3.3 Comprehension and debating  (Page 2/3)

Now write your own notes on the story or report that the teacher presents to you.

• Using your notes on the previous page and above, summarise the main points below:

READING AND VIEWING

READ THE FOLLOWING REPORT ON TELEVISION AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, AND THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS IN WRITING:

Regardless of the content of the programmes, television watching affects the development of children.

Recent research shows that television watching has an adverse effect on children’s thinking, speaking, imagination, senses, physique , feelings and behaviour. It is important for parents to be aware of these effects.

TV zombies?

Television watching puts children into a passive, trance-like state where they become ‘TV zombies” – a condition quite different from their natural active, playful state when they are not watching. Some parents of young children observed that:

‘My five year old goes into a trance when he watches TV.

He just gets locked into what is happening on the screen.

He’s totally, absolutely absorbed when he is watching and oblivious to anything else.’

‘They’re cross and irritable after they watched.’

‘After watching, they’re nervous, bored and disagreeable, only slowly coming back to normal.’

What, then, do children experience while watching television?

The ‘plug-in drug’ – TV addiction

Television has been called the ‘Plug-in Drug’ because many people find they cannot stop watching. People joke about being ‘hooked on TV.’ Watching television allows the viewer to blow out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state where the normal worries and anxieties of life can be forgotten.

How long do children spend watching television?

Two out of every three school children watch TV for 3-5 hours daily, or between 21-35 hours each week, according to a recent survey. A survey completed in the United States shows an average of 30 hours a week for pre-school children. In West Germany, 80% of school children gave TV as their favourite hobby. Further research in America showed that about three million children, from 2 – 11 years, watched television until midnight.

Anti-social behaviour

The content of violent programmes may affect children’s behaviour, for they learn by imitation. However, regardless of the contents of the programmes, TV watching may cause anti-social behaviour. Relating to others as objects rather than human beings can contribute to violence. Also, when watching TV, children have the impression that they are taking part in an activity when, in fact they are only passive observers. Children who are heavy viewers are less able to judge the real feelings and problems of others in real life situations.

Has TV any educational value?

Which is better qualified to teach a child, a machine or another human being? Experienced teachers have noted that children who watch a lot of television forget most of what they have seen after a very short time. This could be due to the fact that children are not actively taking part in the process. The American programme ‘Sesame Street’ was specially designed to help disadvantaged pre-school children to catch up with the knowledge and language skills of the more fortunate children. A 1975 survey suggests that the children who only watched it occasionally made more progress in learning than those who were heavy viewers of the programme.