Student Essay - Should children be allowed to watch television? – Kim Dong Yoon, Year 7, Sayfol International School

Should children be allowed to watch television? – Kim Dong Yoon, Year 7, Sayfol International School

Some adults say that television programmes are a bad influence. For this reason, my mother often tells me to stop watching television. She scolds me whenever I watch for more than thirty minutes. She basically thinks that television should not exist. However, I think that television is like a good teacher to us.

Firstly, television is educational. Some channels even broadcast exam questions so we can revise our work without even opening our books! For example, Astro Channel 601 broadcasts revision questions for the UPSR exam. We also learn about other countries through television. For those who always stay indoors, television can show them the amazing world outside and exotic countries like Africa, Russia and so on. Therefore, television is good for people who don’t travel much as they will at least learn some interesting facts about other countries such as their flora and fauna. Moreover, it is easier to understand concepts through motion pictures. For instance, in the show called ‘Spongebob Squarepants’, the characters move around and perform actions to express certain words. This is much easier to understand than using a dictionary. In a dictionary, meanings are explained in words and some children might not understand the explanation. On television, things are usually explained using pictures, animation or motion pictures so concepts are easier to grasp.

Secondly, television is entertaining. Movies and cartoons are fun to watch. Television can fill our spare time with amazing and interesting programmes. We won’t get bored because of the fun movies and cartoons that we can watch. Besides, television helps children to relieve stress. Children will not study well if they are too stressed. When they watch television, they can forget about their school work and exams for a while. When they are relaxed again, they will be able to continue with their revision more effectively. Parents often think that all entertainment from television is bad influence but I don’t think that way. Parents think that their children learn bad behaviour from television but the reality is that children learn bad behaviour from their surroundings. If children really do follow what they see on television, then parents could take the opportunity to tell their children that it is not the right thing to do.

Thirdly, television makes you more sociable. You will have more things to talk about with your friends. For example, almost everyone has watched ‘Transformers’ and talks about it with their friends. If we haven’t watched it, we will feel left out when everyone else is talking about it. When we are with friends, we often talk about something we have watched on television and this helps to strengthen our friendship. We can also learn some jokes from television to entertain our friends with. Besides movies and programmes, news and sports are excellent topics to talk with friends about. We can improve our critical thinking skills by discussing current affairs. This is better than wasting our time chatting about nothing in particular. Not only friends but also families become closer because of television. Families usually come together during a favourite programme. Sometimes, this is the only opportunity a busy father of the household has to spend time with his family. Therefore, it is a precious bonding period.

In conclusion, I definitely recommend that children be allowed to watch television as they can learn many things from it, they can enjoy some entertainment and they will become more sociable with their friends. Of course, there are also some diadvantages in allowing children to watch television but I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.