By Olumide T. Agunbiade
Everyone loves to watch TV and
kids are no exception. However, television programmes have greater effect in
shaping opinion and socializing viewers for good or bad.
According to Oxford
Advanced Learner’s dictionary, television is a sight and sound medium of
communication that transmits sound and pictures from given broadcasting studio
to millions of homes everyday by means of electromagnetic radiation.
In developed countries, particularly
the United States of America, different types of televisions exist. There are,
for instance, cable television, pay television, and educational television.
Others are public and commercial television.
Television brings a lot of
programmes on entertainment, education and information to viewers. Some of
these programmes include news, commercials, live and recorded dramas, sporting
events, cartoons, quiz, talk shows and variety shows.
As a result of these programmes,
TV is often regarded as the harbinger of violence, crime, juvenile delinquency
and other forms of anti-social behavior.
Today, some children programmes
have violent contents in them. Cartoon for instance, is a short funny film in
which the characters are not real people or animals, but are drawings that have
been filmed. Children love cartoons but many of this cartoon programmes now
have violent contents due to the inclusion of the violent adventures of super
heroes by the producers of this programmes.
Besides, television programmes creates
the following
problems:
1.
It has the ability to destroy reading habits among children of various age
groups.
2.
It presents movies, concerts, football, news, documentaries, ice shows and
myriad other entertainment forms which breeds addicts. That is why viewers’
discretion is strongly advised.
3.
Most TV stations promote various products and services like alcohol and
cigarette through commercials every day. These commercials appear between and
during programmes. Children perceive alcohol and cigarettes as good for
consumption due to
these commercials.
4.
Many programmes on TV promote sex and violence.
5.
It encourages anti-social behavior among kids.
6.
It transmits good and bad culture.
For parents that don’t know, a
child is a person under the age of 18 years. Children are the future of any
nation and the joy of every parent is to see their children grow up as
responsible and successful adults. Therefore, they need to be nurtured and
assisted to develop into responsible and productive adults, who will take over
the running of the affairs of the society later.
As kids, they are
physically, mentally and emotionally immature to know if a particular TV
programme is good or bad to watch and, therefore, parental control is not only
necessary but compulsory.
It is the duty of every parent to
provide appropriate protection for their kids, both before and after birth, in
order to enable them develop a full and balanced personality, within the family
environment and the society. The atmosphere should be of happiness, love and
understanding, in conditions of freedom, dignity and security.
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