Is Television Distorting The Way Children Think?

Children’s reactions differ and it is not possible to work out exactly how each child will be affected by what they see on TV, but your child’s age and stage of development will make a big difference.

Three Affects That TV Has On Children of Different Ages

1. Children under six years will have difficulty working out the difference between fantasy and reality on TV. They will not follow plots and they tend to focus on the exciting bits. They can see cartoon characters as real and they are open to the appeal of advertising.
2. Children from six to nine years will still have some difficulty working out the difference between fantasy and reality, especially if it looks like real life. Boys tend to admire and want to be like powerful male heroes.
3. Older primary school age children are likely to be disturbed by material which is based on fact as it could mean it could happen to them. They are curious about the teenage world, sex and fashion and can be misled by the way boy-girl relationships are shown in the soaps.

The extent to which your children’s behaviour, beliefs and outlook on life are affected by what they watch is influenced by how real they believe the television program to be.

Children judge whether a program is real in three ways. 

1. They recognize things and people on TV that they have experienced. “It is real because there is a dog in the program like mine.”
2. They think programs are ‘unreal’ if they clash with their experiences. “People don’t really have special magic by wriggling their nose.”
3. They understand how programs are made. “I know how cartoons are made” or “I know that the people are actors.” Nine to 10 year olds are much clearer about people playing a part, whereas six to seven year olds can believe TV families are real families or Sesame Street is a real street in the USA.