Pro Article #3

THE GREAT MORAL PANIC: CHILDREN AND TV by Catharine Lumby

Sydney Papers, the, Vol. 19, No. 1, summer 2007: 78-86. 

In this volume of the Sydney paper the discussion of the effect of TV on young children is discussed. The discussion begins with the point of view of parents and how the media has effected there decision making in the raising of their children. However one of the things that is constantly pointed out is the flaw in the panic that surrounds young children watching television programs such as the Teletubbies or the Wiggles. The idea is that the research papers are writer and published by doctors who are talking to doctors. As stated in the article it is the job of pediatric doctors to find what is wrong in children and fix it. This is where the ideas that letting children watch TV is over stimulating their brains and creating or fueling the development of disorders such as ADHD. The counter argument is that television is a form of media and literacy that is in a long line of panics that are poorly supported. The other arguments that many of the mediums that are spreading this idea are unreliable but people are taking all the information as cold hard facts. The example given is the Australian Women’s Weekly who in 1997 said that a quarter of a million people in NSW cannot write as well as a ten year old. Finally the discussion on the fact that television is actually a for a literacy and can be as useful to the culture and family values of the world today as any book could be. TV can bring families together by making the interests of the youngest and the older members of the family or community easily accessible. TV can also be seen as a way for children to learn and understand the different points of view in life. It is not the action of watching TV that is detrimental to the child but what they are watching on television that is affecting them.


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