Brittany Hudgins
March 2, 2009
Proposal 2
Writer: My personal experiences will affect my writing because I am a parent. My age will affect my writing because most people have more than one television in their home. Also I grew up in the age of technology and it is considered uncommon to not have a TV or gaming system in your home.
Purpose: To persuade parents that what they allow their children to watch on television or the video games they all their children to play may affect them in a negative way. However, parents can somewhat the effects that television has on their children.
1. Negative Effects
A. Physical Development-
1. Children spend more time watching television and less time being active. May become couch potatoes-eat junk food and watch TV=gain weight.
2. Promotes unhealthy eating habits
3. Promotes smoking and alcohol use
B. Social Development
1. Violent aggressive shows lead to violent aggressive behavior.
2. Create a False sense or reality
3. Children mimic the actions of their favorite TV characters
4. Teaches children violence is an acceptable way to solve problems.
C. Steps that have been taken to counteract the effects by organizations and the
Government
1. Telecommunication Act of 1996- All TVs 13 inches and larger sold in the US, must contain a v-chip. The v-chip allows parents to block undesirable programming.
2. TV rating system-helps parents establish guidelines for their child/childrens TV viewing, but television networks rate the programs.
3. Entertainment Software Rating Board
-Rating symbols- age appropriateness for game
-Contents descriptors- indicates elements in the games that may be of interest or concern
D. Steps parents can take to counteract the effects
1. Participate- Watch television with your children. Talk about the commercials and shows that are viewed. Children will have a better understanding of what they view and how to interpret the information being viewed. Also parents are able to know what exactly children are viewing and whether or not the program is appropriate for their child/children.
2. Set limits- They can watch TV or play video games at specified timed during they day or for so many hours a day. Maybe no television until after homework is finish or no TV when eating dinner.
3. Monitor- Know what programs your children are watching or games your children are playing.
4. Other activities
-outdoor play
Sandbox
Parks
-play dates
-extra curricular activities
Dance
Sports
-Reading
Genre: I would like to write a persuasive essay that will persuade parents to at least have a more active role in monitoring what their children watch on television and the video games they play. Lack of involvement on the parent’s part could negatively affect their children.
Do you think I have focused too much on the negative effects and not enough on the positive effects television/games has on children?
Do you think I should address an audience other than parents?
If the purpose of this project is to persuade parents to take an active role in managing t.v. time, then it may be effective for you to express how doing so can combat some of the negative effects listed (such as violence, drug abuse, unhealthy eating habits). I think that focusing on the negative will aid in the persuasion because you want to prove to parents that there is a reason/need/duty for them to monitor there child's television intake.
ReplyDeleteIf you do choose to address an audience other than parents then it may change your focus. Just keep that in mind. Other audiences that you can target are the kids. With kids as your audience you can explain to them that it's okay to watch television but to be wary of the images and look at them with a critical eye. Just a suggestion, of course.
I agree with 'a.citizen' in listing the pros and maybe cons when parents take managerial action in how their children spend time in front of a television. But, you should definitely focus on the the pros of parents taking action against how much violence, sex, etc. their children get to see on TV so that you get an effective persuasive essay. Also, there is a chapter in my mass communication textbook that covers research about the negative affects of children watching violent television and the correlation with their mental stability... I can't remember exactly what it said right now, but if you're in need of more information or research for your paper get in touch with me and I can show you the text. good luck on your paper, it's a good/interesting topic
ReplyDeleteI think it may interesting to also talk about how since Nintendo came out with the WII game console that they have been trying hard to promote a more active lifestyle by making kids get off the couch and be more active while still having fun. While other game consoles just promote the growth of thumb muscles, The Nintendo WII has truly been remarkable at making people of all ages not just kids get up and be active. Most of their games have also been kid rated and don't contain violence, sex, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic and is very relevant to our society today. I agree that you should include some of the pro’s (such as the Wii) in order to make your argument well rounded. Also, I think that it is very important that you have some material of interest to children. it seems that if a mother tried to abruptly tell her child, “no more video games,” the child would throw a tantrum and be confused without having something besides “because I said so” to refer to. Maybe explain to kids about how much better for you real soccer is than soccer with your thumbs. This sounds like its going to be a strong paper.
ReplyDeleteI think that focusing on the negative effects is good, and I also don't think you focused too much on them. But, I think it would be helpful to point out some positive things about television and some video game that could be helpful to the parents who are reading this. Example: there are fun video games for the computer that have educational value to them, but also are enticing to play. And as far as the audience goes, I think that targeting parents is good but I also think that maybe if you target "soon-to-be" parents or people who plan to be parents in the future would also be sufficient because they can fix the problem before it even begins.
ReplyDelete