex at younger ages. Even viewing shows
with characters talking about sex increases the risk of sexual
initiation [51]. (Read more
about this study.)
- On the flip side,
TV has the potential to both educate teens, and foster discussion
with parents. Watch with your kids, and use the sexual
content on TV as a jumping-off point to talk with your teen
about sex, responsible behavior and safety.
- To find out more,
read:
How
can I find out more about kids and TV?
Here are some websites with helpful information:
Visit these
related topics on YourChild:
What
are some organizations that work on issues around kids and
TV?
- The
Center for Media Literacy believes
in empowerment through education—that kids
need to learn how to think critically about TV and other
media.
- The
National Institute on Media and the Family: Mediawise is
a resource for research, education and information about
the impact of media on children and families.
- Media
Awareness Network is a Canadian group with a wealth of
information for parents.
- National TV
Turn-Off Week was April 23-29, 2007. TV-Turnoff
Week is supported by over 70 national organizations including
the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics,
National Education Association, and President's Council on
Physical Fitness and Sports.
- The Parent'
s Television Council works to bring positive, family-oriented
TV programming to the airwaves.
Still have questions about this topic? Go to
our survey to ask your questions, and we’ll try
to answer them on an upcoming
YourChild podcast.
|
Citations
Written and compiled
by Kyla Boyse, R.N. Reviewed by faculty and staff at the
University of Michigan
Updated June 2007
U-M Health System Related Sites:
U-M
Pediatrics
Our editorial policy
The information and links we provide are reviewed by University of Michigan developmental and behavioral pediatricians and child psychologists who are experts in child behavioral health. In choosing the links we provide, we use strict criteria to ensure that the information is accurate, and the source is reputable. As much as possible, we focus on information that is based on research. In areas where there is inadequate research, we include information compatible with prevailing expert opinion.
This website is updated regularly, but because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, we cannot be responsible for misinformation that may be accessed through the links provided. As always, this website is not a tool for self-diagnosis, and is not a substitute for professional care.
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