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How Does TV influence children and adolescents?

Observational learning is a method of learning achieved through imitating and modeling another individual's behavior and mannerisms. Television characters tend to serve as a role model especially for children and adolescents, as the viewers identify with their favorite TV persona leading them to imitate their behaviors to attitudes. Psychologists suggest that television also contributes to children's understanding of reality, with messages from TV shaping their perception.

How Television affects Children's and Adolescent's Perception

Cultivation Theory

The cultivation theory posits that long-term exposure to media content can shape viewers' perceptions of reality by presenting a skewed portrayal of social issues, often emphasizing certain viewpoints over others. Cultivation researchers reason that television "has long term attitudinal effects" , meaning that viewers tend to adopt the television version of reality more strongly the longer they watch it. Parallely, Television can expose children to stereotypes and biased representations of different cultures, and gender roles. This can lead to limited or inaccurate perspectives if not discussed and examined with the guidance of adults. A study conducted by Scharrer Erica and Greg Blackburn in 2018 found a correlation between overall amount of television viewing and the adoption of more traditional masculine roles. Moreover, the study suggests that exposure to television normalizes ideas such as same sex relationships, influencing viewers' perceptions of what constitutes normal conduct, inhibiting viewers to adopt a more accepting view through positive representation.

Cognitive Dissonance

Individuals experience cognitive dissonance when their beliefs conflict with their actions. Television programs have the potential to introduce new information that challenge the viewer's existing beliefs thus triggering cognitive dissonance. For example, an adolescent viewing a show on television in which their favorite characters advocate a healthy lifestyle, but they are constantly seen indulging in unhealthy habits such as eating junk food, or smoking cigarettes. This would create dissonance for the individual watching if they identify with the character's initial message of a healthy lifestyle, but they are witnessing their contradictory behavior. To alleviate this discomfort viewers may alter their attitudes or beliefs to better align with those depicted on TV, thereby adopting new viewpoints or ideologies.

Cognitive Effects of Television on Children and adolescents

Diagram of Brain

A study conducted by Takeuchi Hikaru in 2023 has found that increased viewing time is associated with a decline in attention, verbal working memory, and IQ in children. Verbal working memory is a cognitive system associated with temporarily storing and manipulating verbal information. It allows individuals to hold spoken words in mind while processing them for tasks such as comprehension or problem solving. Research has shown that increased exposure to television can alter the anatomical structure of a child's brain and diminish verbal abilities. Furthermore, continuous exposure to background TV has been linked to a decrease in language use and acquisition in children younger than 5 years. In like manner, excessive TV exposure leads to reduced opportunities for children to participate in activities that promote verbal working memory, such as reading or problem solving. Nonetheless, other studies have shown that educational programs can also aid children's numeracy and literacy skills before pre-school.

How TV affects cognitive and attentive development in children

With young children, the brain exhibits heightened plasticity as it adapts to a wide range of interactions and diverse environments. Because the young brain undergoes rapid development, the frequent scene changes in television programming can overstimulate children's brains. Numerous studies have shown that increased exposure to screen time can alter brain circuitry. Moreover, television and other media often feature fast-paced editing, which can hinder children's ability to engage in self-directed attention. This may result in decreased tolerance for slower-paced tasks, such as homework.

Children and young teens are also subject to seeing issues such as alcohol consumption, drug use, and abuse before they are emotionally ready to process these complex issues, when watching television. Over-exposure to certain topics can be detrimental when it comes to development, especially since children begin to understand the content of television at only two years old.

Attention Spam

Category	Answers
Average Human Attention Span	8.25 seconds
Average Goldfish Attention Span	9 seconds
% of teenagers who forget important information	25%
Average Internet Video Watch time	2.7 minutes

Effects of TV on Parent-Child Interactions

Television has been linked to a decrease in the quantity of parent - child interactions . Research indicates that even when television is on as background noise, children tend to play for shorter periods, as it disrupts their attention. Moreover, verbal communication between parents and their children can decrease by up to 1000 words per hour of television exposure in the household. Overall, studies suggest that excessive television use may displace opportunities for meaningful communication, shared activities and bonding between parents and their children. Of particular importance is the need to reduce TV viewing time to facilitate meaningful interaction between children and their caregivers . Future studies could delve deeper into specific aspects of television use, such as the influence of different genres or platforms on parent-child interactions, as well as examine the effectiveness of interventions aimed at promoting healthy media habits within families.

Effects of TV on Behavior and Moral Judgement

Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment (1961) showed children a film where adults and children were rewarded for acting in an aggressive manner. After viewing a violent tape, children were asked to interact with a bobo doll. The results revealed not only an increase in physical and verbal aggression but also direct imitation of behaviors observed in the film. The level of imitation was strongest when the model portrayed in the film was most similar to the child . Building on Bandura's findings, subsequent research has concentrated on observational learning through television and its direct impact on child behavior. In another study conducted by Collins et al. (1974), younger children who viewed a violent video were more susceptible to remembering aggressive sequences, whereas older children evaluated aggressive behavior based on the motives behind the actions depicted. Numerous studies consistently support the assertion that children are more likely to imitate aggressive behavior when it is depicted in pro-social cartoons within a pro-social context. However, they may struggle to discern the moral implications behind such aggression. Consequently, these findings suggest that children may learn to perceive aggressive behavior as acceptable when it is portrayed in service of a perceived positive outcome.

Television and it's Effect on Sleep

Research found that higher television viewing time is associated to shorter sleep duration and increased sleeping problems in children aged 4 - 7 years old . The blue light emitted from television screens can trick the body into thinking it is still daytime, which stimulates the brain and reduces melatonin levels . This area of research highlights the importance of limiting screen time before bed to promote a healthy routine before sleeping. Empirical evidence also suggests that children with TV's in their bedrooms tend to sleep less overall, inhibiting them to increase the number of naps taken during the day.