There is no doubt that in the last century, life on earth had gone through a serious change in the domain of technology and information. As a result of this relatively quick evolution, people's lifestyles had changed, and their ways of thinking and conceiving things had changed too. Children, as being the fresh element of society and the root of humanity, are as well affected by the new technology and inventions. Among the most influential and effective elements of technology on children are the computer and the television. .
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Let us start with the effects of television on children. .
Television has been around for over a half century, but real broadcasting on television started in 1940. Since that time, many questions and dilemmas have been raised regarding the effects of TV on children. The worries were first about the violence on TV, then increased to address the amount of time spent on TV, the quality of TV programs, and the way television portrayed men, women and ethnic minorities.
First, how can the amount of time spent on TV affect children? Surveys show that the typical American household has a TV set turned on for about 7 hours each day. Researchers have found differences between children who are light viewers (1 hour or less per day) and heavy viewers (4 or more hours per day) of television. Heavy viewers seem to put in less effort on school work, have poorer reading skills, play less well with friends, have fewer hobbies and activities, and are more likely to be overweight (Children and Television). .
Second, how can violent programs and scenes on TV affect children? "Children that watched the violent TV shows, even just "funny" cartoons, were more likely to hit their playmates, argue, disobey class rules, leave tasks unfinished, and weren't willing to wait for things than those who watched non violent TV shows," says Althea Huston, Ph.
