<Author>Michael</Author>
<Topic>Television Programs and Children</Topic>
<Source></Source>
<Nationality>USA</Nationality>
We know that children can be greatly influenced by television programs. Presently, in America, by the time that they are eighteen, children spend more hours in front of the television than in all of the hours that they spend in school for their first twelve grades of education. Thus, the TV set becomes one of the children's major teachers. As Marshall McLuhan has said, "The medium is the message," and also, "The medium is the massage." There are both advantages and disadvantages to this form of teaching.
In the United States, there are many good programs for younger children on television. Public (noncommercial) television offers many good programs for children such as "Sesame Street," or "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." It's" News hour with Jim Lehr" attracts only a small daily audience of several million, but is highly respected both by members of the government, other members of the press, and in many homes for its in depth discussions and interviews. Throughout the day, public television offers wholesome programs for both younger and older children. Such cable channels as the Discovery Channel, History Channel, Animal Channel, Travel Channel, Biography Channel, sports channels, and others offer very good programs for both young people and adults. CSpan carries many important but otherwise not well known programs, discussions, and speeches, as well as events occurring in the US Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the British Parliament Public, commercial, and cable channels provide many excellent news and current affairs programs. Major events are regularly covered by various channels. There are very fine cultural programs on many different channels, including both those from the US and abroad.
At the same time, parents in the United States need to monitor carefully what their children are watching. There is too much violence, sexually explicit or implicit material, poor quality programming, and sometimes misleading advertising on television in America. Sometimes such programs lead to negative imitative behavior on the part of children, teenagers, and adults. There has been a long American debate about negative aspects of TV on children and teenagers. My two sons and my daughter all have small children, and have taken the responsibility to monitor their children's television viewing so that if they are allowed to watch TV, they will see only the more wholesome programs. Also, they limit the time that their children watch TV, and require other activities so that their children do not learn early to become, in the American "expression, "couch potatoes," that is individuals who lie on the couch as still as potatoes without having other important activities that will enrich their lives.
