Draft 2: [The Effects of Television Viewing]

Television has become an arguably the greatest invention of the past century that has fascinated its audience, both children and adolescents (Sharif 1999). According to statistics carried out in 2003, men and women spent most of their time, roughly 2.5 hours per day in watching television (ATUS 2003). Since television viewing has saturated our lives, hundreds of arguments can be made on the topic that television is playing good or bad role in the society. While television can entertain oneself, it may also influence them in undesirable ways if viewed for long periods. Therefore, the negative effect of television viewing has been an issue for many years. I strongly believe that television viewing has horrible consequences of being able to negatively affect people.

First and foremost, the most obvious is the effects that television has on the psyche and behaviour, especially in children. Children are still at a stage where the shaping of behaviour takes place. Consequently, they tend to form an idea of life and behaviour as pictured by the shows they watch (Sharif 1999). Sharif (1999) indicates evidence from a research that has shown that children become desensitized to violence after constant watching of violent programs. When they come to solving problems, they would think that violence is an everyday tool for solutions. Besides, short programs with loud and colourful presentation develop short attention spans in children. As a result, children tend to take the easy way out whenever they encounter any problems. They may face frustration when complicated situations occur in their life and giving up easily (Sharif 1999).

Next, the causal effect of television on health is also highlighted. Children may be more physically inactive if they are overindulged in television viewing as they would not have the time for outdoor activities (Sharif 1999). Television lures its audiences to the extent that they exclude other activities and this can be destructive. Watching television is an inactive activity as its audiences just sit in front of it for hours. Worse comes to worst, when television viewing is accompanied with junk food, it may cause obesity and related diseases. It is also unhealthy to overindulged in television as one may even suffer withdrawal symptoms when something happens that forbid the viewing (Rutherford 2002). Children may also imitate dangerous stunts from television programs which can be harmful if care is not taken (Sharif 1999).

There can no longer be any doubt that heavy exposure to television viewing may cause difficulty in focusing things, for instance homework (Leigh 2001). UK Time Use Survey (2000) shows that time spent most on selected free time activities are TV, video and radio. Although it takes a little effort to switch off the television, many prefer to flick between channels, browsing for something worth watching. Time set aside for homework may be wasted as a consequence (Rutherford 2002). This may adversely affect children’s academic performance. According to Dr. Jones, children who watched too much television programs are among the weakest students at school. It is difficult for children to develop their imaginative skills that may come in handy in solving problem and organizing (Leigh 2001).

In a nutshell, television viewing affects the development of thinking processes, affects health and causes difficulty in focusing. Television shows can be entertaining but when one gets addicted, these negative impacts will prevail and may even be disastrous. Hence, I strongly believe that there are negative effects on television viewing. We should control our time spent on television viewing and watch in moderation to avoid lifelong harmful effects (Rutherford 2002).