TV in the Bedroom: A Recipe for Poor Academic Performance
Are today's parents
dealing with new challenges? It is an interesting question,
and it's more difficult to answer than it seems. People
tend think they are living at a unique moment in history.
To some degree, they're usually correct. But, of course,
many of the trials and tribulations that families face today
are the same ones families have faced for many years. Bangs
and bruises, curfews, grades-these are the same challenges
parents have always faced and always will face. Right?
The answer is probably yes. On the other hand, the same
issues are challenging us in new ways.
Take the issue of making sure your kids are doing well
in school: We all know that it's more than a matter of making
sure children have enough pencils and books. In recent decades
experts have told us that kids need their parents to read
to them at home. They've also told us that if kids are having
trouble at home, it's hard to do well in school.
Now we know something else. Kids who have TVs in their
bedrooms perform more poorly in school. Even more alarming
is the fact that over half the children in the U.S. have
TVs in their bedrooms. This is a sign of economic prosperity-a
good thing. However, it is also a sign that electronic media
are having more and more influence over children's lives.
Look at the numbers. Fifty-three percent of American kids
in general and 65 % American teens have TVs in their bedrooms.
Only 35 % of American teens have their own stereo equipment
and fewer teens have CD players and/or cassette players
(57%) than have TVs in their bedrooms. All of these numbers
add up to one alarming fact: TV is a huge part of most young
people's lives.
Electronic media's influence is not inherently bad. There
are many good TV programs, movies and video games that can
be a healthy part of a child's life. Increasingly though,
we are seeing that overexposure to media can be very bad
for kids.
Sending your kid to his or her room is not much of a punishment
when it's the same as demanding an extended viewing of cartoons,
or MTV, or "whatever is on." More importantly, overexposure
to TV has been linked to poor performance in school. That's
probably not the punishment most parents have in mind.
According to a study conducted by the National Institute
on Media and the Family, children who have TVs in their
bedrooms watch five and a half hours more TV each week than
children who don't have them in their bedrooms. This translates
to almost an hour a day more TV. Kids don't have to use
this time for homework to help their chances in school.
It can also be spent reading, drawing or doing any other
activity that demands more than a passive viewing.
High amounts of TV exposure can cause problems. But it's
not the amount that does the real damage. It's the role
that TV plays in most children's lives that is most problematic.
The parents of kids who have TVs in their bedrooms tend
to monitor their kids' media use less. The same families
engage in fewer activities that don't involve electronic
media. Activities such as playing non-electronic games,
going on outings, and reading are dumped in favor of media
use. Most importantly, these families tend to interact with
each other as a family less often.
It sounds like a clich้, but we are at a unique
point in human history. Electronic media has never played
such a large role in people's lives. No parents before us
have ever had to think so hard about the effect media had
on their children.
Things are different for us than they were for our parents.
The electronic media are powerful and seductive, but they
don't have to be bad influences if they are used with care.
Unfortunately, TVs in bedrooms and unhealthy media diets
tend to go hand in hand. This is a new challenge for parents.
Fortunately we know what to do about it. It's quite simple:
let's get the TVs out of our kids' bedrooms. Our children's
academic futures deserve all the help we can give them.
