TV News isn’t Always Kid Friendly

Like most people, you probably like to leave the television on, even when you’re not really watching it. If you have children in the house, it’s important to monitor the television just as you would internet usage.

In a recent survey, Pew Research Center found 84 percent of parents monitored their kids’ online activities in some way. No surprise, right? What lurks out there in cyberspace is scary stuff.

Comparatively speaking, the television — that thing of old technology, the focal point of everyone’s living room — is viewed as far much less of a threat, and therefore is pretty much regarded as necessary background noise, especially when adults are home.

For decades, television’s main rule has been to limit how many hours the kids may watch. (There was a time when children were told sitting too close to the TV would make them cross eyed, but that often resulted in kids moving closer to the screen, so that rule was dropped.) Today, tech savvy parents may block out any programs they consider inappropriate using the TV’s parental control feature, and may be less concerned about viewing hours.

A Nielsen Co. report from 2009 found kids aged 2-5 watched more than 32 hours of television a week, and kids aged 6-8 about 28 hours a week.

But there’s a loophole in all of these rules, and it’s this: You never know what’s going to happen today, and what will end up on the news. When news is severe, like we recently witnessed with the Las Vegas massacre or even with the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico, it’s important to know children process the information differently.

Adults see tragedy unfolding on television; kids see tragedy happening in their living rooms.

Cable news programs will run those same images over and over until they find something new to fill the time, and adults tend to stay tuned in to it, checking it now and again for developments in the story, as they make dinner or pay the bills. It becomes part of the background.

For the kids, there’s no such thing as “background.” Monitoring news is necessary to ensure children feel safe and unafraid in their own homes.