How Watching Television Affects Children

“What’s on TV” Mary A. Patterson

1. PBS Program: Dragon Tales
The episode I watched was broadcast at 8:30 a.m. It is a favorite program of a family I know whose children are 3-6 years of age. This show seems to be targeted at that very age group.
This show (about playful dragons) involved Cassie going to Org’s house to play with ‘real children’ (Max and Emy) who have come to Dragon Land—along with their other dragon friends.
A. Positive Aspects
a.) Cassie desires to ‘show off’ her little sister, Kiki, because she is very proud of how cute she is. Cassie’s mother provides for Cassie’s desire by deciding to stay and drink tea with Org’s mother.
b.) When Kiki gets tired, Cassie and her friends asked for permission to put Kiki down for a nap. A variety of ‘child-care’ issues arose as this plot line developed.

B. Possible Effects
a.) According to the text (p. 363), “attitudes will be built on the basis of what they see and the attitudes will, in turn, will have an effect on their behavior.” Cassie’s acceptance and pride in her little sister, Kiki, could result in a positive, attitudinal behavior upon the part of a viewer. Instead of negative, jealous behavior, perhaps, an older sibling watching this episode might decide to accept and take pride in a new baby brought into one’s household.

b.) According to the text (p. 362) children learn “by observing and imitating behavior.” In the story, Cassie wants to ‘play mother’ to her little sister, Kiki, by putting her down for a nap. First, she tries to sing her baby sister a lullaby. Later, she realizes that Kiki will not fall to sleep without her Squishy (toy). Since Kiki’s Squishy had been damaged by Org, Cassie arranges to find a similar toy. Finally, she tries ‘rubbing her back’. Cassie had obviously ‘observed’ her mother’s caregiving skills and was now imitating her mother’s nurturing behavior. This series of ‘troubleshooting’ and problem-solving events could have a very positive effect upon young viewers who must adjust to having a younger sibling.

C. Negative Influences
a.) Max and Org (the males in this episode) demonstrated an outburst of aggressive action while trying to find the perfect Squishy. It could be argued that the female characters are caring, nurturing, and persistent, while the males threw items and were shown as ‘giving up’. Prior to the scene where the males ‘give up’ after their aggressive tantrum, the females were heard saying, “We can’t give up. We can do it!”

b.) This show make use of colors to depict sexual identification: (Pink and Purple for females; Blue and Green for males).

D. Possible Effects
a.) On page 363 of the text, the author states, “…young children are more willing to accept the aggressive behavior of other children after viewing violent scenes.” Although this cartoon was not intended to excuse aggressive action as acceptable, it did provide the viewer with a picture of males ‘throwing toys’ in frustration—rather than solving the problem constructively. By stereotyping the males as quick to give up and aggressively demonstrating their frustration, young viewers might be conditioned to think that ‘boys’ cannot take care of babies (and should even be ‘expected’ to ‘act out’ rather than peacefully solve a problem).

b.) In the text’s discussion of stereotypes (p. 369), minority groups claim that TV distorts or completely ignores them.” At one time, the color white was always used to represent ‘good’, ‘purity’, and other positive traits; whereas ‘black’ was ‘scary’, ‘evil’, and ‘negative’. Could this program’s use of gender-identifying colors ‘accidentally’ contribute to the continuation of ‘skin-color’ stereotypes? (For instance, that a white child might view a big,‘black’ man is ‘scary’ or ‘bad’). The program’s use of stereotypical colors for gender is unnecessary. Although I am not personally troubled by ‘pink for girls’ and ‘blue for boys’, I recently heard a little boy tell a little girl that she couldn’t have certain Legos because they were ‘boy’ colors. This shows me that children are, in fact, continually being conditioned by what they see and hear others say.

2. Entertainment Program: The Fairly Odd Parents
Timmy Turner, the main character, has two ‘fairly odd parents’ who can grant any wishes. He wishes his life to be like a comic book with superheroes who fight villains. During a complex plotline, Timmy desires to rid his world of villains. This desire becomes very difficult to achieve. So, for a portion of the show, he has accidentally removed the power of the superheroes leaving the villains in control.

A. Positive Aspects
a.) By the end of this episode, the moral of the story has become that those who work in ‘normal’ occupations are actually the heroes who defeat the villains. These ordinary heroes include 1) an elderly janitor, 2) a woman firefighter, and 3) a milkman.

B. Possible Effects
a.) In the text (p. 370) “both young and old are represented differently from reality on TV). However, in this episode, the elderly janitor defeats a villain using his mop and other janitorial supply. So rather than being displayed as ‘old and useless’, the aging man is shown to be of great value and importance to the moral of the story.

A. Negative Aspects
a.) I counted 47 examples of physical acts of aggression during this 30 minute episode. This included a bully pounding Timmy’s face—leaving him bandaged. Later, the Bully throws Timmy up into a tree, so that his body hangs from his head stuck in the limbs. The Babysitter dumps milk on Timmy’s head.

b.) There were at least 15 examples of verbally abusive behavior against Timmy and other characters. When Timmy enters his class to find a roomful of his papers marked with F’s, his teacher says, “This is every F you will get until college!” and laughs with an evil tone.

c.) Since this show is about impossible wish-fulfillment, there are numerous instances of defying gravity, humans talking with animals, and physical violence against characters without any ongoing harm or visible consequence. B. Possible Effects a.) In the text (p. 364) it is stated, “research shows that repetition of violence in the media results in classical desensitization.” Obviously, the 47 acts of aggression prove that this show’s writers have to continually keep the action moving. Unfortunately, Timmy and others get beat up pretty badly during 30 minutes. It could be argued that children may demonstrate more acts of physical violence because they have seen so much of it on TV.

d.) “Children are more likely to remember the behavior learned by observation if they have tried it at least once.” (p. 363). In this episode, there were many examples of verbal abuse which is easily repeatable by the viewer—as children do.

Bully: “Hey Timmy, what time is it?"

Timmy: “uh….”

Bully: “Time to beat the lunch money out of you!”

I wonder if even one viewer somewhere decided to ‘repeat’ that funny line and intimidate a ‘victim’ out of his lunch money. Once an up-and-coming bully gets a laugh at the expense of a victim, the behavior might be ‘remembered’ again and again.

c.) Although the text refers to the matter ‘gullibility’ in reference to commercials (p. 365), I think that this principle might be applied to the potential dangers of kids ‘believing what they see on TV. “Young children take things literally, rather than figuratively—which makes them more vulnerable to advertising messages.” Although, children are regularly expected to use their imagination and accept fairy tales, there have been cases where children try to fly or hit a playmate on the head with a hammer. Children may not have any idea that flying doesn’t EVER work and that a hammer blow to the head will not be quickly forgotten.

3. Advertising Examples
Dragon Tales contained one Welch’s Grape Juice commercial (in conjunction with
pbskids.org). The Nickelodeon Program contained 30 ads during a 30-minute episode
including:
1) Five different ‘Bratz’ advertisements
2) Chou Chou (Baby doll that cries and grows teeth)
3) Nurf Gun
4) Fruity Pebbles
5) Trix Yogurt and Cereal
6) Movies showing in theatres (Nims Island and Magical Show: the Seeker)

4. Advertising Effects
a.) The text (p. 364) says, “children between the ages of 2-11 will be exposed to between 20,000 and 40,000 annually.” Obviously, this violent program is also filling the children’s minds with a desire for sugar, consumerism, and immediate gratification.

b.) (p. 364) “Children any youth today have money from allowances, gifts, and doing chores. They can be quite persuasive with parents too. They are open to suggestion and are impulsive.” This show’s advertisers are creating and sustaining a market for their goods which may not be in the child’s best interests.