Part 1 of how TV screen affects your life

TVs, like many other types of screens, are all around us. They entertain, and at times drain your energy. Here’s a series of short annotated articles on how to balance your life and yourself, vis-à-vis Television, and at times, other types of entertainment on the screens. Stay with ifilm website.

Avoiding Television is almost inevitable for most people, as they stay tuned for hours. That includes virtually every family member, from the kids to the grandparents. It’s both got upsides and downsides. Let’s start with the children in part 1 of this series, as our next generation is what we all take utmost care of, even more than what we do for ourselves.

When it comes to watching films on DVD or CD, parents are eager to entertain kids by the world of animations, child movies, shows, etc. they can pick and choose from. It takes no download time, online payment, or other sort of steps to take before the material is available. Just pick it up at the hyper mall or elsewhere, and pay immediately via a credit or debit card. That’s when the story of the ‘effect’ starts.

It’s a matter of ‘how’ when it comes to the effect of screen entertainment, rather than that of 'what'. Most experts believe that cultures nurtured with TV and videos have bad effects on kids. Here’s a summary of the tips you might find helpful, based on expert opinion.

Entertainment is not educational for children under the age of 2.

It takes away time that could be used to develop a child’s brain, such as interacting and playing with others. Don’t substitute real interaction with a film or animation.

The good news is that some shows can provide indirect training and education, inspire your children and be quite informative. At times, they’re more effective than books.

If you filter violence, and tune into more beneficial programs such as educational ones, or movies that teach life lessons, your children will perform better in math and reading tests, compared to those who don’t watch such programs.

There will be more on screens and children, in the future parts of this series of articles. Come back here often. You can read the next part on Sunday, right here.

MF/MF