Impact of Watching TV Shows on Children (Essay Sample)

TV Time
Name
Institution
Date
TV Time
While investigating the possible effects of watching TV shows meant for children aged 9 to 12 years by the 6-years old Zach, I spent some time and watched a few episodes of both The Tribe and Dalmatians. The Tribe is a TV Show meant for an audience aged between 9 and 12 years. On the other hand, Dalmatians is created for an audience of between 6 to 9 years. The following table shows some differences observed in two episodes of the series watched of each TV Show.

The Tribe

Dalmatians

Acts of Violence

3

0

Number of Instances of Relational Aggression

2

0

Zach’s watching The Tribe bears both negative and positive impacts on his development. For the 6 years old Zach, The Tribe is both more entertaining and educational than Dalmatians. Watching The Tribe instead of Dalmatians would give Zach a chance to explore different worlds (Marshall, 2007). It would open up new cultures to Zach and expose him to novel ideas that he would never have experienced in the real world or by watching Dalmatians. One of the prosocial behaviors that Zach would learn from The Tribe is resilience and hard work. After all adults are cleared from the face of the earth by a deadly disease, children are left to fend for themselves. The struggles the characters go through to survive in the cruel world would encourage Zach to face the realities of the world we live in later life.
Other than the positive impacts for Zach watching a show meant for older children, there are several negative influences that could potentially follow. As said before, older children’s shows are more entertaining and mind-boggling. Zach would be, therefore, most probably spend more time after the routine 2 hours daily viewing pondering over the episodes. This would negatively affect his school performance in skills such as reading and writing. In the long run, Zach would not concentrate on developing other hobbies or having enough sleep. Academic performance would dwindle beyond otherwise possible effects of watching a show recommended for his age. Additionally, overindulgence on the deeper themes presented in The Tribe would curtail the social development of Zach. Thoughts of the possibility of deadly viruses that can wipe out adults from the surface of the world would be too much for the six-year old to comprehend. Watching the TV Show would not demand any response, all it needs is concentration (Shlain et. al., 2006). Zach would not learn two-way interaction and conversation. He, therefore, becomes socially underdeveloped.
Further, watching The Tribe as opposed to Dalmatians would make Zach view the world as a mean and scary place. If he does not attain the c...