Debate on Watching TV - Is It Good or Bad

This debate is about the effects of watching TV, especially for kids. The speech portrays as to how watching TV could be both advantageous (good) as well as dis-advantageous (bad) among children.



Today's world is flooded with technological gadgets and there is no shortage of any area where it is being employed. Right from the common kitchen household work like cleaning, washing, grinding, cooking to official work and even entertainment have been replaced with such gadgets. What was once a luxury among the rich and royals has now become a common household name.

But before the advent of TV, people were occupied with many other activities during their pass time. Though TV has to some extent, been able to provide wholesome entertainment, the adverse effects are also worth mentioning. No doubt the scores of channels telecast are being intended for different kind of audience from different age groups and taste. Just like every coin has two sides, even watching TV is both good and bad. In this section let us see how watching TV is proving harmful for children these days. The good effects of watching TV are being discussed in a later section in this series.

The negative effects of watching TV are described by different section of people in varying ways. Ask the doctors or medical practitioners, they will respond saying sitting in front of the TV for more than 2 hours in a day is harmful for children. The UV rays that are emitted from the screen cause different damage and health hazards. Kids tend to lose their vision capacity and are driven to go for spectacles at a very tender age.

In the words of psychiatrists, simply gazing at the TV is making the kids more dumb and eventually leading to physical, social and emotional compatability problems. This is rendering the children of not being able to communicate properly and understand things cohesively.



Many researches have been carried out time and again to know the harmful effects of watching TV shows that display more violence. It has been medically proved that watching violent TV shows filled with anger, hatred and shootings leave a permanent scar in the brain. This eventually gets released at some point of time and the child becomes a victim of such actions in real life. We can come across such instances when we see how small children of not beyond 16 years of age tend to kill their class mates, friends or others to either take petty revenge on them or to achieve what they want. Thereafter their life is tormented and the charm to live a happy and peaceful life is lost forever. This is so sad, as we get this life only once and of what good it will be if we miss the chance to live it with love, peace and happiness?

By keeping themselves glued to the TV, children these days are losing the opportunity to socialize with friends and neighbors. Playing in the open grounds, climbing trees, swinging in branches, enduring the sun and the chirping birds are all becoming things of past. Playing in the open prepares a child both mentally and physically to be strong and learn the life's lessons from nature directly.

At times, it becomes more of a necessity to reach out to TV in search of some information. Children start watching TV to learn science or sports and are gradually oriented to watch other programs that turn them more into addicts.This kind of getting addicted to watching TV reduces their IQ levels and memory retention.

All said, probably this is the reason why TV has been referred popularly as 'idiot box' just like how computer is termed as 'garbage in and garbage out'!!!!