I am currently taking an online class on child and adolescent psychology. (Riveting, right?) The class has minimal homework, but once a week, we need to read a chapter of the assigned text and write a blog post about it.
The aspect of this particular chapter that peaked my interest was the discussion on media -- TV specifically -- and its role in a child's development. As a major proponent for all manners of artistic expression (TV included), I was interested in seeing what kind of argument the authors would make for and/or against the use of media in a child's development.
This section of the chapter opens with a nice, long (1.5 pages of very small font) discussion of the most prominent negative side effects of TV on children. TV is viewed all around the world by people of every age, but the statistics of TV programs watched by children is quite startling. In the U.S., the average child spends about three hours a day watching television. Thirty percent of children under 10 in the U.S. have TV sets in their bedroom.
What really scares researchers about these statistics is that, although most children watch shows created specifically for their age range, there are boundless programs on TV that feature graphic violence – violence that may have negative side effects on the healthy development of these children.
More than 300 studies conducted over five decades have led scholars to conclude that watching overtly violent programs on TV increases a child's aggression. When a child becomes more aggressive, they tend to consume more violent media, which leads to heightened aggression.
Now, I'm not sure about all of you, but I didn't have real TV until I was in third grade (just basic antenna TV). So, I spent most of my early childhood playing outside with my friends and brothers.
Although I never was (and still am not) a huge fan of violence in the media, I have noticed how it has affected mine and my brothers' aggression levels. What frightens me more than that, however, is how I have noticed a drastic decline in creativity and imagination in children since TV.
I noticed it even in myself: After my family got a cable TV, my brothers and I would still go outside to play pretty regularly. What had changed, however, were the games we played. Instead of making up our own original games like we had for years, we, instead, just re-enacted our favorite TV shows and characters.
Unfortunately, it is quite impossible to determine whether today's children are any more or less creative than the previous generations.
There's no test to take, no BuzzFeed quiz that can give you the answers. Who is to say that TV even had anything to do with my dilemma? Maybe losing some of that creativity is just a part of growing up? All we can do to combat this is to keep being as creative as possible in whatever way we see fit.
