INFLUENCE OF TELEVISION ON TODAYS YOUNG MINDS

We spend so many hours in front of the television set – we each have our favourites we enjoy to watch every day and most of us make a point of it not to miss that specific show. Every day we spend more and more time in front of the television whether it is to watch a show on a network, a DVD we have purchased or hired and now it has even moved on to the computer, with a lot of people who have the time and the access downloading their favourites on to the computer and the continually viewing the shows.

I don’t have a problem with a lot of the shows, as I don’t watch all of the shows, but I do try to watch a range and increase my knowledge base. There are some shows that not even I find inappropriate to show early in the evenings or late afternoon. Just as an example – here in South Africa we have the new versions of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place showing on one of our pay channels at 19h30 Zulu time. These are the kind of shows I find demoralizing and definitely not good for the influential minds of our youths, as it is a constant barrage of sex, drugs, alcohol, cheating and other lude acts that our children view and then try to emulate because on the show it is considered cool if you do drugs of cheat on a test. And then we have the gall to say why are the youths of today so unruly and insufferable! Where are the parents?

I ask this question with my mind on these frivolous law suits being filed, one after the other where children hurt themselves or others after viewing a show, not understanding the content and then trying to emulate their on screen hero’s. One brilliant example of this is WWE – the wrestling shows that are on the air, their target viewers are teenagers and younger who don’t have the intellect to comprehend that what they are seeing on television is purely entertainment and not real. The children don’t understand that the wrestlers on screen, do get hurt but that it has all been choreographed before hand and that untrained persons should not emulate what they see. That is why I ask, where are the parents? Don’t the parents screen what their children watch anymore? Where is the mother or father, joining their child when their favourite show comes on and then explaining to the child, you cannot do that to your brother because you will get hurt – the guys on screen are entertainers and must not be copied as it is dangerous. No – it much easier and more convenient to let the child get hurt and try and sue the creator of wrestling for millions than what it is to sit down with them for five minutes and explain the concept to them.

Then on the other side the argument can be made that there are shows that help shape us in the good way, so what about them? I agree one hundred percent – but where are these shows now? What happened to Touched By an Angel – the weekly dose of religion wrapped in a beautiful message. Joan of Arcadia comes to mind as well – the problem with these shows the youth don’t like watching them because there is no action, intrigue or sex involved. But I believe this is a problem that stems from the shows the children watch from a young age. A wonderful show that I can remember from my youth was Digimon : Digital Monsters – and this show centres around young children being chosen to save the world along with their friends the Digimon from evil monsters. Now contrary to what the name might suggest the content of the show is extremely youth friendly. Each of the children represent a crest or beacon that the world needs and each of these are taught to the children who watch the show. Like courage, love, sincerity, reliability, friendship, knowledge, light and hope and each of these has become a virtue in my own life and hopefully in many others lives as well.

Television also plays a major role in the decisions that affect the course of our lives – with such a show as CSI, after the show debuted the number of applicants for crime scene investigators more than tripled and this is only by the visual effect this show had on its viewers. How many of us want to be cops because of the cop shows we see, the good guy putting the bad guy in jail is very appealing but never as it is on screen. We want our love lives to be as those we see in the movies and when they don’t turn out that way we go into a deep depression, go onto medication and ruin our lives. Anyone who says televisions influence on our lives is minimal is a moron!

Our lives are on the fast track – we live, eat and breathe in front of the television. Movie stars influence our daily lives more than politicians do. There is no more “family time” – it’s basically “my show is on so be quit!”! Parents are too busy or too tired to monitor their children anymore and it is a lot easier to leave them with the television as a babysitter than it is for themselves to spend time with their children.

We as a nation need to spend more time outdoors – walk your dog, jog around the block or for goodness sake visit your neighbour. We are so encompassed with the television our lives are passing us by. How many hours do we not spend in front of the television where we could be spending the time on our families and friends – reconnecting! I think it is time to abolish the television and bring back good old fashioned family quality time.