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What is "background television"?
According to This Health Magazine article on CNN.com about background television, background television is defined as "television that's on in the background while [children are] doing other activities." (Health 2011)
Background television is beginning to be brought more attention to as the world of television is changing in our society. The most recent study, Background Television in the Homes of US Children, looked into a nationwide sample size of 1,454 children in order to estimate the background television exposure of children of different demographic groups. The study found that on average, US children are exposed to about 232 minutes of background television a day. (Lapierre 2012)
In my opinion, television exposure to children should be somewhat limited by parents, depending on their personal belief system. This is because past studies have observed so many of the negative effects that television can have on children. What is your opinion on the topic? Leave a comment below.
232 minutes of background television a day?! Wow, that is almost four hours a day, and it doesn't include the time in which the child is actually watching the television. The seems like quite a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I used to have the television in the background while I was doing homework; however, I found it to be extremely distracting, and now I rarely turn the television on unless I want to specifically watch something. Even listening to music while doing homework is distracting. I don't understand how people do it because I seem to get too involved with the music.
Hopefully people understand that the television needs to turn off if no one is watching it. It not only saves your time, but it also saves electricity.
I agree with you that television exposure to children should be limited by the parents. Growing up I was allowed to watch television, but I never spent hours upon hours sitting in front of the television. It was not until I got to college that I got a television in my room. I think that when I was younger and if I had a television in my room I would have definitely stayed up way too late watching television rather than going to bed on time. Children should never get into the habit of watching that much television because it will only increase as they get older. I sometimes have the television on in the background while I do homework, but I prefer listening to music while I do homework. I wonder what the parents who let their children watch television for long periods of time have to say whether it is a positive or negative issue.
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