Jan10
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When I was growing up, we just had a few channels. Shows like Playschool, Roobarb, the Flumps and other classics were broadcast only at very specific times. Television was more of a family thing. We’d all gather round to watch Scooby-Doo (the fact that every episode was pretty much the same driving my mother absolutely insane).
Things are very different now. It’s not about family viewing. There are dedicated children’s channels for very narrow demographics, some broadcasting 24 hours a day. DVDs at the ready at all times. Sky+. Instant children’s television.
Instant gratification. End of family viewing. Never a moment without the possibility of television.
Is this a bad thing?
Well, I don’t know. I was reading a statistic a while back from an old study that said that many children were engaging in ‘passive’ viewing of adult television for around 80 minutes a day. As in, they were around for the news, movies, dramas and so on. No matter how nice and fun those children’s classics were, their air time was very limited. If the television was on outside of those times, it was television inappropriate for young children.
As far back as 1941, it was seen that 76% of children habitually exposed to movies and radio dramas (it was the early days of television) suffered from increased nervousness. Sleep disturbances were found in 85% (Preston, 1941). Stats that have been backed up in research since.
And yet even now, adult soaps like Eastenders, which (let’s be honest) is pretty dark and very miserable, rate highly among young audiences.
But…
These days, we have that always-on children’s television available. While we were always in control of television in a binary ‘off and on’ sort of way, as parents we now have much more control over the content. When and where something will be watched. We can choose our own TV time.
As a result, my girls (4 and 2, roughly) have not yet seen any television that hasn’t been appropriate for their age group.
I am very thankful for that.
So I find it hard to see the readily available age-appropriate television as a bad thing. I’m thankful for my shelf of Peppa DVDs, for my Nick Jr, Playhouse Disneys and others. Thankful to the broadcasters, producers and creators getting shows out there that are age-appropriate for my girls. I am thankful for the choice and what that offers my girls.
Your final point about parents being more in control is so true.
The reason you had ‘family viewing’ was that your mother believed that children should not be left alone to watch television.
Unfortunately, in those days, most parents left their children alone in front of the television to watch one hour of children’s television, and the children continued to watch whatever came up when their programme ended. This was often a news broadcast – the most scary thing of all!
Now we can check through the programme before letting our children watch, and we can allocate viewing at times that suit us.
Now, happily, parents do not need to sit through hours and hours of the same Scooby Doo story repeated over and over again!
^^ Genuine comment from my Mum! Well it seems your belief has rubbed off on me and is a big part of what informs my own programme-making.
I guess every parent finds their own level of television for their children. And, importantly, not all children are the same so the good and bad in what they watch is different.
If we’re going to let TV be a part of our lives at all, it can only be a good thing that we have more choice in when and what we watch.
As eager as I am to criticise modern TV at every available opportunity, I can’t help but agree with you here. The thing with TV is that it cannot fit the needs of every viewer all of the time, whatever their age may be. Hence anything that offers options to the viewer or the parent of a child must surely be a good thing.
But then again perhaps there’s another angle to this when talking about the older audience. I know your blog is about preschool TV, but I find the crossover between the types of TV interesting. Anyway, my point is that perhaps less choice might be good in a way for older audiences. Having choice means that we oddly stay with what we know. I’ve often been enthralled by a TV show that I only watched because there was nothing else on, even as a child. That kind of situation has probably broadened my knowledge to a certain extent over the years. I can’t help but wonder if I’m learning less from TV now that we have a bazillion channels to choose from.
Jason, my own mother could have written that comment. And I agree that in some ways parents do have more control. There are a lot more choices and technological solutions.
However, in some ways I believe we have less control as media has become more of a constant, ubiquitous and ambient presence. My kids have been exposed to tv that I would not choose in places such as a department store or airplane. Or in On Demand previews they see while we are looking for an appropriate show to watch.
Also, while we may choose just the right show on tv, often it is the advertisements that are highly inappropriate, and we are blindsided before we are able to turn them off or fast forward. For example, there’s nothing wrong with kids of any age watching the World Cup soccer playoffs, right? And who records live sports to watch later? If your daughters watched the final game last year on ABC, they would have been exposed to an ad for The Bachelor, featuring camera shots zoomed in on the rears of women bent over in short shorts, and a very violent ad for a very violent tv-14-rated show featuring many brandished guns, and a woman menaced by a gunman. I can’t figure out how parents can prevent that kind of exposure.
Andy – You make an interesting point about television for older audiences. But it does imply watching TV simply to watch have the TV on, even if that did leave us in front of some things we wouldn’t ordinarily have watched. That could go either way I guess, depending on what was on.
Erin – You’re absolutely 100% right on all counts. Media literacy only goes so far and, when it comes to very young children, there are real limits on what they understand about what they’re seeing. There are times I wonder what chance we stand as parents competing with the $15+ billion spent each year marketing to children. And, yes, the screens we can’t control are a real issue.
I don’t know how parents can prevent that kind of exposure either. If you find the answer, let me know! But I suspect the real answer lies with those putting the screens up and paying for the content. I do believe things can get better.
Thanks for the comment.