Abstract: This newsletter issue focuses on the role of parents in monitoring their children's television viewing habits. The newsletter first discusses the current status of parental concerns about the content of television programming, noting the industry's increased willingness to provide more information, and the advent of a rating system and "v-chip" that would enable parents to block out objectionable television programs. It then discusses what research says about the effects of television viewing on children in the areas of amount of viewing, learning, violence, and use of time. This section notes that although children can learn a great deal from television, they learn less than they would from a comparable amount of time reading, and that excessive amounts of viewing inappropriate programs can desensitize children to violence. The newsletter then lists various organizations and their activities in the area of television and its effect on children, including the Federal Communications Commission, Children's Television Workshop, Center for Media Literacy, and various educational organizations such as the National PTA. Addresses of these organizations are then listed as sources for further information. The newsletter concludes with 10 suggestions for parents to curb the effects of television violence on their children. (HTH)

Title: TV Viewing and Parental Guidance. Education Consumer Guide, Number 10.
Author: Sweet, David; Singh, Ram
Publication Year: Oct 1994
Document Type: Collection (020); Non-classroom Material (055)
Target Audience: Teachers and Students and Practitioners
ERIC Identifier: ED374922
Clearinghouse Identifier: PS022834
This document is available from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service.

Descriptors: Childhood Attitudes; Learning Processes; * Mass Media Effects; * Mass Media Role; Parent Child Relationship; Parent Materials; Parent Responsibility; * Parent Role; Programming [Broadcast]; Television Research; * Television Viewing; * Violence; Young Children

Identifiers: Federal Communications Commission