Excerpt From:
Islamic Home Schooling Advisory Network Newsletter
Volume 1 Issue 3 (August 2001)
DO
OUR CHILDREN REALLY NEED TV?
In general I believe it is true to say that
television is deeply entrenched in most of our lives. Even if we don’t own a
television, it will impact our lives somehow. As adults we will have consciously
or unconsciously determined how much we want television to intrude into our
lives. However when it comes to our children we need to be very careful because
television can wield an immense power over them.
Since
my son was born I have had a policy of strictly limiting the amount of
television he watches, always sitting down with him when he watches television
and of interacting with him while we are watching. However, this ‘ideal’ was
shattered recently when I had my second child. I am now very sorry to have to
admit that I have found myself sitting him in front of the television because
for one reason or another I needed him out of the way. I don’t do this often
and I don’t let him watch for very long and I have been justifying it as he
usually watches nature programmes which I have pre-recorded. But somehow, it has
been sitting very uneasy with me. I have noticed that soon after the television
goes on his whole demeanour and purpose switches: he goes from being a lively,
active child who can almost always find a means to entertain himself (even if it
might be a very aggravating means), into a motionless being staring passively at
the screen, head tilted, jaw drooping...
Alhamdulillah
Allah guides us when we don’t expect it. We had decided to focus on television
in this Newsletter some months ago, back when I felt I didn’t have a problem
with it. But I now have to say in retrospect that my answers to [a survey IHSAN
held recently on Muslim children’s television viewing habits] would be
different now and not for the better. However in the course of researching
television and the effects that it has on our children I came across a
wonderfully enlightening book on the subject which I believe should be
recommended reading for all parents. It is entitled ‘The Plug-In Drug –
Television, Children, and the Family’ by Marie Winn. The main premise behind
this book is that people often concern themselves with what their children are
watching on television but rarely do they concern themselves with how the medium
of television affects their children irrelevant of what they watch. And more
alarmingly, it reveals through presenting thorough research that television is
more often than not a way for us to control our children.
Let
us presume that there are, in general, three reasons to let our children watch
television. To educate, to entertain and to occupy. I hope that as Muslim
parents we have already recognised that it is not acceptable to sit our children
in front of the television just to occupy and entertain them and that it is not
necessary to debate this point. Allah’s Messenger (peace
be upon him) said to a man in the course of an exhortation:
"Grasp five things before five others: your
youth before your decrepitude, your health before your illness, your riches
before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your
death." - Tirmidhi
This Hadith makes it clear how important it is
that our children use their time wisely. In
fact [IHSAN’s survey] confirmed that most of us have made the decision to only
allow our children to watch programmes which will benefit them through teaching
them, programmes which are ‘educational’. However our view of television
could be seriously flawed.
The
following are some of the questions which are examined by Winn in her book:
“What are the effects upon the vulnerable and developing human organism of
spending [such] a significant proportion of each day engaged in this particular
[television] experience? How does the television experience affect a child’s
language development…? How does it influence the developing imagination, or
creativity? How does the availability of television affect the ways parents
bring up their children? Are new child-rearing strategies being adopted and old
ones discarded because the television set is available to parents for relief? Is
the child’s perception of reality subtly altered by steady exposure to
television unrealities? How does watching television for several hours each day
affect the child’s abilities to form human relationships? What happens to
family life as a result of family members’ involvement with television?”
The
answers to these questions are important but complex (and not in favour of TV)
so I am going to focus on just a couple of points: What motivates a parent to
allow their children to watch television? And, is the television an effective
means to educate our children? In my view these questions are entwined for
Muslim parents, as we tend to justify our children’s television viewing
because we believe it to be educational. In our survey 73% of parents said they
let their children watch television for educational purposes, 61% said sometimes
they let their child watch television because they were busy and didn’t want
their child to distract them and 58% cited their child as being bored as one
reason for letting them watch television. While it is not definitively proved in
our survey, I believe we can conclude from these statistics that we are
justifying our children’s television viewing by rationalising that it is
educational.
This
of course begs the question ‘Is television an effective means to educate
children?’ When considering this point it should be pointed out that there is
a belief amongst some experts and observers of children’s television viewing
that children under the age of five should ideally not watch television at all
or at the very least their television viewing should be severely restricted.
Winn presents some of the arguments against television as an educational tool:
“The
needs of young children are quite different [from adults]. Developing children
need opportunities to work out basic family relationships, thereby coming to
understand themselves. The television experience only reduces these
opportunities.
Young
children need to develop a capacity for self-direction in order to liberate
themselves from dependency. The television experience helps to perpetuate
dependency.
Children
need to acquire fundamental skills in communication - to learn to read, write,
and express themselves flexibly and clearly in order to function as social
creatures. The television experience does not further verbal development because
it does not require any verbal participation on the child’s part, merely
passive intake.
Children
need to discover their own strengths and weaknesses in order to find fulfilment
as adults in both work and play. Watching television does not lead to such
discoveries; indeed, it only limits children’s involvement in those real-life
activities that might offer their abilities a genuine testing ground. Young
children’s need for fantasy is gratified far better by their own make-believe
activities than by the adult-made fantasies they are offered on television.
Young
children’s need for intellectual stimulation is met infinitely better when
they can learn by manipulating, touching, doing, than by merely watching
passively.
And
finally, the television experience must be considered in relation to
children’s need to develop family skills in order to become successful parents
themselves some day. These skills are a product of their present participation
in family life, of their everyday experiences as family members. There is every
indication that television has a destructive effect upon family life,
diminishing its richness and variety.”
It is an uncomfortable fact that many parents justify
their children’s television through their belief that what they are watching
is ‘educational’. However there is much evidence to prove that television
viewing is not necessarily an effective educational tool for children. It is
difficult to quote even some of the massive amounts of evidence which Winn cites
in her book, due to space restrictions. Suffice it to say that there is
compelling evidence that television hinders language development – this is of
particular concern with younger children - and that it ‘has influenced
adversely viewers’ ability to concentrate, to read [and] to write clearly’.
When citing numerous studies, which were mostly geared towards 4-year-olds, Winn
concludes that: ‘A number of studies of children’s actual comprehension
of television material find that while children clearly enjoy watching
particular programs intended for their age group, and may be quite attentive
while they watch, their understanding of what is happening on the screen is very
small indeed’. She also cites studies which indicate that children’s
comprehension of material presented to them in book form is superior to their
comprehension of material presented through the television medium. There is also
a big question mark over the issue of whether television has contributed to the
dramatic increase in ‘disorders’ such as ADHD which has led to the alarming
use of prescription drugs such as Ritalin by children. And, it is believed by
some people that the often ‘quick cut’ nature of television, where the
frames of action switch rapidly, has contributed to a decline in the ability of
children, and subsequently adults, to concentrate.
There are numerous arguments as to why parents are
mistaken in thinking television is particularly educational. Some which Winn
points out, in response to parents enthusiasm for the quintessential
children’s ‘educational’ program in America – “Sesame Street”, are:
·
Parents are so
impressed at any learning children achieve at so early an age that they
generalize from the learning of a few things from the program to a far greater
learning gain.
·
Children might
have learned some of the things they seem to have learned from the program
simply from environmental exploration.
·
Parents are
misled by the narrow gains in letter and number recognition that come from
watching “Sesame Street” into assuming that children are making gains in
more general cognitive areas.
·
Parents are
influenced by the testimony of their friends about their children’s gains from
watching “Sesame Street”.
It is also very important to remember, again, that
television is a passive act. When a child is watching television they are not
interacting with another human being. Studies indicate that where an adult sits
with a child and discusses what is on the television with them a child’s
understanding of what they are watching will increase. However it is probably
safe to say that most of the hours which our children spend watching television
do not involve human interaction and discussion!
Marie
Winn puts forward an excellent argument in her book which is that children’s
television viewing has been perpetuated by the fact that parents have demanded
quality and educational programmes for their children. Winn comments on the
movement to improve the quality of children’s television programmes in
America:
‘But
is it the specific needs of children that are at stake when parents
demand better programming? Surely the fact that young children watch so much
television reflects the needs of parents to find a convenient source of
amusement for their children and a moment of quiet for themselves. When parents
work to improve children’s programming, it is their own need that underlies
their actions, to assuage their anxieties about the possible effects of those
hours of quiet, passive television watching on their children. It makes parents
feel less guilty, perhaps, if those hours, at least, seem “educational”.’
This quote brings us back to how we as parents use
the television. We must as parents honestly assess our use of the TV. One of the
most alarming points which Winn makes in her book is how parents use the
television to keep their children quiet and out the way so that they can get on
with what they want to do. This aspect of television has a much more sinister
side to it however, as Winn puts it: ‘Surely there can be no more insidious a
drug than one that you must administer to others in order to achieve an effect
for yourself’. Some of us may
find it hard to accept but television does have many similarities to a drug.
Television can be addictive, it changes ones’ state of consciousness and
people, particularly children, often exhibit withdrawal symptoms after watching
it (grumpiness, aggressiveness, hyperactivity…). Winn points out that
television is often an ‘Easy Out’ for parents. Turn on the television and
your child will be tamed. If your child is writing on the walls, bashing the
baby over the head, throwing toys out the window, cutting up your books…turn
on the television and they will be instantly pacified. I am sure at least some
of us must admit that we have used the television in this way at some point!
And, I know from experience that many parents use the television in this way on
a daily basis!
It is not unreasonable to conclude that home
educators perhaps need to be more wary of the television than other parents. We
could become more liable to rely on the television to keep our children
entertained or quiet. But, perhaps more alarmingly, we could fall into the
insidious trap of believing that television and videos are one of the more
effective means to educate our children. After having lost so many hours of my
own life to almost entirely fruitless television viewing, I want to protect my
children from such a waste of what is the most precious time of their life. It
is true that as children get older their comprehension of what they are watching
does increase and television does offer an opportunity to learn but we must
question whether their time could be more effectively put to use. Marie Winn succinctly puts the television into its true
context by pointing out that: ‘It
is easy to overlook a deceptively simple fact: one is always watching
television when one is watching television rather than having any other
experience.’ As Muslims we should emulate the Prophet Muhammad (saw) and the
Sahaba. Television is of our time and not of theirs but we should always
question if it, and all other influences in our lives, brings us closer to
following his and their examples.
Winn’s
book presents many arguments against television and it is impossible to mention
them all in such a brief space - you would be surprised by the number and nature
of many of the arguments! I have not done her book justice by any means and have
only touched the tip of the iceberg, so if you have reservations about the box
in the corner – Please Read This Book!
Title:
The Plug-In Drug: Television, Children, & the Family
Author:
Marie Winn
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Cover
Price:
₤7.99
ISBN:
0 14 00.7698 0
Read
it for yourself! Widely available in bookstores and libraries, Insha’Allah.
ISLAMIC
HOME SCHOOLING
ADVISORY
NETWORK
-IHSAN-
PO Box 30671, London, E1 OTG, ENGLAND
Phone/Fax: 020 8851 1866