What Are the Harmful Effects of Watching TV?
Despite its role as a medium of both entertainment and education, television has been linked to a number of physical and mental health problems. Excessive television viewing has been positively linked to inactivity and obesity, and a number of other links, such as increased violent behavior and fear in children who consume large amounts of television.
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Features
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According to the A.C. Nielsen company (cited at csun.edu), Americans spend a full one-sixth of their time watching television. Further, numbers cited by Dr. Norman Herr of California State University at Northridge find that the average television in an American home is on almost seven hours a day, that 99 percent of American households have at least one television (while 66 percent have three sets or more) and, cumulatively, Americans watch 250 billion hours of television programming every year. If working during the time spent watching television, Americans would make more than $1 trillion.
Effects
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According to comments cited by CSUN's Norman Herr, people who consume large quantities of television programming exhibit several signs of dependence on (addiction to) television, including the use of television as a sedative, experiencing anger because too much television is consumed, a feeling of being unable to stop watching television and negative effects felt when television is unavailable, among others. Both adults and children who spend large amounts of time watching television are at increased risk for obesity, which is associated with the inactive nature of the activity. Television consumption often prevents viewers from participating in other activities, including, as noted by kidshealth.org, schoolwork and interactions with friends and family.
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Theories/Speculation
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In addition to the demonstrably negative effects of television viewing, a number of studies have linked the consumption of television (and other media, such as music and video games) to violent feelings and behavior, such as the meta-analysis conducted by Craig A. Anderson, et al in 2003. It has been posited that repeated exposure to acts of violence leads to an increase in aggressive and violent behavior; according to a study cited by CSUN's Norman Herr, 200,000 violent acts are seen on average by television viewers by the time they reach the age of 18.
Prevention/Solution
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Experts recommend watching television with your children so that you can control the content they consume as well as setting a firm time limit for the activity. Simply scheduling other activities can reduce the amount of time spent watching television, which can have a positive impact on physical health and help viewers avoid violent, sexualized and other possibly problematic imagery. The Center for Screen-Time Awareness holds a consciousness-raising event every year called the TV Turnoff Week; more information can be found in the Resources below.
Considerations
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A number of researchers have challenged the idea that television violence directly contributes to aggressive or violent behavior, positing that the link is too slight to be statistically significant or that the effect has not been shown, as this research sometimes fails to consider how other factors affect violent behavior. An article on this controversy can be found in the Resources below.
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