These statistics are based on what the students themselves reported
during our surveys. You should note that when we give workshops on this
issue, we have found that children and young people are usually a bit
embarrassed about the amount of TV they watch. We suspect that this leads
them to under-estimate their hours spent watching TV.
How TV Hooks Us
As you are reading this text, your eye is probably being drawn to the
moving image on the right. We've put this irritating little graphic in for
a reason...We all tend to notice movement, and TV takes advantage of this
fact. Television is even more distracting than our example, because it
contains a combination of images and sounds. If you try to have a
conversation with somebody in a room where a TV set is on, it will be
almost impossible for you to stop glancing at the set now and again.
When you sit down to watch TV, you will almost instantly start to
relax. You will tend to become less alert, and more passive. When you stop
watching, you don't feel relaxed any more, but you remain passive and less
alert ...which you may notice as a feeling of being "drained" or lacking
energy. An instant antidote to this unrelaxed state is...more TV! Watching
more will tend to relax you again, and some scientists think that heavy TV
users are drawn into a vicious circle in this way. It is common for people
to report that they watch more TV than they intend to. Some psychologists
even believe that people can suffer from TV addiction.
Whether or not you can be addicted to TV, if the habit affects your
ability to lead an active life it should be taken seriously.
TV Violence
When children see violent events, they are more likely to believe that
something bad will happen to them. Young children may also not understand
that violence can hurt and kill people. When the TV "good-guys" are
violent, this is usually portrayed as acceptable...and when the bad guys
are violent, the violence often goes unpunished.
TV, Health and Performance
Heavy television watching is likely to affect performance in school,
and may even affect children's development. TV watching before the age of
3 can lead to problems in development of the ability to think and reason
later on in childhood [1]. Children with a TV in their bedroom tend to do
less well in academic tests [2], and TV viewing in childhood and
adolescence has been linked with poor educational achievement in later
life [3].
Children who watch lots of TV have a greater risk of becoming
overweight. Children with a TV in their bedroom are at an even greater
risk [4-6] . Prolonged TV watching is associated with an increased risk of
type II diabetes [7] , and limiting TV and computer games in children may
help to prevent type II diabetes [8] . Girls who watch a lot of TV may be
at an increased risk of getting an eating disorder [9] . Kids who watch
more TV tend to start smoking at a younger age [10] . TV watching has been
linked to risk factors for atherosclerosis/CVD in adults [11, 12] .
It is common for children to ignore their natural sleep rhythms when
watching TV and this may result in daytime fatigue and other health
problems. TV viewing in infants and toddlers is linked to irregular
sleeping patterns [13] . Adolescents and young adults who watch lots of TV
have a greater risk of sleep problems [14]
Adults who watch lots of TV tend to have an increased risk of type II
diabetes and obesity [7, 15-17] . [18] . Watching lots of TV in mid-life
has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease [19] .
TV doesn't usually show the consequences of having sex. On the other
hand, sex on TV is usually portrayed as exciting, normal and risk free.
Teenagers that watch sexually explicit TV programmes may even become
sexually active at an earlier age [20] .
For many people, television watching constitutes a dependence, and TV
may even be considered an addiction in some individuals [21] .
References
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