TV Gone Wrong

We all try to watch what our kids eat, make sure their homework’s done and push the bike helmets on their heads.

So we also need to grab the remote! And recognize that TV — untamed — can threaten to our kids’ health and well-being. Too much TV and the wrong kinds of it have been linked to everything from obesity to violent behavior to sleeping difficulties. And no wonder. Too much of today’s TV programming is more violent, more sexualized, and more laced with profanities than ever before.

Here’s the scoop. Share these fascinating facts with your family. They might get your kids thinking, scoffing… or at least opening up an interesting conversation about the TVs in your house.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Violence on prime time broadcast television has increased 75 percent since 1998 according to The Parents Television Council’s study, Dying to Entertain.

A Kaiser Family Foundation study found that primetime TV has an average of 6 acts of violence per hour, while fewer than five percent of television programs had an anti-violence theme or showed the consequences of committing violent acts.

Over 1,000 studies have been conducted on children, television and violence. According to the majority of the findings, kids who watch violent programs are more likely to exhibit violent behavior.

Too Sexy for My Couch

What one parent considers “inappropriate” might not faze another. But we can all generally agree that the in your face 24/7 sex sells media bombardment is probably not good for the kids.

A Kaiser Family Foundation study (2001) found that three out of four prime time shows contain sexual references. Of the shows with sexual content, only one in ten included references to safe sex, or the possible risks or responsibilities of sex.

And this study was waaay back in 2001!

Washing Their Mouths Out

Just because a program’s characters don’t use the traditional curse words doesn’t mean your kids won’t pick up some foul language and possibly aggressive behavior.

Matter of fact a 2009 Iowa State University study found that kids’ programs have a significant amount of aggressive verbal behavior such as bullying, ostracizing and spreading rumors about other kids on the program.

Canning “Can We Get It?”

It’s not you – most TV programs really are about 1/3 commercials…not counting the product placements within so many shows.

  • The average child watches more than 40,000 advertisements a year, according to the American Psychological Association (APA).
  • About a third of those ads bombarding your kids are advertising candy or snacks, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
  • Of the 9,000 ads studied over a five-month period, not one was for fruits or vegetables.

The Same Bad Stereotypes

Even if a program on TV is age appropriate for your child that doesn’t mean it’s any good. Ever ask “why are the male characters the leaders and doers and the female characters the followers in kids TV shows”? “Why are the parents and teachers mean, the overweight, bespectacled kids the brains and the good looking jocks, the dumb ones?

Your TV programs can have more depth, promote diversity and skip the stereotypes.

Tipping the Scales

It’s simple: objects at rest stay at rest. Kids who watch the most TV have the highest incidence of obesity, according to the National Institute of Health.

Children who watch more than three hours of TV per day are fifty percent more likely to be obese than those who watch less than two hours per day, reports an article in the International Journal of Obesity. Still want that extra show?