How TV screen affects 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 continue with the children in part 3 of this series, as our next generation is what we all take utmost care about, even more than what we do for ourselves.

In the previous part, you read about some of the pro’s and con’s of watching TV for your kids. Here’s more.

Kids who tend to watch TV beyond normal (we will discuss how much is normal), are more often than not overweight.

They often eat a snack (chances are high they eat junk food, rather than something healthy), as they watch the small screen. In the meantime, they are influenced by the commercials that primarily promote a certain kind of unhealthy food for them to eat.

This is while they’re not physically active (i.e. playing, jumping, running, etc.) which piles calories up in their body, and lowers their metabolism; hence, little calorie is burnt, compared to what they naturally have to.

A recent study has confirmed that even merely one hour of watching TV would be linked to obesity in kids.

So, let’s see what the bottom line is. Experts suggest that you don’t allow your child under 2 to watch TV at all (including videos, etc.), as such children are actively involved in the process of developing their brain, by watching TV, they could be stopped from a proper development in terms of playing, interacting and or exploring things, in the group of their peers. In other words, if you want your child under 2 to continue to their cognitive, physical, skills, as well as emotional and social growth, don’t let them watch TV at all.

For kids above 2, still the TV time should be restricted to one to two hours daily.

Don’t forget to consider the alternative activities, such as outdoor play, or intelligent talk (surely for those who can talk) with you. But if your alternative is to have them sit around idly, then letting your child to watch TV might be a better option, as they might get bored, or could start a fight or conflict in such a case.

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 next week, right here.

MF/MF