Watching Television Is Bad for Children Critique Essay

Television is an ever-present form of entertainment and information in modern society. Although there are many excellent educational programs, I believe that television may not be good for children. This is because television can make children more violent due to violent content and because television may have a negative influence on children’s schoolwork. One problem is that television makes children more aggressive. Oftentimes, especially in the evenings and on cable television there is a lot of violence depicted in programs.
Children are often exposed to these programs, and there are some people that believe that these programs can even make children more violent. In the news, there was a story about a young boy who was watching an action movie that had a lot of fighting. The boy tried some of the things that he saw in the movie on his younger brother and put him in the hospital. The problem is that many of the characters in movies that are performing violent actions are supposed to be the heroes, and children want to mimic the actions of their heroes. In a young mind, seeing as children are copying heroic action, they do not see it as a wrong behavior.
Another big problem with television is that it may have a negative influence on children’s schoolwork. Every moment spent in front of a television screen is one less moment spent on more productive activities. In recent years, educators have pointed out a drop in academic performance, and one of the culprits may be television. When children are at home, especially alone, they tend to turn on the TV in order to be passively entertained. However, there is no learning going on when one just sits and watches TV. That is much easier than putting thought into schoolwork.

Television can be addictive and cause children to spend more time watching TV than doing their homework. Children have to be monitored to make sure that the bulk of their time is spent on the more important activities, such as learning. Television can be an entertaining way to spend free time as long as it is not abused. However, children especially need to monitored when they watch TV. This is because there is evidence that television violence is causing some children to be more aggressive, and TV may also be harming children academically. As with anything, watching too much television is bad for children.