How are onscreen activities affecting the overall growth and development of today's child and what is the

role of parents and teachers to minimise these onscreen activities and offer alternatives?

Good Effects
Television gives exposure to children on different cultural experiences. Television also keeps children aware of current events and news related items. Watching educational programs on television help the kids use it effectively, as a complement to school education. Quality shows on television can impart knowledge and important values and lessons.

Watching music concerts and art shows can make the kids aware of the various genres of music around the world.
Television helps a child in spending time with family members, when all of them are watching the same show. Watching documentaries, especially fragmented for children, opens doors of world in their mind.

Bad Effects
Excessive television viewing is seen to trigger violence or aggression in children. Watching violent scenes at an early stage might make the kids scary of the world and find every other human being as mean. Often known as mean and scary world syndrome, it might push them backwards in taking decisions of life. Sitting in front of the television, for long hours, has been linked with obesity, as physical activity gets diminished considerably. Children become influenced towards eating junk food, as there is a lot of promotion on the television, regarding the same. The bombardment of sexual content on TV exposes teens to half-baked knowledge about sex at an early age, which is harmful for their mental growth. There is seldom mention of proper sex education or issues and risks related to it.

Recent years have seen an explosion in electronic media marketed directly at the very youngest children in our society: A booming market of videotapes and DVDs aimed at infants one to 18 months, the launching of the first TV show specifically targeting children as young as 12 months, and a multi-million dollar industry selling computer games and even special keyboard toppers for children as young as nine months old.

There do not appear to be many differences in how boys and girls use media at the youngest ages.
When they are first beginning to use media, boys and girls spend the same amount of time watching TV, reading, listening to music and using computers. They develop the same basic media-use skills, and do so at roughly the same age. By the time they are in the four- to six-year-old range, however, there is a difference between boys and girls when it comes to video games, with boys being more likely to play and to play for longer periods of time. This contributes to a difference between boys and girls in the average amount of time they spend in front of screen media each day.

The health effects of mobile phone radiation on children is very worrisome. Preadolescent children are more vulnerable [to microwave radiation] because of their thinner skulls, their still developing nervous systems, their increased levels of cell division, and their less robust immune systems. Children that grow up in our new mobile phone world are exposed to microwave radiation from the moment they are in the womb. However, the effects of microwave radiation on infants is unknown to most parents. Mobile phone use could be linked to memory loss, and even Alzheimers Disease. It explains the effect of mobile phone radiation on children: A one year old could absorb around double [the radio frequency (RF) radiation], and a five year old around 60%, more than an adult. Additionally, since children are being exposed to RF radiation from base stations (and from mobile phones) from a younger age than adults, they will have a longer time in which to accumulate exposure over the course of their lives, and a longer time for any delayed effects of exposure to develop.

One major and continuing concern regarding childrens media use is the notion that parents use television as a babysitter. This notion conjures up an image of children spending countless hours watching television or playing video games with no adult presence or guidance. This study indicates that 45% of all parents report that they would be very or somewhat likely to sit their child down with a video or a television program if they had something important they needed to get done. These parents children do indeed spend an average of 30 minutes more per day watching TV than other children. Video games are definitely fun and entertaining and are also good for relieving tension. However too much indulgence can lead to addiction to video games which can have physical as well as psychological effects on children.

Positive effect of Video Games

Such games make learning fun and entertaining. Even educational institutions encourage these games where children learn problem solving skills while playing. Research has found that all video games, including those that have violence need the children to think about ways and methods to reach their goals. This teaches them the ability to plan and handle complex situations. Video games are interactive games where the child has to practice more and more in order to be the best. They go back to them again and again because it gives them a sense of achievement. Moreover, playing video games helps in the development of their perceptual, cognitive and motor skills and ability.

Negative Effects of Video Games

Various research studies have shown a relation between aggressive behaviour and playing video games that have violence in them. Indulging in games that have a lot of shooting and killing is said to increase the emotion of anger in children, leading to aggressive behaviour in real life. Further, as their act of violence is rewarded in the world of gaming, they may become motivated to repeat it in real life. Video games hook the children to their consoles as repetitive playing and winning boosts their morale. They start feeling that shooting and killing are normal and do not even feel guilty about beating or clobbering siblings or peers.

Tips to Reduce Screen Time

Talk to Your Family Explain to your kids that it's important to sit less and move more in order to stay at a healthy weight. Tell them theyll also have more energy, and it will help them develop and/or perfect new skills, such as riding a bike or shooting hoops, that could lead to more fun with friends. Tell them youll do the same. Set a Good Example You need to be a good role model and limit your screen time to no more than two hours per day, too. If your kids see you following your own rules, then theyll be more likely to do the same. Log Screen Time vs. Active Time Start tracking how much time your family spends in front of a screen, including things like TVand DVD-watching, playing video games, and using the computer for something other than school or work. Then take a look at how much physical activity they get. That way youll get a sense of what changes need to be made. Make Screen Time = Active Time When you do spend time in front of the screen, do something active. Stretch, do yoga and/or lift weights. Or, challenge the family to see who can do the most push-ups, jumping jacks, or leg lifts during TV commercial breaks. Set Screen Time Limits Create a house rule that limits screen time to two hours every day. More importantly,enforce the rule.

there are questions about the impact on childrens physical, cognitive, social and emotional development.
Does the presence of background media interrupt the concentration of infants and toddlers as they attempt to master such tasks as language development or physical coordination? Does time spent with electronic media take away from time spent playing outdoors, reading or interacting with parents, and, if so, what impact does that time shift have on childrens development? Does todays media environment develop childrens ability to multi-task, and what effect, if any, does multi-tasking have on their understanding of what they are watching, reading and listening to? Does the time spent with media contribute to a more sedentary lifestyle for young people, contributing to the growing problem of childhood obesity? Do activities such as video-game playing help the visual and spatial skills of young children, and if so, how can games be designed to enhance the positive effects? Are there risks of eyestrain associated with screen media use, or significant ergonomic implications of childrens use of computers or video games? Does the fast-paced content of todays television and other media affect childrens attention span?

 How much advertising and marketing are young children

exposed to through their media consumption, and what impact does such marketing have on them? Does the interactive nature of digital media such as video and computer games stimulate childrens cognitive development? Are passive screen media like television and videos in any way inherently detrimental to childrens cognitive development? What role does music play in childrens cognitive and social development, and how can any positive impact be maximized? Does the educational programming available to children on TV and in computer games help their intellectual development in the way many parents believe? What should media producers know about this very young age group in order to maximize the positive effects of their work? Is early computer use related in any way to higher academic achievement later in life? If so, what, if anything, should be done to address discrepancies in home Internet access for low income children? How much non-educational content are children being exposed to in television programming, video games and computers, and what are the effects of that exposure?

The immersion of our very youngest children, from a few months to a few years old, in the world of electronic and interactive media. The impact that this level of media exposure has on childrens development is unknown, but one thing is certain: it is an issue that demands immediate attention from parents, educators, researchers and health professionals.

From:

Abha Monica Mansimran Shriti