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Definitional Argument - Paul

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on February 5, 2009 at 4:03:21 pm
 

 

Cover Page

 1. What is the purpose of your argument?

The purpose of my argument is to show how watching television can have potentially harmful effects on children as they grow from babies into adulthood.

 

 

2. Who is your target audience? Parents of kids of all ages, general public.

 

3. What is your thesis statement? That watching to much TV can have harmful effects on our children and young adults and to show how it impacts babies in the early stages of development.

 

4. Did you learn/try anything new while growing this composition? I learned that there are a lot of issues when it comes to the study of how Technology is impacting all of us, not just how it is effecting kids.

 

5. What do you like best about your composition? About your composition process? Here's where you talk about your best experiments (Did you mix genres? Where you able to integrate ideas from different sources with your own? etc) Prior to researching the issue, I did not realize how technology is so embedded into our everyday lives. Not just the TV, but computers, video games, DVDs, phones, etc... It is everywhere, and it is interesting to see the many studies and news articles that are researching how technology is impacting us and our future generations. What I liked best about my composition is how easy it is to make an argument against watching a lot of television, and the effects it has on us.

 

6. Of the feedback you garnered in our workshop, what piece of information was most valuable/helpful?

The most useful feedback was that I needed to elaborate on certain parts of my paper and to show more examples to back up what I am writing.

 

7. Where would you like to see the most feedback/advice on your final draft?

I would like feedback on the clarity of my draft and if the paper flows from paragraph to paragraph. Does the paper express the thesis and backs it up with relevant examples.

 


 

 

 

Definitional Argument Rough Draft

 

Television's Effects on Child Development: From Babies to Adulthood

 

      Television has become a common fixture in our everyday lives. New studies are showing how watching television is impacting child development and the long-term effcts of watching the television.  Television is an essential part of our everyday existence. What type of effects does television have to do with the way we develop and learn as we grow into adulthood? Plenty, according to many of the people who are doing studies on how the television is affecting our children and their development. From early childhood to adulthood, the TV is having a lasting effect on our children.

      Television is a crucial part of our lives. Many parents allow their children to watch programs that they believe are helping and entertaining to their children's learning ability. The cliche`of the tv being the babysitter for many children is true and it can be potentially harmful to our children. When it comes to the development of children within their first couple of years the results can be disturbing. Those early years set the foundation for the child's development and how they will be able to interact, grow, and develop into functioning adults. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children spend 4.4 hours a day watching tv, the AAP guidelines recommend only 1-2 hours of quality programming a day(KidsHealth2005). Experts even state that children under 2 years old should not watch any television (including computers, dvds, and video games) because those years are the most crucial for the brain's development. During this time a child should be exploring, having interaction, learning to manipulate things in their surroundings, and playing with others, these are all activities that help the child develop the skills they need to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally (Christakis, 2009). Babies who watch tv at such early ages have problems as they get older. They have trouble learning language, and they have problems connecting with others emotionally to name a couple of issues.

     Children learn to develop language skills early on when there is interaction between them and other people around them. They learn by mimicking the words they hear coming from the people who are talking to them. Children need that interaction for learning how to speak(mimick what they are hearing). When a child watches the tv there is no interaction between them and the tv, they are just listening to whatever program is on. When these kids that watch tv are at school age many also have problems with listening to a teacher because they have become visual learners from watching the tv. It is much harder for them to listen to someone when they have been visually seeing things all their lives. A University of Pennsylvania study showed that kids who watched Sesame Street before the age of three delayed the children's ability to develop language skills (RaiseSmartKids,2005).

     Children who watch tv at early ages also have problems connecting with others emotionally. When a child watches tv they are not building skills they need to grow emotionally. A baby's brain learns from playing within the surroundings that it is in and with the people around them. When they play they get a feel for how the world around them really is. They also learn by cause and effect. If they do this, then this happens and the baby's brain is learning from this type of interaction. When they play and meet with other people and kids they are learning how to connect and adapt with others in their surroundings (cognitive skills). 

      As children grow they are exposed to numerous challenges that come with watching tv. One is exposure to violence.  A recent study shows that the average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence by the age of 18 (KidsHealth2005). That is a lot of violence and many times kids mimick those violent acts because they don't understand the difference between real-life and the acting out of the violence that tv shows them. When kids see so much violence it can desensitize them from right and wrong, they act out these acts on the playground, in their backyards, or when around their friends. Not all kids take them to the extreme though, some just role play, but there are kids who do take it to the extreme and that is the reality of life. Is the TV to blame? If kids were not watching the violence then how would they know about it or have the idea to try it? What if they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time and are peer pressured into doing something violent? The AAP also points out, that many violent acts are perpetrated by the "good guys", whom children have been taught to emulate. Even though children are taught by their parents that its not alrigth to hit, television says its OK to bite, hit, or kick if your the "good guy" (Kidshealth,2005).

      Another challenge that kids face is that they may become obese. If kids are watching tv they are not out playing or running around burning off their endless supply of energy. According to the National Institute on Media and the Family approximately 30.3 percent of children age 6 - 11 are overweight and 15.3 are obese. For teens age 12 - 19 the rate is almost identical: 33.4 percent overweight, and 15.5 are obese (Media and the Family, 2006). It seems to logical that if kids are watching the television they are not doing much anything else. This also increases the child's chances of developing major diseases early in their lives. Many of the diseases that middle-aged adults are dealing with obese children are at risk for, like diabetes and heart disease. Studies show an increase in these diseases among children who are overweight and obese.

      Kids who watch a lot of tv may take more risks than other kids there age. By seeing the drug abuse, sexual situations, and different lifestyles in the programs that kids are watching they may think that it is ok to do these things as well. Many kids experiment during teen years, most kids experiment to a point that they are comfortable with. Kids see these risks as being a cool thing to do, it sets them apart from others, they think that because someone does it on tv its ok and there are no consequences to their actions. But there are consequences and kids may blur the line between right and wrong in any situation they may be putting themselves in because so and so did it on tv and nothing bad happened to them. Television programs can cross the lines of reality with some kids and they may not really know the difference of reality and the consequences of their potential actions. Kids need to understand that what they watch on tv is not always the way things are in real life.

      In conclusion, the Television, like many of today's technologies, should be viewed in moderation. It shouldn't be allowed to take control of your life and the lives of our children. It does have many useful advantages when it is used as a learning tool, for information (news), and for entertainment. It should not be used as a replacement of the interaction kids need to learn and grow from babies into adulthood. Moderation in television viewing is the key in helping children develop and grow into productive adults.  

 

 


 Feedback

The feedback I received in class was to elaborate on certain sections of my argument more, grammatical errors, and redundancy of ideas.


 Definitional Argument Final Draft – Paul Massmann

 

 

 

Television's Effects on Child Development: From Babies to Adulthood
      Television has become a common fixture in our everyday lives. New studies are showing how watching television is impacting the short and long term development in children as well as the effects over the years from their childhood to adulthood. What type of effects does television have to do with the way we develop and learn as we grow into adulthood? Plenty, according to many of the people who are doing studies on how the television is affecting our children and their development. From early childhood to adulthood, the TV is having a lasting effect on our children.
     Many parents allow their children to watch programs that they believe are helping and entertaining to their children's learning ability. They have been given the idea from media that TV is a learning tool and good in helping to raise their child. The cliché of the TV being the babysitter for many children is true and it can be potentially harmful to our children. When it comes to the development of children within their first couple of years, the results can be disturbing. Before the age of two, a child’s brain is very sensitive. It is still growing in size and developing neural connections. A lot of interaction is needed for this to happen. They can not get this from watching a television. Those early years set the foundation for the child's development and how they will be able to interact, grow, and develop into functioning adults. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children spend 4.4 hours a day watching TV, the AAP guidelines recommend only 1-2 hours of quality programming a day (KidsHealth2005). Experts even state that children under 2 years old should not watch any television (including computers, DVDs, and video games) because those years are the most crucial for the brain's development. During this time a child should be exploring, having interaction, learning to manipulate things in their surroundings, and playing with others, these are all activities that help the child develop the skills they need to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally (Christakis, 2009). These activities can only happen with the interaction of people, not TV, DVDs, or video games. Babies who watch TV at such early ages have problems as they get older. They will have problems communicating with others, how to respond to questions or even carrying on a conversation. They have trouble learning language, and they have problems connecting with others emotionally to name a couple of issues. Basically, they do not know how to interact with others because of constant exposure to TV, DVDs, and video games.
      Children learn to develop language skills early on when there is interaction between them and other people around them. They learn by mimicking the words they hear coming from the people who are talking to them. Children need that interaction for learning how to speak (mimic what they are hearing). When a child watches the TV, there is no interaction between them and the TV; they are just listening to whatever program is on. There has to be physical interaction for the child to understand what is going on while watching interactive DVDs or learning programs on the TV as well. Once they are at school age, many also have problems with listening to a teacher because they have become visual learners from watching the TV and lack the social skills to participate in class.  It is much harder for them to listen to someone when they have been visually seeing things all their lives.
     Children who watch TV at early ages also have problems connecting with other people emotionally because they are not building skills they need to grow. A baby's brain learns from playing within the surroundings that it is in and with the people around them. When they play they get a feel for how the world around them really is. They also learn by cause and effect. If they do this action, then this happens and the baby's brain is learning (programmed) from this type of interaction. When they play and meet with other people and kids they are learning how to connect and adapt with others in their surroundings (cognitive skills). 
      As children grow they are exposed to numerous challenges that come with watching TV. One is exposure to violence.  A recent study shows that the average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence by the age of 18 (KidsHealth, 2005). That is a lot of violence and many times kids mimic those violent acts because they don't understand the difference between real-life and the acting out of the violence that TV shows them. When kids see so much violence it can desensitize them from right and wrong, they act out these acts on the playground, in their backyards, or when around their friends. Not all kids take them to the extreme though, some just role play, but there are kids who do take it to the extreme. Is the TV to blame? If kids are not watching the violence then how would they know about it or have the idea to try it? What if they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time and are peer pressured into doing something violent? One example is the case of a 7 year-old boy that killed his little brother by performing a clothesline move on him that he had seen on a wrestling program. The 3 year-old died several days later from severe head trauma (CBS Worldwide, 1999). The AAP also points out, that many violent acts are perpetrated by the "good guys", whom children have been taught to emulate. Even though children are taught by their parents that it’s not right to hit, television says its OK to bite, hit, or kick if your the "good guy"(KidsHealth, 2005).
      Another challenge that kids face is that they may become obese. If kids are watching TV, they are not out playing or running around burning off their endless supply of energy. According to the National Institute on Media and the Family approximately 30.3 percent of children age 6 - 11 are overweight and 15.3 are obese. For teens age 12 - 19 the rate is almost identical: 33.4 percent overweight and 15.5 are obese (Media and the Family, 2006). It seems logical that if kids are watching the television they are not doing much anything else. Television is to blame for this and then the parents. The TV promotes itself as a learning tool for busy or absent working parents. Meaning parents use the television as a way to get things done around the house, or for kids who get home earlier than the parents do from work, it is there to keep them entertained until the parents arrive. This also increases the child's chances of developing major diseases early in their lives. Many of the diseases that middle-aged adults are dealing with obese children are at risk for, like diabetes and heart disease. Studies show an increase in these diseases among children who are overweight and obese.
     Remember, television gives parents a false hope of giving their children a learning tool by watching TV, DVDs, and playing video games, but they may not realize what it is actually teaching there children. Kids who watch a lot of TV may take more risks than other kids there age. By seeing the drug abuse, sexual situations, and different situations in the programs that kids are watching they may think that it is ok to do these things as well. Many kids experiment during their teen years, and most experiment to a point that they are comfortable with. Kids see these risks as being a cool thing to do, it sets them apart from others, they think that because someone does it on TV its ok and there are no consequences to their actions. But there are consequences and kids may blur the line between right and wrong in any situation they may be putting themselves in because so and so did it on TV and nothing bad happened to them. Television programs can cross the lines of reality with some kids and they may not really know the difference of reality and the consequences of their potential actions. Kids need to understand that what they watch on TV is not always the way things are in real life. Once again, the story of the 7 year-old boy that killed his little brother by performing a clothesline move on him that he had seen on a wrestling program is a perfect example.
      In conclusion, the Television, like many of today's technologies, should be viewed in moderation. It shouldn't be allowed to take control of your life and the lives of our children. It does have many useful advantages when it is used as a learning tool, for information (news), and for entertainment. It should not be used as a replacement of the interaction kids need to learn and grow from babies into adulthood. Moderation in television viewing is the key in helping children develop and grow into productive adults.  

 

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