Priyanka Sood, Class X, DPS, R K Puram, New Delhi
Noted filmmaker, Shoojit Sircar recently made a case for banning Kid’s Reality Shows as they were corrupting children’s innocence and destroying them psychologically; parents are equally to be blamed for pushing children to such competitive levels at a tender age. Reports of children’s emotional breakdowns have been rampant. All for what? From being a part of reality shows to watching an array of unsuitable and ‘not child friendly’ content on television, children have been most adversely affected by this addition to our living rooms.
Since the 90s, Television viewership saw exponential growth and what started with few simple broadcast of entertainment programmes and informational government developmental plans, suddenly saw a plethora of private channels throwing vast information in our face. Can our audience really process this information? The list of channels includes — entertainment, infotainment, news, devotional, movies, sports, cartoons and regional. Do we really have time to watch them? Are we being forced to their addiction?
A Quick Recap
- Television first became available in rudimentary experimental forms in the late 1920s.
- The official broadcast date was 15th September, 1959, in Delhi and regular daily transmission began in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The programmes were mainly produced by Doordarshan which was part of AIR.
- Starting with 41 sets in 1962 and one channel, by 1995, TV covered more than 70 million homes through more than 100 channels in India.
- As per the TAM Annual Universe Update – 2015, India now has over 167 million households with TV sets as well as access to Cable.
A TV engrossed mother’s first reaction is to make her child wait till the next advertisement or end of the show until she listens to him/her. A father hooked on to a cricket or soccer match will ignore his surroundings, turning a deaf ear to all around. At times they force the child to watch the same programme, not realizing its implications. Is the show suitable for the child’s development? What kind of message is shared with the child? We are literally forcing the child to form an opinion based on the show, which definitely is not appropriate for his/her age. Is this the right example we are setting. As famously said, TV is an idiot box and people are becoming couch potatoes.
Through TV programs we literally force children to form opinions based on shows, which are definitely not age appropriate. Children today are so glued to their favourite TV programmes that they hardly step into fresh air for any physical activity. Children become lazy and avoid physical activity. For paucity of time too, parents leave their children unattended to watch TV and fact is that nearly 80% content shown is inappropriate for children of certain age.
TV also gives false information, as we blindly believe what is said, while at the same time it makes us dumb. We become so engrossed in watching everything on TV, that it drives us away from actual reading, healthy discussion and live communication. We start living in a dream world, despite the standard warning : “Do not repeat this act at home”. But since their favourite actor performed a stunt, children are definitely forced to think about it and many a times copy it as well without realizing the consequences.
Our children are now miles away from actual reading, healthy discussions, live communication, and live in a dream world.
Dwell on this!!!
