Favourite Baby Sitter? - The developmental perspective on the effects of Television viewing

Excerpts from multiple sources:

• In the very early years, a child is tenderly open to the environment. The whole body of the child is like a sense organ, completely vulnerable, open to any stimulation. Any sensory impressions experienced will be built into their sensitive body and soul. Unlike adults, children are not able to filter out in-coming stimulation. Putting a baby to sleep infront of a fast paced electronic imagery can have deep-rooted effects. It is important for babies to look and vocalise in imitation to others and elicit responses from them.
• TV is an assault on the senses in the first 3 years of the child when the child learns to walk, talk and think. She/He needs interactions with real people. During these 3 years, any kind of sensory, emotional or physical depravation can retard a child while overstimulation can make a child restless, sleepless or nervous.
• During kindergarten years, children need songs, games and play that will enter them into a relationship with real people. The brain grows as a response to sensory experiences and will draw the child into a deeper relationship with the people and the natural elements around. Pre-schooler’s play is full of opportunities for concentration, imagination and problem-solving. TV does not afford such opportunities for active exploration into reality or fantasy nor does it require any concentration, focussed attention or integration.
•  Children aged 7 -12 years must have time for academics, story-telling, reading, acting, painting, music, crafts, games and organised sports, constructive hobbies, social relationships etc. All these are important activities which should not be crowded out by addiction to TV.
• While viewing TV, the eyes are practically motionless, which affects eye mechanics. Constant movement and blinking is required for healthy eye development. Just look around the number of children wearing spectacles today in your 4^th -5^th grade classrooms.
• Children need to practice processing auditory stimulation, make their own mental pictures in response to what they hear. Constant viewing retards / dulls both their hearing and listening ability because of background noise.
• The harmful effects of radiation from an overdose of artificial light is being researched, though the findings and results are yet to be publicised due to restrictions from the marketing mafia.
• Elated cholesterol levels and obesity are the modern nutritional diseases among US children and India is fast catching up. TV viewing is the culprit to between-meal junk foods, consumption of advertised foods and attempts to influence mother’s food purchases.
•  One newspaper report in US says that children as young as 8 year old watch TV late until 11.30 at night. Children will be too tired or irritable to wake up each morning to school. Sleep is a physical necessity to build the growing organism. It is also a psychological necessity , the pre-requisite for dreaming. TV viewing may cause vivid images to resurface during sleep causing nightmares.
• TV viewing prolongs an artificial dominance of right brain functions that induce a trance-like state. More than 20 hours of TV per week can seriously inhibit the development of verbal-logic left brain functions. Studies document that though general word knowledge and vocabulary are not affected, but definitely the creative verbal fluency is affected for lack of interactive play and conversation.
• Social development is greatly affected with children imitating TV characters and youngsters modelling themselves based on filmy violence based on heroism, perversions, cheap and vulgar comedies and consumeristic beauty.

Parents’ Guide to “Are They Watching Too Much TV?”

1. Is TV the most time-consuming activity? During family meals, when homework is done, wake up in the morning to TV, sleep at night watching TV etc?
2. Are children quickly bored and cannot occupy themselves with creative play or neighbourhood friends and the only leftover choice is our favourite baby-sitter?
3. Does your child fear of nightmares during day or  night?
4. Are there problems like anti-social, aggressive, restless or hyperactive or tired behaviour?
5. Can the child switch the TV off after his favourite program or does he tend to get addicted or hooked on to TV beyond gentle reminders?
6. Is your child developing important hobbies and talents after school hours or is he or she occupied in front of the TV?

Mani