Stupidity: Ban tv's in kids bedrooms

[Vergil'sBitch]

I'm sorry, i read this, and had to share this with you.

Ex children's TV presenter calls for TV ban in children's bedrooms
The chancellor of a Westcountry university has blamed televisions and computers in children's bedrooms for causing personal problems in later life – including extra-marital affairs.
Baroness Floella Benjamin, the chancellor of Exeter University, and former children's television favourite, said children who watched television and accessed the internet in their bedrooms were more likely to take drugs or commit adultery in later life.
Speaking at an event about children's TV, hosted by campaign group the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, she said: "Children must not watch television or access the internet in their bedrooms.
"I was at a school today and I asked the children if they had televisions in their room, and almost half of the children put their hands up and said they had.
"They must switch them off. We must teach children how to resist and how to say no.
"What I tell children is that they have choices – they can control their minds.
"It teaches them how to take on things in their wider life, whether it's drugs or bullying or having affairs. It takes strong minds."
But Dr Brian Young, an honorary fellow at Exeter University who teaches in the psychology department, said that ultimately what children watch and consume either via the internet or television comes down to parental control and is not the main influencing factor in their lives.
He said: "I think children are subject to lots of influences – playgrounds, nursery, parents, and the TV undoubtedly has a role to play, as does all media.
"But it should be the parents who take control over what they allow their children to watch and access.
"TV is a mixed blessing for children. It would be a shame to exclude it from their lives but there is a real and present danger that TV consumed by very young children, under the age of three, can act as a babysitter.
"Children at that age need humans to respond to them and TV is a one-way street.
"But research suggests that if children watch television in the company of their parents, a much more positive outcome occurs."
Teachers in the Westcountry recently expressed concerns about schoolchildren falling asleep in class, missing meals and being unable to concentrate because they are so addicted to computer games and television.
Richard Gribble, a Year 6 teacher at Widey Court Primary School in Plymouth, who carried out a study into the number of children using computer games, said: "It's worrying as it does seem to have an affect on children.
"I think it's all about responsible time management though. The majority of pupils at this school either have one or both of the appliances in their bedrooms, but, despite what some people say, I don't think it is their parents' fault.
"Nowadays, it is often the case that children actually know a lot more about technology than their parents, and they are able to bypass parental controls, for example.
"Many parents just don't realise how tech-savvy their children are."
Recent research published this week by independent communications watchdog Ofcom found Britain's youngsters watch more TV than at any time in the past five years, though a growing amount comes through using online catchup services such as the BBC's iPlayer.
On average, they watch 17 hours and 37 minutes per week, up from 15 hours and 37 minutes in 2007.
Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, said: "Better understanding – amongst parents as well as their children – is the key to helping people to manage content and communications, enabling them to enjoy the benefits of media use while protecting themselves from the potential risks."
Mr McCullough, headteacher at Polwhele House School in Truro, agreed with Mr Richards. The father-of-two said: "Speaking as a parent, I will be holding out from letting my children have TVs or computers in their rooms for as long as possible.
"Children increasingly need protecting in this day and age, especially from things on the internet and certain TV programmes. It is much safer to oversee what they access."
Baroness Benjamin previously expressed concerns over TVs and computers in children's bedrooms during a debate on parenting in the House of Lords in February.

The biggest pile of bull i've read in a while. (And the cornish (i'm one) are deemed as idiots... )
Although, if anyone has any thought's i'd like to hear them.

 

[Kammosjuttu]

I admit it I'm too lazy to read this to the end, but I can say that I think it's not that good to put a TV or computer in a kid's room --- and I mean kid, not "young adult". I had a friend who had both of those in their room, and the friend grew up to be a whole other person because of their influence. The "good kid" changed into someone who constantly did stupid and even dangerous things. During those years I saw the changes and when said person finally headed to a mental hospital I didn't saw them again.
And as time goes forward, I see cases resembling this happening more and more... the kids just don't understand it that even if they have TV or computer or both in their rooms, it doesn't mean they can check out everything not meant for their age from there, or stare at the screen all through night. Of course, there are some individuals who are responsible enough, but it's still the best to have kids watch TV or something in the living room --- they could have their TVs and all that when they're a bit older.

... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to write that much. ^__^;

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Well, I've had a TV in my room as long as I can remember, and it hasn't done anything to change me. I don't even watch TV most of the time. I'm a gamer, through and through.

 

[Tony_Redgrave]

This kind of thing, is the same with all the stuff like - this guy killed that other guy using the method he read in a novel. Therefore it's the novel's fault. Ban it.

If anyone 'up there' in these 'self-important' places actually tried to perform this simple little quality that human beings possess, which elevates them from the instictive animalistic behaviour, the well-known power of thinking he or she should really SEE and understand a few simple stuff like that. Well, of course if the TV is full of reality shows, talk shows and dramas and your kid watches it non-stop every day, it's going to affect the kid badly. It is not the TV's fault. It's an inanimate object. It just sits there. And the kid isn't at fault either, he has a TV of course the kid's going to use it, and if no one tells the kid how, then the kid will just watch whatever and end up 'badly affected'. It is the parent's responsibility (among the many many responsibility these pour parents have concerning the children, seriously it's easier beating up a devil in hell than raising a child) to teach the kid in a way the kid will accept and understand ('solutions' like NO TV FOE YOU! YOU ARE TOO YOUNG AND IT AFFECTS YOU! are only laughing material. The kid will definitely want to watch TV when you're not there, or on a friend's house or wherever. At least that's what I'd do, and did sometimes) what the TV is and how it works. I agree with them that watching TV/all day is not great, but that is ridicilous. If the kid doesn't do anything else than watching TV then it doesn't know what else to do (parent it's your call again, teach the kid) or something's wrong with it (and therefore parent it's AGAIN your call, sorry^^. Same with the pc/the internet/etc. They are objects. The cannot move by themselves. Blaming them is hilarious.

And it's really funny when this Floella Benjamin used to work to a TV show for kids, and now blames the TV for that. In other words she's blaming herself too? She was part of what the demonic TV monster showed the innocent kids and defiled them for life. Funny how that works. I had a TV in my room at around 12 and after, but that didn't stop my younger days on looking at cartoon all day and making my eyes bad

I didn't have a computer until around 14 or 15. That actually instead of helping me, worked against me in school and other stuff So yeah whatever.

Give your kids other stuff to do and like. Only solution possible. If the kid doesn't want to stop watching TV, it won't. If you take it forcefully you only create that sad moment in his/her future where she/he says to a friend "no actually I don't know what you're talking about. Never had a TV^^;" - while feeling left out etc.

Anyway I'll stop whining here

 

[Laurence Barnes]

my tv is for gaming only that and i can't get no channels

 

[V]

Because people didn't have extra marital affairs or take drugs before TV was invented, right?

The way kids are being used as the reason to control the internet (and other things) in the UK at the moment is laughable. What would anyone think of a parent that basically tried to section off their child completely from wider society, never let them play games or watch television, never allowed them to know what sex was until a certain designated time, and basically kept them pristinely innocent until the age of 18, before releasing them out into a world they'd have no clue about?

It's sounds ridiculous, but that's basically what's being said. Control everything your child sees and hears and does, like a supreme being. And it's impossible anyway - the second your kid leaves the house to go to school or mixes with other kids, it's going to see and hear and do things you don't know about. You can't protect your kid from popular culture or society unless you go live in a shack on a mountain or something. Since the government and these other people know they have no control over the society's obssessions, it's like they're desperately clawing at children as some means of control. Lulz.

Since you can't change the world and you can't control what your child sees/does completely, the best thing to do is to educate your kid to know the difference between things that are harmful and things that aren't, and tell them why... and they'll make up their own minds when the time comes. Not ban stuff, or just say "NO!" at everything because that never works. Sooner or later your kid will be on its own living its own life, in a position to choose whether to have a bit on the side or snort some coke, and I suppose these people find that thought unbearable. Then again, I do think parents don't know how to say no any more. The child has to have the latest phone or computer or whatever, and that's partly their fault for caving in every time, and partly society and the media (and the government's) fault for fostering an almighty desire to consume and be consumers. My parents were basically poor and spent all their spare money on beer and weed to keep themselves partially sedated and sane, so there was no money for computers and phones and ipods and laptops and I accepted that. I went outside, and I played my own games in the garden and the neighbourhood, climbed trees and roofs and was otherwise none the worse for not having what every other kid in the neighbourhood had.

Notice how it's always the same and it cycles. When kids started reading comics in the 60s, it was new and terrifying to some people. Oh, the things kids are reading! Comics with aliens zapping people and melting their brains... what next, anarchy? Then in the 80s with 'video nasties', the 90s with kids using internet chatrooms, and now kids possibly accessing porn on their mobile phones. Hold tight everyone, society's about to fall apart again

 

[Kammosjuttu]

It all comes down to the age of kids and the amount of time they use with the devices. They shouldn't be banned from using computer, watching TV or anything, but if they do nothing else than that then it can become alarming.

I lived in a family that had no computer (they weren't popular back then) and the only TV in the house was in the living room --- it wasn't even right to think it could be placed somewhere else. If someone wanted to watch the TV or play games (it took a long battle of wills and seven years to convince my parents I can have a PlayStation) then it could be done as well there rather than in the child's room.
Oh, and when I was small there was no cellphones and our family didn't even have a microwave oven or any other of those kinds of devices. And even now I don't have a TV; just about 20 or more years old TV which can be used to play but you can't watch anything with it. But to be honest, I ain't sorry.

 

[Laurence Barnes]

well too much they should be cutting down but not if they are on it now and then

 

[Kammosjuttu]

well too much they should be cutting down but not if they are on it now and then

Yes, moderation is the key word.
Banning would be the wrong way. D:

 

[Laurence Barnes]

Yes, moderation is the key word.
Banning would be the wrong way. D:

i agree

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

If you tell a kid not to do something, he'll want to do it. Reverse psychology. If you tell kids they absolutely CAN'T watch TV, then you'll only make the "problem" (I use that term loosely) worse.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

I agree with the posts above ('specially Lexy and Tony_Redgrave).
We never had a tv with Teletext or ceefax until i was 15. We never had a video player until i was 8 years old. We never had a cd player until i was 10. And as for a microwave... no idea.
In fact, we never had a lot of things until i was older. Oh yeah, I never had a computer until i was 18. So technically, there was really no point in having it because i was past school and college.
Mostly because of the fact that we couldn't afford it.
Heck, we don't even have proper/real broadband!

I said to my mum about the whole extra-marital affairs thing and we made a few private jokes.
IMO, its always the same. Some parents want to distract their kids, and they leave them in front of a tv, computer.... whatever. Then when the kid plays or watches too much, it becomes something 'evil'.

Parent's like that don't want to take that blame, they find scapegoats (A bit like floella benjamin). It's never their own fault, it's the evil companies.

 

[V]

^ Yup!

I'd like to see some actual proper scientific studies done on the real harm TV is doing to children, and the real harm porn is doing to children, or videogames are doing to children, before this government and pressure groups get the opportunity to make laws about it. Because until you have EVIDENCE, all people're doing is assuming, or trying to forward some personal belief or agenda. In the case of the porn block (now being pushed by the Church apparently, too - by way of pressure on its investments in ISPs), it's a foot in the door to censorship proper if you ask me.

Some parents do sit their kids in front of a TV and forget about them, and that's not going to give them a decent upbringing, sure. So Floella & pals, you should really be gunning for bad parents or lazy parenting, and not the inanimate object in the corner of the room called the TV. Is it just me or do they do anything these days but point the finger where blame really belongs? Remember the riots and how it was generally blamed on a 'disaffected youth' and not ****ty parenting? Funny, I grew up in one of the worst dives in Liverpool and I still know the difference between right and wrong because my parents weren't lazy or apathetic about making sure I knew. The TV doesn't turn itself on and force you to watch it. Parents can turn it off, parents can say no TV in the bedroom, parents can use TV as a reward and not a time filler. Ultimately, parents decide whether a TV even enters the house.

Allowing TV in the kids' room is something I'd say is an age thing. You probably shouldn't give one to a young child, but older kids, teens... why not? My sister has a two year old child and she does leave him in front of the TV or lets him watch and play Call of Duty and that's not what I call great parenting. But if the kid's mature enough, has enough balance in their lives between what they should be doing and what they're allowed to do themselves, I see no problem.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

^ Yup!

I'd like to see some actual proper scientific studies done on the real harm TV is doing to children, and the real harm porn is doing to children, or videogames are doing to children, before this government and pressure groups get the opportunity to make laws about it. Because until you have EVIDENCE, all people're doing is assuming, or trying to forward some personal belief or agenda.

Some parents do sit their kids in front of a TV and forget about them, and that's not going to give them a decent upbringing, sure. So Floella & pals, you should really be gunning for bad parents or lazy parenting, and not the inanimate object in the corner of the room called the TV. Is it just me or do they do anything these days but point the finger where blame really belongs?

No one ever wants to take the blame. Everyone always thinks they're incapable of making mistakes and that is a major downfall. Humankind as a whole have no idea how to take blame for themselves, instead they have to blame inanimate objects or things that have nothing to do with them, like the internet or TV. Because oh, you have to be such a good parent to sit your kid down in front of a TV and leave 'em there, right?

Seriously, that holier-than-thou attitude some parents have is deplorable. If anything, it is THEY who should be having laws levied against them, not the children. The children are just doing what they're told to do/what is most convenient.

On a totally unrelated note, I don't think porn is really all that bad. All kids gotta do that at some time in their life anyway. Because if net porn is bad, then shouldn't sex ed. be considered bad too?

 

[Meg]

Man.

If only the radio was still the main source of entertainment. Problems like these could have been avoided. Shame.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Man.

If only the radio was still the main source of entertainment. Problems like these could have been avoided. Shame.

No, because then they'd say kids are spending too much time in front of the radio. XD

 

[Kammosjuttu]

Man.

If only the radio was still the main source of entertainment. Problems like these could have been avoided. Shame.

Damn, I didn't have even a radio when a kid... and now I have an old cranky radio given to me buy a random friend who was going to throw it away. xD

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Banning is a bit extreme. Civil liberties anyone?
On the other hand, statistics say that kids with TVs in their rooms tend to get worse grades... so there's also that.

 

[Tony_Redgrave]

Statistics are nice, but many times they miss the point. The kids who would find something to occupy themselves with and evade studying will find the way. I had created who-knows how many things to do when 'studying' in order for time to pass and make people content with 'how much time I spend studying'. XD

I took my bad grades proudly and with cunning

I only studied a lot, when I was really young, and couldn't even think about not-study and stuff like that. In short in those years I had been brought to be some kind of plant who put studying before anything else without even having a goal or a reason for doing it. Then I grew up

By the way, I'm setting a bad example. Study ppl! ~ feels slightly unconvincing..^^;

 

[Angel]

*enter the parent* trollololol

Ok, so Jessica has a screen in her bedroom but no TV connection because A) I know she can't be trusted and B) We actually don't have a TV licence so we don't watch TV at all in our house. Yes, I am THAT tightfisted

She can watch/play anything I deem suitable for HER, not necessarily her AGE. She does well at school, she doesn't watch anything/play games later than a certain time because that's what you call common sense, not censorship. She's only just been allowed back on the internet after "the incident", which again involved us laying down some new house rules and discussing in detail what's good and bad to get stuck into at her age. I'm not a moron - I know there is crap all I can do once she leaves the house to control what she does and doesn't do, but I can do everything in my power to be open with her, talk about stuff and give her enough leeway to make mistakes. Too tightly and you choke 'em. Too loose and they don't know what's good and what isn't. Boundaries are very important when raising kids but they have to be moved outwards every so often so that kids aren't restricted and frustrated.

As for the boys? May the Good Lord help me...it should be an interesting learning curve

Ultimately, if you have kids then do the job right to the best of your ability. Raising children is hard - raising them right is even harder. Never underestimate how hard it is. Trying to effectively guide a mini adult through the minefield of just living as well as having to be on the ball with what the kids are into these days is a juggling act like you'll never know...which is why so many parents haven't got a clue and think "Bioshock" is like Nemo but with people. Srsly, one woman I know lets her 7 year old play this because she has no idea about it.

TV in bedrooms is no biggie - controls exist, after all, and you can always put in what we have which is an overall control switch that turns off the plugs in the bedrooms after a certain hour of the evening/night. Works a treat and if they are busy watching porn then they daren't come down and complain about you turning the power off