Children waste approximately 22-28 hours per week watching television. This is a sad fact because this is the largest amount of hours spent on any activity in their life, aside from sleeping. Television has a large influence on children's attitudes, ideas, and behaviors. Television portrays fictional worlds that seldom relate realistically to the one in which we live. When children watch TV, they see made up families, such as the Osbournes, or the Romanos on Everybody Loves Raymond, who deal with their problems in ways that would never be plausible in our own lives. Children assume that this is how their life should be, and lack realistic views on different issues such as violence, education, morality, and gender/racial stereotypes. The over-primped, marketed, fictional world that these television programs exist in should be shown to children as exactly what it is: fiction.
Every weekday morning, at precisely seven-o-clock (CDT), the Power Rangers defend the world from freedom-hating villains and monsters. Programs like these, like Power Rangers and The X-Men, portray world-saving heroes that children look up to and admire. They assume that if these strong, invincible heroes are around, the world is a safe place to live. In actuality, they do not understand that these characters do not exist and can not save them, or the world from those that would hurt them. Parents should teach children that these people are not real, do not exist, and can not save the world. .
While it is true that many television programs are very entertaining, their over-use as a leisure option can be harmful. Children's entire social palette can be warped by the over-use of television. Many studies have proven that the more television children watch, the fewer social skills they develop. Their morals, preconceptions, and judgment processes can all be damaged by emulating unhealthy behaviors off of television shows such as the Jerry Springer show and the Osbournes.
