By Shreya Arora:
Television, which was once a luxury, has now become a necessity. Just a decade and a half back, only a handful privileged families could afford a television set, but today Direct to Home services are available in most of the rural areas of our country also.
T.V was initially used for attaining knowledge but today it is most commonly used for recreational purposes. Whether it is the old or the young generation, everybody uses this gadget for entertainment.
The adults can differentiate between the wrong and the right on their own but the younger generation has to be told. The problem which most of the parents are facing today is the adverse effect of television on children.
Unlike the previous years a few shows like Tom & Jerry, Mickey Mouse, Aladin, etc on Cartoon Network or Sony entertainment channel do not have a monopoly when we talk of cartoons today. Today there is a plethora of channels which offer a large variety of animated entertainment to the young generation. Some of these shows are Doremon, Shin Chan, Ninja Hatori, Oggy and the Cockroaches, etc, on channels like Hungama, Nick, Disney Channel and many more.
Unfortunately these shows have started spoiling the children more than educating them. The manner in which the famous cartoon character Shin Chan speaks with his mother is often unacceptable to the parents. These shows have very little value addition to growing minds of the children.
Approximately two out of ten children would want to switch to discovery channel when they are watching Hungama. Unfortunately with the growth in modernization parents are no longer able to give enough time to their children and thus there is very little parental control on the television viewing habits of the children.
Not just cartoons but since the children have the access to the TV, they watch movies and soap operas which are actually not made for them. Small minds have now become corrupted. They know things which are not meant for their age. Their minds are growing at a rapid pace but unfortunately they are not channelized in the right direction.
It would be wrong to say that T.V is the only reason for this change in the little brains, there are a lot more things which add on but yes this is one of the major culprits. It is very important for the parents to manage their time and also their child’s schedule in such a manner that he/she makes the most of their childhood.