Are the Working Parent's at Fault?

Jazmin Kittleson, Brian Lewis, English 1022 55, Collaborative Blogging Project, February 7, 2010

Are the Working Parent’s at Fault?

With the more time parents spend away from their children it’s allowing more time for the mass media of advertising to get inside those minds of the children, which is also showing a greater influence on the many negative impacts in their lives. With the economy the way it is right now and with those fortunate parents who still have work available to them seem to be spending as much time in the work area as possible, allowing the time spent with their children to decrease due to this affect of work. Ever since the beginning of advertising in the media it has brought negative influence in our children’s lives, but more than ever before we have seen a growing negative impact on our children right now. We see more of our children spending more time in front of the television, playing video games, watching movies, and spending time on the internet. Many of these actions and images given through these sources of media are causing negative side effects in our children’s lives. It is about time to take in control of these negative side effects such as drugs, alcohol, sex, and violence and figure out what can be done to insure our children’s safety.

The number one source of advertisement that has had the greatest impact on our children today would have to be the television set. The percentage of United States households that posses at least one television set is at a high of 99%. “According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube” (Television & Health). That is a lot of time spent in front of the television which otherwise could have been spent doing something else more productive. Within that average of four hours a day of television watched each day also includes any movies seen through the television. Along with the many disadvantages of watching television also comes some advantages, but disadvantages apply greatly compared to any advantage. Some advantages to watching television would have to be television seen as an educator and an entertainer. We see this by parents using television to keep up with current events on the evening news, grade schoolers can become knowledgeable on certain things shown on wildlife and nature shows, and television can also help preschoolers learn the alphabet on public television. Even though we do see some advantages to young children watching television we also see many disadvantages and these are the aspects that hurt our children the most in the long run. Children who are constantly spending more than four hours a day watching television are at higher risk of becoming overweight and obese. Many of the views seen on television by our children are violent acts which show aggressive behavior and can turn our children into being frightened of what could happen or into violent criminals themselves. Another disadvantage for our children would have to be how television often depicts characters of risky behavior, such as smoking and drinking, and also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes. There are many ways of transforming those disadvantages of watching television into many advantages. Some of these different ways include viewing the programs before your kids watch them, watch television together as a family and talk with your kids about what has been previewed before you and add a family television schedule or movie night, make it fun. Many parents can set good examples for their children by limiting their own television viewing, parents can also keep televisions out of bedrooms, turn the television off during meals, don’t allow their kids to watch television while doing homework, and limit number of hours watched by stocking the room with many books, magazines, toys, puzzles, and board games.

With television being the number one source of advertisement for young children’s viewing, another source of advertisement would have to be the video games that young children play. “Among elementary and middle-school populations, girls play for an average of about 5.5 hours/week and boy’s average 13 hours/week” (The Effect of Video Games on Children: What Parent Need to Know). These statistics are actually quiet high especially for the young boys. Many video games have become an invariable source for young children, it is a positive feeling when we see young children interacting in educational video games but in all reality we never see that as much as we hoped to. Video games allow for an array of positive and negative advantages in our children’s lives, but of course more we mostly see negative affects taking an effect than the positive ones. Not only are video games fun and entertaining for young children, but some other positive side effects would be how playing video games introduces children to computer and information technology, they can give practice in following directions, and the games can provide practice in use of fine motor and spatial skills. With those positive advantages does come many more negative disadvantages. “83% of kids, eight to eighteen, have at least one video game player in their home, 31% have 3 or more video game players, and 49% have video game systems in their bedrooms” (Effects Of Video Game Playing On Children). With this much video game playing in action we see many young children becoming over dependent on them and fostering into social isolation which is mostly seen in children who play alone. We also see children practicing violent acts and more aggressive behavior, the games can confuse reality with fantasy, they offer arena of weapons, killings, kicking, stabbing, and shootings. Video games also show women being portrayed as weaker characters, and the major issue seen that academic achievement has been decreasing in those children interacting with video games.

Another source of advertising that our young children are using would have to be the internet. I believe that the internet is the scariest place for a young child to be using and would rather see them watching a film. The internet provides many opportunities for learning while still exposing children to potentially negative content. “As of December 2003, 23 million children in the United States ages 6 to 17 have internet access at home, which is a threefold increase since 2000”and“ According to a survey conducted by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in July 2002, 78% of family households with children have Internet access at home” (Children’s exposure to negative Internet content: effects of family context). Weather your children are online in your home or out in the public it is not safe either way. The internet allows for many positive advantages, but along with those it has many negative advantages as well. A few positive examples of children using the internet would have to be an impact on their physical development, cognitive development, and social development along with the educational status the internet provides. There are also many negative side effects for young children to be using the internet which includes, social skills, the internet is making you less likely to talk with friends in face to face settings and to rather talk to a computer screen. This can also become negative if a child were to meet a new friend over the internet and the person was not really who they portrayed themselves to be. Even though the internet can be a helpful tool it can also be very dangerous for some people.

As we see there are many different types of advertisement that can affect our children such as television, movies, video games, and the internet. Children today are more specific on their needs and wants, as we looked at both sides and saw that the negatives make up for more than the positives. There are many things that parents can do to help these circumstances even if they work all the time. Many parents need to make more of an effort in interacting in their child’s lives, eliminate some of the forms of entertainment in the house, and have family meals, set rules and restricted time limits, along with adding in a family night. These few ideas can help in getting your children’s minds out of the gutter and on the right track to success.

Work Cited

“Children’s exposure to negative Internet content: effects of family context,” All Business A D&B Company, ed. Cheon, Hongsik John, 2005, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 07 February 2010 <http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/internet-technology/867440-1.html>.

“Effects Of Video Game Playing On Children,” National Institute on Media + The Family, 07 February 2010 <http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_effect.shtml>.

Television & Health, ed. Norman Herr, 2007, California State University, Northridge, 5 February 2010 <http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html>.

“The effects of video games on children: what parents need to know,” BNET, ed. Douglas A. Gentile, 2004, Pediatrics for parents, 07 February 2010 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/