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dren to be observers instead of
doers. They become passive spec–
tators to what is going on around
them. Long-term plans requiring
perseverance and patient effort
subconsciously appear useless,
since on TV problems in life work
themselves out in 30 minutes or
an hour-often thanks to a re–
course to violent means of sorne
sor
t.
Psychologists have reported
that the quickly changing scenes
and the rapid-fire del ivery of tele–
vision shorten the attention span
of children. They develop an
appetite for novelty and lively
action that is increasingly hard to
satisfy.
Many children who
watcb TV extensively
tend to lose their powers
of imagination. After let–
ting electronic video do
their thinking for them
for hours on end, they
become unable to think
for themselves. Before
TV carne along young–
s ters easily entertained
themselves using the sim–
plest of toys and their
vivid imagination. Now
imagination often at ro–
phies. Boredom quickly
sets in when the television
is not on. In fact, the point is
often reached where TV itself is
boring!
When a child, at the ripe age of
12, comes to the place where even
television fails to alleviate bore–
dom, what in life is left that is
"exciting"? Sex? Crime?
Drugs?
Many of the difficulties faced
by educators may be laid at TV's
doorstep too. Sorne of the popular
"educational" shows, which make
heavy use of nonlife-like gim–
micks and electronic effects to
capture children's attention, place
school teachers in an awkward
posit ion. Teachers, unable to leap
from tall buildings holding only a
broken umbrella, or unwilling to
act like the "Cookie Monster,"
often find it difficult to hold their
pupils' attention for any length of
time. "We want to be enter-
October/ November 1980
tained," said one youngster to his
teacher.
One may compare TV to alco–
hol; a little bit is pleasurable and
beneficia!; too much is addicting
and mind-dulling. The glazed-eye
trance-like desire for escape from
reality that many children exhibit
hunched over in front of the tele–
vision set is the same state of
mind alcoholics have as they stare
at the world around them through
an intoxicated blur.
There are even warnings of
actual physical damage caused by
too much TV. These include
exposure from radiation, es¡:,ecial–
ly from sitting too close to sorne
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color sets; hunched spine, from
the many hours spent in various
TV postures; weakened eyes,
from staring (sometimes without
blinking for long per iods) at one
point, whereas the normal eye
movement is from side to side.
What Can Pa r ents Do?
Almost all experts agree that the
single most effective recourse
parents have is to involve them–
selves directly in the viewing hab–
its of their offspring. TV must
not be used as an electronic baby–
sitter- a means of putting chil–
dren "out of sight, out of
mind."
The main problem is that tele–
vision in many homes has become
a substitute for good family rela–
t ions. The less rappor t between
parents and their children, the
greater influence TV will have.
Bob Keeshan, on the air for
more than 20 years on children's
television has definite ideas about
TV and children. "Television and
its use as a babysitter is a device
to relieve parents from a responsi–
bility they don't want to take,"
Mr. Keeshan exclaimed. He
stated that if parents were par–
ents, there would be no need to
try pressuring network executives
and station managers. Parents
determine the kind of television
children have by what they allow
them to watch. And the number
who watch determine the rat–
ings- and the ratings determine
the programming.
"Television is no com–
petition for an active par–
ent," he went on. " l f a
parent wants to spend
sorne time with a child,
the child will abandon
that television set tomor–
row!" ( l nterview for
Knight-Ridder Newspa–
pers,
June 29, 1977.)
Sorne children may al–
ready be so addicted that
it may not be that easy.
But the extra effort must
be made.
In an article in the
New
York Times
(February
JO,
1979), Mr. Keeshan
again stressed that the TV set
should not fill the vacuum
created by a parent's neglect.
Children need to be talked to and
listened to in their formative
years.
It
is a tragic mistake to
entrust them to the care of the
electric box when they are young,
hoping to establish meaningful
communication with them when
they become teenagers. "By then,
communication will be impossible
because !ove will have passed
both parent and child by. An
hour or two of high quality time,
given consistently, will be a daily
bouquet of love-· - and a message
well received by a real human
being."
C l ear i ng the Air
It
is not sufficient to j ust watch
the youngsters watch TV. Parents
need to talk about what is on the
9