Is TV bad for you?

[k0llectable5]

Now I dont mean sitting down to an awesome film that moves you, or having a favourite TV show that you really like the story, actors, direction, concept etc.  

But as a general rule, is TV good for kids? General, mainstream, pay or free to air TV or would life be better without it? 

[nevynreally]

I found out the other day (from a 4 year old) that frogs don't drink water, they absorb it through their skin. Learnt on Dirtgirlworld.

So I guess it depends on if you watch rubbish or not.

[azureline**]

TV has lots of purposes...................... I rarely watch tv, lucky if it is on for 5 hours a week.

Education purposes for children............. lots of them, some children get everyting they can from it, some, nothing.

For some children it may be the only education they get, sadly.

[onlinehokum]

unless an educational or informative programme, i don't agree with kids watching TV

[electric*mayhem*band]

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@myoclon1cjerk wrote:

Tattoos After Dark
Tattoos Before Breakfast
Tattoo Nightmares
Dumbestic Blitz
The Block (heads)
I'm A Third Rate Nobody...Get Me Out Of Here
American Idle
Breakfast Shows

There's my contribution,wilk1149

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Hello, Jerks. May I offer up mine ? (The sick bag is in the back of the seat facing you).

'Eastenders' - a litany of arguments, fighting, bawling, and shouting.

'Emmerdale' - a litany of bed hopping and affairs.

'Coronation Street - see 'Emmerdale'.

'Any 'Foodie' programme - of which there are a plethora. Like circuses, see one, you've seen them all.

'The 'X' Factor - angst, drama, tears, tantrums, and sob stories.

'The Voice' - see The 'X'Factor.

BGT - 90% dance troupes, of which most of the contestants are under the age of ten.

and...

Any programme, the title of which contains the word 'celebrity'.

Over and out......

[justpolls]

Is TV bad for you?

I wouldn't know.

I'm too busy browsing through the internet for hours on end looking for cute pics of bunnies and kitties, finding funny quotes to amuse people I don't know and most likely will never meet, playing wordgames that serve no purpose and catching up on all the latest internet brawls to pay it any mind.   

[ecar3483]

Without TV the only other subject I would have had in common with other kids in my age range would have been school, and if you've ever tried to get a kid to talk about school...

Without a common, shared, subject to discuss, I would have found myself socially isolated.

Next stop - haunting internet chat rooms and getting into arguments with strangers over the relative merits of Dungeons and Dragons versus World of Warcraft.

I'm glad my parents let me watch TV, the alternative is almost unthinkable.

Yes, the the angry, isolated, internet loner is a parody, a metaphorical worst case scenario, but where would I have been at school when my schoolmates wanted to play "Lost in Space" if I hadn't watched that show? I'd be sitting on the sidelines.

I call it the Time Vanishing machine, because it is. I take it for what it is. Kids aren't so discerning, which is why, a was the case with my parents, they determined what I watched, to a great degree.

TV in itself isn't evil, neither's Aspirin, as long as you control the "intake", as long as you determine what's suitable viewingl, it's another means of entertaining and educating.

Though it might not do much good for headaches.

[janeababe]

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@siggie-reported-by-alarmists wrote:

I think people watching nothing but youtube..... will fry their brains......worse than t.v.

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i watch a lot off you- tube and my brain is not

............ oh look, a unicorn!   

[***super_nova***]

I think it is bad for kids; shows like Sesame Street primes their brains for 30 seconds attention span.  It might teach them letters and numbers, but who is saying that knowing that when you are 3 is in any way beneficial?  My 4.y.o. granddaughter watches all sort of kids programs on her ipod when they come to visit, and the tunes all sound like jingles from commercials, which is of-course what these programs are. 

The only reason for TV is to keep us watching the commercials.

By the way, it has been now almost  4 weeks that my TV died, and I do not miss it.  I now watch only what I really want to see on iview.  But I find I rarely watch more than the news.

[k0llectable5]

Couldn't agree more Nova.  I have old sesame street dvds explaining (at the beginning of the presentation) that the show was originally designed to teach kids in a repetitive tv commercial kind of way.  It's quite interesting that certain older sesame street episodes have been banned or given an R rating for being considered racist.  I think it's a show that has always portrayed multiculturalism in a very positive light though... And I have to say this song is a classic in a retro, goofy kinda way 🙂