Published: April 02, 2008 06:48 pm            

Teens need less TV, more parental involvement

JOPLIN, Mo. — In 1921, while plowing a field in rural Idaho, 14-year-old Philo Farnsworth had an idea that led to one of the most important inventions of the 20th century: the television.

Today, the average American household has three to five TVs and the average teen spends 23 hours a week watching them. In fact, research by the University of Iowa has found that next to family, television has the greatest social impact on the lives of teens. In an average year, a teenager will spend more time watching TV than in a classroom.

This should be a major cause for concern among parents, as studies have found that excessive amounts of TV can lead to obesity, poor school performance, anger issues and early sexual activity. This is because in an average year of television viewing, a teen will be exposed to more than 14,000 sexual references, over 1,000 alcohol commercials, more than 1,000 murders, rapes, assaults, and armed robberies, and nearly 20,000 commercials.

In light of these facts, many parents may be tempted to pull the plug on TV altogether. Instead, the best thing a parent can do is simply spend more time with their teen. The average parent spends less than 20 minutes a day in meaningful interaction with their teen, while teens spend over three hours a day watching TV.

As a result of this inequality, teens cite TV — and not their parents — as a major source of knowledge about life issues such as sex, drugs and alcohol. In many ways, this is due to the fact that most teens feel their parents don’t understand them and at the same time feel as though they can relate to the teenage characters they see on TV.

However, much of the programming directed at teens depicts an unhealthy and unrealistic perception of the world. It is often a world where all teens are attractive and skinny with no need for education or parental involvement, and where there are very few consequences for risky behaviors. Without necessary guidance from parents, these messages can lead to teens developing unhealthy views about beauty, self-image, sexuality, violence and substance abuse.

Parents need to make a concerted effort to find out what teens are watching and to connect with them through that media. Parents can start by watching their teen’s favorite shows with them. During commercial breaks, parents can use themes found in shows as a springboard for talking about topics like sex, smoking, drug and alcohol use, divorce and peer pressure.

Other tips:

Encourage teens to analyze and question what they see on TV.

Try to steer younger teens toward diverse, quality programming such as science shows, documentaries, news and realistic teen dramas.

Avoid allowing teenagers to have a television in his/her room and try limiting their TV viewing to one to two hours a day.

Don’t be afraid to make some shows off limits for teens. By setting a standard of what type of content is not acceptable, you can communicate important moral expectations to your teen.

Schedule family game nights every week to get the whole family away from the television.

Remember that your teen is watching you. Be mindful of the example you set through your own TV-viewing habits.

By implementing these viewing restrictions, parents can begin to take control of the influence of TV. Even more importantly, by watching TV with teens, parents can gain a greater understanding of their children and how they view the world. By engaging them in this way, parents can deepen their relationship with their child while increasing the parental influence in their lives.



Mat Anderson is the staff writer and research specialist at The Bridge in Joplin, Mo. His column appears in The Joplin Globe. For more information visit futureparadigm.org.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.