Young viewers can often talk intelligently on matters that the pre-television generations never dreamed of; and in the case of very young children, TV may contribute to a larger vocabulary, though it often has the opposite effect on older youths.

And think of the effect of commercials that make children crave a steady diet of cakes, cookies, soft drinks and sugary cereals.

Television and Children

Youths, though they may profit from some programs, are the special prey of bad TV shows. One reason for this is the amount of time that they spend in front of the set. From age six to sixteen some children will devote 12,000 or more hours to television (about three hours a day). That is as much time as many youths will spend in school. Some will nearly double that amount of television time.

Another problem is that very young children believe what they see on TV; they do not distinguish between reality and a make-believe world. Youngsters also have difficulty relating events to context. How are they affected, for instance, when they see a “good guy” doing something bad? A code adopted in Great Britain to curb the amount of violence on television specified: “Good men doing evil things to secure a good purpose provide a bad message to young children.”

A child who watches television several hours a day sees a considerable amount of violence. As children are natural imitators, this can amount to a heavy incentive for even “normal” children to duplicate what they see. Dr. Robert M. Liebert, a child psychologist, pointed out: “Even perfectly normal children will imitate antisocial behavior they see on television, not out of malice but out of curiosity.”

Certain people object that only a small percentage of children will react to TV violence in this way. Should that make a difference? In 1972, Dr. Jesse L. Steinfeld, then U.S. surgeon general, stated:

“Most important here, is that there has been shown to be a causative relationship between viewing violence on TV and subsequent behavior. And I think it is not important to argue whether the number is 10 per cent or 20 per cent or 30 per cent. We have a large population, and if 10 per cent of 20 million children become aggressive and engage in antisocial acts, that is far too many.”

It is true that violence has been a part of human experience throughout the millenniums of man’s existence; this cannot be hidden from children. But alert parents realize that no good purpose is served by allowing youngsters to soak up hours of savagery each day. Bible believers can explain to their children that belligerence and violence are closely connected to selfish sensual cravings when these are allowed to go unchecked. (Jas. 4:1-3) They can point out, too, that man will never solve his problems by violent means, for “man’s wrath does not work out God’s righteousness.” (Jas. 1:20) God himself will act to rid the earth of violence and those who cause it.​—Dan. 2:44; 2 Thess. 1:6-8.