How TV And Internet Interfere With Children And Adolescents Behavior Article

How TV And Internet Interfere With Children And Adolescents Behavior Article How TV And Internet Interfere With Children And Adolescents Behavior â€" Article Example > 7 August 2006How T. V. and the Internet Influence the Behaviors of Teens and AdolescentsFor many years now there have been many quantifiable studies carried out on the behavior characteristics of teens and preteens who are subjected to large amounts of exposure to the Internet and Television. These studies have shown that those who spend more than 3 hours a day watching television and engaging in activities on the computer are more apt to fall in-behind on their school studies and be more prone to attitude and behavior problems than other kids in their age bracket are (Shifrin 2006, pg. 448). Some of the main concerns that sociologists and psychologists have with children who have overexposure to these media sources is in what they are actually exposed too. On the Internet there are images that can be considered pornographic which present themselves all the time. Even many of the sites that are considered to be comic and totally for recreational purposes have started becoming more explicit. If parents are not readily around to monitor what their children are being confronted with through media entertainment then a more psychological problem begins to occur, especially if the material is not suitable for young viewers (Newman 2006, pg. 10). A huge reason for concern is in how the images impact these young viewers. This is explicitly true when there is an issue of violence that is of a very real nature, such as the Oklahoma City Bombings from years ago or more recently September 11. Although these current issues are a few years old now, many children can still suffer emotional strain if they are overexposed to the events still ongoing, such as terrorism. Children are to young to have to be worried about issues of threats such as terrorism regardless of how very real they are or not. This is a parent’s world and they should be controlling how much reality T. V. that children are actually viewing whether it is the news, documentaries, or basic cartoon shows. Too much violence is not good for children to be exposed too period (Duggal et al 2002, pg. 494). Children do have a toleration level, just as adults do and they can not comprehend violence in reality the way that adults can. Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Pediatricians, Sociologists, and other adults who work with children can attest to the facts of what too much violence on television, the internet, and on the news can do to the minds of preteens and other young adolescent kids. They can develop PTSD with the same probability as an adult can when they are exposed to images and programs that they simply have a hard time relating too (Cavendish 1997, pg. 6). Exposure to world events such as the War in Iraq and the terrorist activities ongoing in other parts of the world are just a few of the very real issues that children can become threatened by and have emotional problems dealing with. This isn’t to say that keeping children abreast of what is happening in the world is bad but what it is saying is that a parent needs to know when to limit allowing a child to sit and watch violent news programs to them that show death and carnage for an extensive period of time, such as the immediate coverage of the war, etc. Seeing to much violence can also promote very aggressive tendencies within some children who are already having behavioral problems, or so sociologists claim.