Parents!

TV influence in kids

Television is the telecommunication medium more used in the world. Who doesn’t have a television? Even little kids watch TV. But can television affect their growth and education? For answering this question, we talked with Lluís Bertrán, drama teacher in Col·legi Montserrat. He is related to the world of acting and also, with children and teenagers. As a teacher and adult, is concerned and interested about the influence of TV on children because he thinks it greatly affects their behavior.  

Lluís Bertrán explained that television seems to be a simple, quick and easy entertainment where isn’t necessary an intellectual challenge for the viewer but nowadays there are some series which are improving its quality. On the other hand, television is re-using cinema because they offer movies. He shared with us his interests and told he watches television to be informed but also to have some good entertainment to disconnect his mind from his tasks and work and enjoy watching series and movies. He also told he likes travel documentaries and TV contests. In his opinion, television has a big influence on us, especially in aesthetics and behavior. He gave an example saying that it's still possible to hear talking someone about famous people: "I know it's true because I saw it on TV.”

After listening to his opinion about television in general, we started to go deeply of the main subject: television and kids. For that, we talked about educational and inappropriate television. Lluis Bertrán said television could be educative but it wasn’t because there are some programs teaching bad habits, manners, rude or inappropriate vocabulary, etc. but he feels it’s starting to change. Lluís Bertrán isn’t supporting the definition of “silly box” because he views that it’s probably one of the smartest inventions ever but the responsibility on how we use this invention is on us. As he sees it, the inappropriate programs are the ones promoting the idea that life is only about doing what you like, without thinking on how is feeling other people.

As Lluís Bertrán is a teacher and he works everyday with children, we asked some advices for parents to educate kids with television. He said he recommends children to see educative but also entertainment programs because if not, they could get bored. Also thinks fiction series and movies are very good to see stories where they can feel different emotions. He always had love cartoons and thinks they are suitable for kids as far as parents make sure they are the programs supposed to watch. So that’s why he views is parental responsibility if their children see non educational programs. As an advice, he recommends kids should watch a maximum of 2 hours a day, but an ideal of 1 hour. As far as he’s concerned, kids shouldn’t replace communication with parents and outdoor activities.

In conclusion, Lluis Bertrán has helped us to realize how significant is what we see on television, because it has a big influence on us and especially on kids. For this reason it should be educative but also entertainment, so is important to find a way to create these types of programs. Lluís Bertrán has said he has a positive view of the use of television as long as you make good use of it, choosing the best programs according to the children’s age, and not forgetting there are other activities kids should combine with television like sports, study, excursions or family talks that are also educational.