| json_metadata | "{"appParentPermlink":"pkjbjf83q","musingAppId":"aU2p3C3a8N","appTags":["question","blog","writing","life"],"appDepth":2,"appBody":"<p> <\/p>\n<p>It depends. <strong>Watching TV may be the most wonderful experience in a child's life or the most detrimental<\/strong>. Having been raised in a small rural town with little to offer (high unemployment, high illiteracy, low income, isolated), TV was in a way my salvation. <strong>I learned a lot from the kind of television available in the 70s and 80s<\/strong>. Kids can learn even more from modern television, but some conditions have to be met.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV can be great depending on how much of it a kid gets, how good is the content and what kind of interaction family has around the small screen<\/strong>. Is it a good guest we entertain as family and makes us feel, look, and behave better? Or is it a crazy possessive relative that comes for a day and next thing you know is taking your bed and dividing your family?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Proximity itself can be an issue regarding TV<\/strong>. The physical space between the TV and the kids go beyond the mere \"bad-for-the-eyes\" warning. You want to keep your kids at a prudent distance from a machine that can be a good friend or a terrible foe. Much has bee written and said about the damage TV has done to the modern family. The proliferation and affordability of TV sets made it possible for the middle class families to have as many devices as rooms in the house\/apartment and that little detail alone greatly contributed to family isolation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>There are many kinds of addiction derived from TV dependence<\/strong> (from wanting to be alone, eating, drinking, etc.). I remember the time when public television ended transmission\/broadcast at midnight. It was an indirect \"go-to-bed\" order. I also remember how excited we were the first time we could have 24\/7 programs. We would never have enough, or so we thought. But there was good parenting regulating exposure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kids should have a schedule for T<\/strong>V, as they should have schedules for playing outdoors, doing homework and house chores. If kids can learn to be ok with just some TV and give it up any time on their own, then we will have healthy kids.<\/p>\n<p>The content is probably the touchiest subject. From one generation to the next chances are that the whole content looks like crap. The past always looks better in retrospect. However, <strong>I think there is plenty of good content on TV, it's just a matter of searching, showing, teaching, discussing, and balancing<\/strong>. Kids will eventually thank parents for that \"violation\" of their right to choose on their own.<\/p>\n<p>All-in-all, TV can be a wonderful ally for parents to have smart, informed, cultured and creative kids if parents assume the responsibility of supervising its use.<\/p>\n<p><br><\/p>\n<p><br><\/p>","appCategory":"question","app":"musing\/1.1","appParentAuthor":"farihelper","musingPostType":"answer","appTitle":"Is watching TV health or unhealthy for kids?","musingAppVersion":"1.1"}" |
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