Children Watch Many Hours of TV Resulting in Negative Effects

Children are watching television excessively. Television is usually present and many children have them in their rooms, making it easy for viewing.

"Two-thirds of zero-to-six-year-olds (65%) live in a home where the TV is on at least half the time or more, even if no one is watching and one-third (36%) live in 'heavy' TV households, where the television is left on 'always' or 'most of the time.'"

The chart below shows what children of ages 0 to 6 do on a typical day. The use of any screen media is 83%. Although this information was conducted in 2003, it shows how often small children are utilizing electronic media.

The National Institute of Mental Health has identified three major effects of seeing violence on television:

* Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
* Children may be more fearful of the world around them.
* Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others.

The following link shows what kinds of violent programs children are watching on television:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-violence#

The video below shows characters from CW's 90210. Both girls were involved in a fight. Children who view these kinds of shows will probably develop aggressive behavior. The development of aggressive behavior will also depend on other factors such as environmental and parental. However, lots of research show a strong link between violence portrayed on TV and its effect on children.