 Why Kid's Normal TV Watching Is More Than Emotional Child AbuseTV and emotional child abuse were the furthest things frommy mind thirty seven years ago, when my jet landed on the Portuguese Azorean island of Terceira. What did strike me was the fact that not one home owned a television for the technology had not yet arrived on the beautiful hydrangea laden isle. Two other observations amazed me. First, I noticed twelve and thirteen year old children sitting on their father's laps, talking and laughing together. Could this have been because emotional child abuse was not present, in the form of TV ads and shows that make children desire to grow up too fast, so that they don't experience their childhoods? Could it have been because both children and parents had time for each other, on account of the fact TV did not exist on Terceira? Could it have been because both parents and children felt in better moods because TV wasn't stimulating their anxiety and aggressivity? Second, I noticed that many families socialized by visiting one another's homes in the evening for conversation. I discovered people very relaxed and easy to converse with. There was a warm feeling between people, even strangers, that I hadn't experienced back home. Was the lack of television responsible for this comfortable atmosphere? Surely with the arrival of TV in the Azores, many people will remain home. When I returned to the United States, I felt eager to inform my father and uncle about what I'd seen in the Azores. I tried to talk to my uncle, but he silenced me, with a wave of his hand, as his favorite football team began their final scoring drive. Hours later when I departed, he remarked, "Leaving already?"-as if I'd just arrived. He hadn't even realized I wanted to talk with him! Trying to discuss my trip with my father yielded pretty much the same results. With a TV blaring away, it's almost impossible to carry on a discussion. This is how it had been much of my childhood with my dad and me. It wasn't called emotional child abuse back then, but I sure felt second rate compared to the TV. In fact, the TV so dominated my household that I found myself spending more time at the neighbor's house as a child. Years later, when I returned home from college, it was my neighbors I looked forward to seeing, particularly since dad still sat before that blaring TV set. I'll never forget how my neighbors gave me one of the greatest complements of my childhood: They actually turned the TV off, and talked to me when I visited them! I've never forgotten that. To this day the memory still brings tears to my eyes. They never knew just how much that meant to me: the simple act of turning off the TV and speaking to me, a twelve year old, who wasn't even their kid at that. What's more, my neighbors didn't know then about TV and emotional child abuse, and they still turned the TV off. Emotional child abuse is defined as acts or omissions by parents that cause or can cause serious emotional, cognitive or mental disorders. Emotional child abuse is divided into several categories, which will be touched upon later. The "Sourcebook For Teaching Science," by Norman Herr, Ph.D., is a veritable trove of information relating to TV and children. Let's ask ourselves some questions about TV and then, where applicable, discuss the results in terms of emotional child abuse. Utilizing Dr. Herr's information about children and TV, I'll devise some questions. I'll give my guess and you give yours, and then let's read what Dr. Herr's book says is the correct answer.
Coldness is a category of emotional child abuse where the parent is not emotional present for his or her child. Television could be indicted for contributing to coldness since about 40% of people's free time is spent watching TV. What's more, it contributes to the emotional child abuses of isolation, rejection and ignoring that occur with so little meaningful interaction between parent and child. Then why don't they turn the TV off? There are many reasons. One reason is that if both parents have to work all day, the children are not under their control. A second reason is that some parents may be too run down to do the parenting job they think they should be doing. Third, single parent families first priority is survival. Some are barely surviving and just don't have anything left to limit their children's TV watching. Perhaps, if some of these parents had just a little help, they would be able to limit this TV stimulated emotional child abuse.  Dr. Norman Herr's article goes on to say: "Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms--two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching. Violence and addiction are not the only TV-related health problems. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey released in October 1995 found 4.7 million children between the ages of 6-17 (11% of this age group) to be severely overweight, more than twice the rate during the 1960's. The main culprits: inactivity (these same children average more than 22 hours of television-viewing a week) and a high-calorie diet. A 1991 study showed that there were an average of 200 junk food ads in four hours of children's Saturday morning cartoons. According to William H. Deitz, pediatrician and prominent obesity expert at Tufts University School of Medicine, "The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set. Almost anything else uses more energy than watching TV."" The youth suicide rate has increased about 300% since 1950. This coincides with the increase in TV watching. Psychiatrist Milton Hershey, of the Penn State Medical Center, has found that teen suicide rates the past 40 years have matched the explosive rise of television. Could this be due to TV generated emotional child abuse? Researchers, also, discovered that the suicide-TV link was stronger than the association of suicide with other factors like alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, or total drug use. Isn't that incredible that TV is more closely associated with teen suicide than drug use! What is it about TV that causes it's high association with suicide? Television is isolating, it stimulates one to experience anxious and aggressive feelings, it interferes with learning,therefore, causing decreased self-confidence, it's associated with viewing thousands of deaths yearly, and, perhaps, most important of all, it destroys natural play that stimulates good feelings in children and decreases stress. These are virtually all forms of emotional child abuse. TV appears to be emotional child abuse in a box. Television, in fact, is more than just emotional child abuse. It is mental and physical child abuse. Television is more than just emotional child abuse for the following reasons:
To learn how corporate television controls our children's desires and causes addiction through psychological means, click here. Consider how these TV stimulated cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, social, sexual, and psychological abuses take their toll on our children? In the worse case scenarios, our children lose their friends, family, healthy activities, physical health, and become addicts-addicts that our society, as yet, has not officially recognized. Then, when they reach their teens, and that critical period of heightened impulsivity, they commit suicide. If this TV initiated emotional child abuse isn't enough, experts are predicting that addictions from computer games will prove even worse than TV! Don't believe it? South Korea, perhaps the most advanced country in the world, regarding technological entertainment, possesses a massive public health problem due to addiction of the type discussed herein. Expect the emotional child abuse to worsen. Matt Bacl of "The Age" writes: Addiction to computer games is as serious as gambling and drug use, a psychologist has warned. Computer game addicts spend so much time playing they can lose their jobs, break up their families and stunt their social development, says clinical psychologist Jo Lamble. ...Overseas, the problem has become so great that clinics are opening. One in Amsterdam is swamped by calls for help. In the US, the Computer Addiction Study Centre in Massachusetts is treating dozens of addicts. In South Korea, gaming is a national obsession and experts warn it is a bigger addiction concern than alcohol, gambling or drugs. This adds up to big time computer game initiated emotional child abuse. What is the solution to our TV addiction problem?
fun. Play is interesting, enlivening and imaginative. Learn how good, old fashioned play is the best antidote to TV's emotional child abuse, here. Stop taking your child for granted and glimpse his invisible world of play, here.  Consider buying my book as a donation to keep this web site alive. "THE METHOD" is a no nonsense, no hype, 36 page study guide, detailing proper study skills, so you can get good grades now, or pass almost any type of exam. Click "THE METHOD" tab for more information.
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