The damaging effect of the TV on children
The TV exposes children to blasphemy
Do you want your children to be a good Catholics? You may raise them on the teachings of the Church and Sacred Scripture, take them to Mass, and teach them the Rosary but the TV can undermine all this with its blasphemy and anti-Christian misinformation.
The TV stunts a child’s brain development and is a cause of ADHD
Time spent in front the TV is time when a child’s brain is not developing. Just a few hours a day can lower your child’s intelligence. Many scientists say that the television can cause Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). see link TV & ADHD
The TV sexualises children
With sex and sex references on the TV children are becoming sexually active younger than ever. School nurses are spending more and more time on sex related problems.
The TV news can traumatise children
TV news of wars, violence, crime and sex-abuse causes stress and anxiety in children.See: Measuring TV news toll on children
The TV robs children of their childhood
Childhood should be a time of play, innocence, imagination and adventure but the TV will rob them of this. When they are 16 they will have lost 2 years of their life to the TV. Junk food, TV and the internet are poisoning childhood
The TV exposes children to pro-homosexual propaganda
There are many pro-homosexual storylines particularly in the soaps. A Catholic mother recently reported to CUT she saw two men kissing at peak family viewing time.
The TV will expose children to the cult of celebrity
Don’t let celebrities become your children’s heroes. They often portray violence or sex.
The TV can cause health problems
TV exposure can lead to depression and sleep disorders. It can cause obesity and diabetes by lowering the metabolic rate. This can lead to heart disease or a stroke in later life. See: Television Watching and Childhood Obesity
TV adverts make children materialistic and unhappy
TV ads cause pester power in children, the constant pleading for materialistic objects that children neither need nor really want and objects that many parents cannot afford. Child TV addicts are greedy and unhappy
The TV can make children aggressive
Many blame the TV for loutish behaviour in children which can lead to violent crime. See: Violent-films-video-games-TV-shows-DO-make-boys-aggressive
Jesus said: "But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6).
Why the TV is so harmful for children
The television is the single most powerful form of media in modern day society. It has a strong influence over the viewer and can govern people’s knowledge, beliefs and their moral values. We believe the television is harmful for even adults, let alone children. The reason why it is so harmful is many faceted. When the innocent mind of a child is exposed to the dangers inherent in television it can be seriously damaged, and the effects may last the rest of its life. First we will look at the television’s technical ability.
The television gives a few people access to a vast audience. No other form of mediation in history has given so few so much power to influence so many so much of the time. It is a little known fact that television is mildly hypnotic. The government knows this and has banned hypnotism on the TV screens but the effect is still there. Television has a very particular effect on a child’s brain. Within 30 seconds of engaging with the TV screen the child’s brain’s left hemisphere ceases to function. It is the left hemisphere of the brain that solves problems and questions information. This means that the right hemisphere is the only part of the brain working. This hemisphere of the brain accepts information in an emotional uncritical way1. This leaves children open to politically correct indoctrination.
As we’ve already mentioned, watching TV is bad for a child’s brain development. TV is so dangerous in this regard that many scientists recommend that a young child is not exposed to it at all2. When a child sits in front of a TV its brain is not working. The TV acts like a dummy for the brain; the child gets nothing out of it but it keeps him quiet.
However, away from the TV some children find it difficult to concentrate. They become distracted and easily bored. They are disruptive in school, hyperactive and generally badly behaved virtually everywhere. This is known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the TV has been found to be a major cause of it3. Once a child has ADHD it can cause major disruption in a family. The only solution for many is Ritalin. Ritalin is a drug that sedates the child and can make it quietly euphoric; many children on Ritalin become drug addicts when they reach adulthood.
It is not only children’s mental health that is affected by the TV. The hours spent in front of the box also lower the metabolic rate and cause obesity and even diabetes. Many children spend between 3 and 5 hours a day in front of the television. They have lifestyles of middle-aged adults and are more likely to suffer from a stroke or heart disease as adults4.
As a consequence of hours of watching TV many children now starting school have poor language skills. They are slower to solve mathematical problems5. In an American study it was noted that children ‘deprived’ of the TV almost always outperform those who watch the TV6. Non-telly-watching children are more intelligent.
Teachers have also become increasingly concerned by the attitude problems of children who watch as little as two hours of TV daily. They are aggressive and often use sexual swear words to teachers and to each other, says the National Union of Teachers7.
Perhaps the most frightening habit picked up from the TV is blasphemy. Blasphemy is the act of cursing by the Holy Name of Jesus. This has become all too prevalent on the television and in films today. The Catechism8 tells us that blasphemy also extends to attacks on the Church herself. There have been so many of these in recent years.
1. Krugman, H E. 1971. Journal of Advertising Research 5. Palmer. S. Toxic Childhood
2. 3. 6. Zimmerman & Christakes, University of Washington 7. National Union of Teachers study 2006,
4. Reilly et al. Lancet 2004 363 211-12 8 Catechism of the Catholic Church
The TV and Children
The TV and the Culture of Death
Other sites of InterestLinks