A Developmental Perspective on the Effects of Television Viewing

In the first few years of life, a child is tenderly open to the environment. Like a sense organ, the little one is completely vulnerable, open to any stimulation. This is the time for further development and maturation of the senses. Unlike adults, children are not able to filter out incoming stimulation. Any sense impressions experienced will be built into their sensitive organisms. Putting a baby to sleep in front of the television, or leaving a two-year old to experience the fast paced electronic imagery can have deep-rooted effects. It is important for babies to learn to use looking and vocalizing to elicit responses from others; TV does not respond to an infant's actions, coos and calls.

Some child development experts suggest that more is learned by the child in the first three years than in all subsequent life. This is the time when the child learns to walk, speak, and think, accomplishments which can only be realized through interactions with real people. During this period, sensory, emotional and physical deprivation will retard a child, while overstimulation can make a child restless, discontent and nervous. Ideally then, the little one should be protected from TV viewing which, at this age, is an assault on the senses.

During the pre-school phase, the three to six year old child's work is play. Through play, the brain develops; the mind is formed in response to experience. Children need songs, rhymes, stories and playthings that will draw them into a deeper relationship with the earth and the people around them. The natural desire and necessary task of childhood is to play and explore, to be actively engaged both practically and imaginatively. Pre-schoolers' play is full of demands and rewards for concentration, persistence, and problem-solving. Television viewing does not afford such opportunities for active exploration into reality and fantasy, nor does it require concentration, focused attention, or integration.

Children aged seven through twelve learn through creating together artistically. They are charting the world of feelings and can be helped by imaginative exploration. The imaginative life is particularly vivid at this stage, and there is a great desire for stories and images, thus the allure of T.V. Creative capacities can best be encouraged through storytelling and playacting, painting, music, crafts, movement and games. This is the time when the child develops reading and other academic skills, social relationships, and constructive past-times, all important activities which should not be crowded out by TV viewing.

At about age twelve the senses and brain have matured to a certain level whereby television viewing is not so detrimental as in the earlier years. Structural and biochemical maturation is complete around this age and brain hemispheres are differentiated. Ideally by the time children are teenagers, they will have had an opportunity to develop good reading skills, along with the constructive hobbies, pastimes, and social relationships that offer viable alternatives to television viewing.