Contents:
- Medical Video: Children of Serial Killers - Where are They Now?
- Children learn to imitate what they see
- The frequency of watching violent films fosters psychopathic attitudes in children
- Parents need to accompany their children while watching television
Medical Video: Children of Serial Killers - Where are They Now?
It is undeniable that watching movies and soap operas is a favorite activity of many people to unwind after a day of activities. Reports from the KPI even show that Indonesian children rank at the top in the matter of watching the longest television broadcasts among ASEAN countries. Indonesian children watch TV on average for up to 5 hours even more every day, while other ASEAN countries only spend 2 to 3 hours per day in TV.
Even more unfortunate, most of the spectacle they devour every day is full of elements of violence and sadistic things, which are not educational at all. So, what is the effect of watching sadistic and violent films for child development?
Children learn to imitate what they see
Children learn by imitating what they see from social interactions. Because since birth, brain tissue that supports interactive learning has begun to develop.
That is why children can recognize and imitate facial expressions or cues in their surroundings. The imitating nature even continues until the child is a little mature, so don't be surprised if your child can imitate your movements, words, emotions, language, or behavior. This is what ultimately makes parents worry if their child mimics the scenes on television.
And sure enough. Reported from Tribun News, at the end of April 2015 a first-year elementary school student in Pekanbaru died as a result of being beaten by his friends. According to his parents' information, the victim and his friends were playing while imitating a fight scene in the "7 human tiger" soap opera that had been aired on television. This is just one example of the many cases that have occurred.
Several studies reported in the Urban Child's Institute show that watching too much television not only has a negative impact on children's overall performance and health, but also the development of their behavior in the future.
The frequency of watching violent films fosters psychopathic attitudes in children
The Guntarto study in 2000 showed that children who watch movies and television shows that are too violent can grow up to become children who have difficulty concentrating and lack attention to the surrounding environment. Another study conducted by Anderson in 2012 also showed that children who watched violent films were more likely to view the world as a less sympathetic, dangerous, and frightening place. This negative perception of the outside world can eventually grow an aggressive attitude and personality in children.
"Children who like to watch sadistic programs on television tend to show sadistic behavior in the future, while people who watch TV too often tend to have bad behavior later," said researchers from the University of Otaga in New Zealand, based on the results of a study that published in the Pediatric journal.
The researchers found that children who watch TV more often will commit criminal acts as adults. In fact, every hour a child spends watching TV at night, their risk of committing a crime will increase by 30 percent.
The study was conducted on 1,000 children born in 1972 to 1973 in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. When they are five years old, children begin to be interviewed about their TV viewing habits every 2 years. Researchers then compared the information they had obtained with a record of participant crimes at the age of 17-26 years, including armed robbery, murder, dangerous attacks, rape, attacking people with animals, and vandalism with violence were recorded separately. The researchers found similarities in aggressive, antisocial, and negative emotions in the same participants aged 21-26 years.
The antisocial nature, or what is often referred to as "sociopathic" or "psychopathic" is a mental disorder in which a person cannot feel empathy for the surroundings and is often associated with manipulative attitudes and contrary to laws such aswild compulsive(lying continuously without realizing it), stealing, damaging property, and violence.
Individuals with psychopathy do not have remorse and are guilty of their actions towards others, as well as a sense of responsibility that is almost zero.
Parents need to accompany their children while watching television
Although the reason why watching movies can be a factor in the formation of antisocial attitudes is still unclear (too many other factors about the possible causes of this), the researchers say that there is one thing that clearly can minimize the negative effects of watching movies and soap operas on child development: reduce watching time for children.
Some other things that need to be done by parents to minimize the adverse effects of television shows are:
- Learn about types and rating movies that can be watched by children. By knowing the type and rating of the film, parents can find out which films are suitable or not suitable for watching by children according to their age.
- Avoid facilitating children's rooms with television, especially if you and your child do not sleep in one room.
- Provide strict prohibitions and assistance to children who watch violent films. The goal is so that parents can monitor what is watched by children, and can hold discussions with children about the film being watched. One way is to tell that the scenes on television are not real; so that violence will cause pain if done in real life, so they cannot imitate the dangerous scene.
- Encourage your child to do other activities, such as enjoying nature and the environment, socializing with friends his age, or parents can introduce children to a fun new hobby.
