Being kind to others, fell dramitically over the last ten years. Parents relying on television to occupy their own children while they are multi-tasking-taking a shower or making dinner- around the home or indulging in their own addictions. This attitude of parenting has actually left the televison in charge of the children or ‘babysitting’ like just like those old horror films used to show us, like Poltergeist.
This study assessed the values of characters in popular television shows in each decade from 1967 to 2007, with two shows per decade evaluated, including “Andy Griffith” and “The Lucy Show” in 1967, “Laverne & Shirley” and “Happy Days” in 1977, and “American Idol” and “Hannah Montana” in 2007.
“The rise of fame in preteen television may be one influence in the documented rise of narcissism in our culture,” said the study’s senior author, Patricia M. Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children’s Digital Media Center @ Los Angeles. “Popular television shows are part of the environment that causes the increased narcissism, but they also reflect the culture. They both reflect it and serve as a powerful socialization force for the next generation.”
A recent poll shows that 97% of the parents voted yes that they do use the television to teach and busy their children. How the “break” time was spent. 30% of respondents said that they use the TV downtime for cooking dinner, and an even greater percentage (33%) said they use this time to do housework. What amazes me is that younger children love helping with household chores, in fact this is the best time to get them involved.
In state regulated daycares, the children are only allowed to see one hour of television for every four hours of daycare they receive. Many children have already watched their state mandated quoatas before they arrive at day care each morning. This makes for a serious lack of time spent with their parents. What is this doing to society?
Did you know that by the time the average child finishes elementary school, they have viewed as many as 100,000 violent acts on television? That by the time our kids become teenagers, many have watched so many hours of TV that in totality it can equal as many as seven years worth of viewing? In the last 6 years more than 3000 studies have linked real life violence to television violence.
Television distorts the truth, their are obvious lies, exaggerations and deceptions in advertising and in the shows that are viewed. Some shows have frightening overtones and some have frightening undertones that scare children, affecting them for months, some for years depending on how much of that time is counteracted with quality parenting time.
Several studies conducted by UCLA “have found that children may become ‘immune’ to the horror of violence; gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems; imitate the violence they observe on television; and
identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers”
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