Smarter Kids, Brought to You by the Letter T and V

                                                                   Dimitri A. Christakis, Greece (1937 - )

Summary in English

This essay talks about the advantages of TV for the children. The writer tries to prove to be false of some of the myths or foolish ideas related to TV viewing. Modern TV culture makes the kids smart. Some TV programmes improve children's cognitive abilities. Parents and children can watch programmes which are good for them. There are many misconceptions about children watching television. In 1970s, there was a popular misconception that television was bad for eyes. But TV is a great scientific achievement; it is not a curse to mankind. Today, most people know that television viewing does not cause vision problem. The writer tries to make the false assumption of the following myths related to TV viewing: 

TV makes kids dumb.

This is a false assumption. If children are allowed to watch high quality programs, they will never be dumb. In fact, children watching educational programmes can have the higher grades, read more books and become more creative.

TV makes kids violent.

Watching TV does not make children violent. The problem is that children are watching violence and sex inappropriate for their age. Therefore, beneficial programs should be designed for the children.

Education videos make infants smarter.

No programme designed for kids younger than 2 can help them at all. In another words, the infants below three years of age should not be allowed to watch TV or videos because their cognitive ability will be badly affected by it.

Sitting around watching TV instead of playing outside make kids overweight.

TV does not make kids overweight. In fact, kids are encouraged to eat more while watching TV. Similarly, it is also habitual on the part of the children that they eat more while they are watching shows.

Television helps kids get to sleep.

It is also false statement. TV does not help the kids get to sleep rather disturbs their sleep. The more television children watch, the more likely they are to have irregular sleep and nap patterns.

Kids watch too much television.

The main problem is 'what' and 'how' kids watch TV. If they watch high quality programmes with parents, it is not harmful.