The Negative Effects of Television on Performance in School

Reading and Language Comprehension

Learning how to read, comprehend and develop vocabulary takes practice and time spent reading books or being read to. Language development also requires a lot of interactive conversation. Kids of all ages who spend hours every day in front of a television are losing that opportunity and falling behind in this area in their education. Even educational TV programs do not help as much as reading and talking. According to Dr. Ellen Abell of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, TV does not develop the part of the brain responsible for language. "Children who watch too much television and do not read enough may have trouble paying attention and listening to comprehend language."

Children need interactive activities to learn how to take initiative and solve analytical problems, which are important skills in every classroom subject. Imaginative play and games are important parts of their cognitive development that are lost when they sit in front of a TV. Studies also suggest that heavy TV watchers also have shorter attention spans, especially if they watch erratic, non-educational programming. Kids who can't pay attention or interact well in class obviously do not excel in learning. The problem starts before kids are school-aged. According to research by Heather Kirkorian et al. in the journal "Children and Electronic Media," "Television, especially when viewed by children younger than age two, may have a negative effect on attention development."

TV distracts kids while they are doing their homework well or prevents them from completing it at all. Failing to complete homework leads to the obvious consequences of lower grades and poorer comprehension of the educational material. Kids need quiet time free of distractions when they complete their homework; often times they also need adult assistance and interaction.

Some research shows that TV is directly correlated with lower standardized test scores. The amount of TV, when it is viewed and the content are all factors in this correlation. For school-aged students, multiple hours of TV viewing during weekdays with violent and non-educational content is the most harmful. According to a study by Iman Sharif and James D. Sargent in the journal "Pediatrics," "Taken as a whole, our findings add empirical support to the importance of American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for parental limits on media time (particularly weekdays) and content as a way to enhance the chances of success in school during adolescence."