Mass Media: Stranger in the Home

Generation Xers were brought up on television, video games and personal computers. We were the generation that was raised in the 1970s and 1980s, and saw our country undergo a selfish phase of destruction that we do not want to see repeated.

Hundreds of studies have been conducted on the subject of TV and unfortunately, parents today have reached new heights in laziness and many children are literally growing up in front of the television set.

According to many statistics, a typical American home has the television set on for nearly 7 hours each day, and the average child spends twice as much time watching TV than going to school. Children today spend more time watching TV than any other activity besides sleeping. Watching TV has replaced most physical activity, playing outdoors with friends, sports and there appears to be a strong relationship between time spent in front of the television and being overweight (Hmmm??).

Activities, which engage the mind such as reading, doing homework, chores, or spending time with family, are also insufficient compared to time spent watching TV. Even more disturbing, is by the time the average child reaches the age of five, he will have spent more time watching television than having conversations with his father throughout his entire life.

In homes all across America a TV is placed in the central location of the home, the family room. Television sets are idolized and worshiped and most American’s cannot imagine their life without one. In fact, over half of all American homes have three or more television sets. In addition to the family room, a TV is placed in each bedroom, the kitchen, basement, garage and sometimes even the bathrooms. What in the heck is wrong with parents today?

Watching television has become the ultimate American crutch. Without effort, parents mindlessly place their children in front of strangers to be “baby-sat” for hours while the child’s mind is polluted and infected will all sorts of filth. TV essentially allows parents to forsake their role and surrender their children over to murderers, rapists and fornicators, while parents selfishly go about their business.

Without carefully monitoring the amount of television that children watch, parents foolishly allow their children to view all sorts of violence, vulgarity, and sexual content, which will filtrate into the child's brain and cause numerous problems in the future.

Each year the average American child will observe tens of thousands of commercials, thousands of ads for alcohol and countless scenes of violence and inappropriate sexual exposure.
Too much consumption of TV affects brain development in young children, is linked to ADD and ADHD, can contribute to poor grades, behavior problems and early sexual activity along with childhood obesity…Big surprise there!

Children who watch violence on TV are prone to more aggressive behavior. TV glamorizes violence and often promotes violent acts as a fun and as an effective way to get what you want. Most violent acts go unpunished on TV and are often accompanied by humor and praise.

The amount of sexual material on TV has dramatically increased over past decade. Studies show that about two-thirds of television entertainment programs contain sexual content in one form or another. The Kaiser Foundation reported that "family hour" television contains more than eight sexual incidents per hour. Researchers also found that adolescents who watched the most television with sexual content were twice as likely to initiate sexual intercourse over the next year. Additionally, the study found that youths who watch large amounts of TV with sexual content are more likely to initiate sexual activities other than intercourse, such as “making out” and oral sex. No big surprise there either!

Of course the main problem is not with the mass media. The main problem is with the parents! We can blame Hollywood and cable TV all day long, but it remains the parent’s role and responsibility to teach, nurture and protect their children from harm. TV viewing should be strictly monitored or eliminated all together!