Control your Kids in Front of the T.V.

It is not a problem spending hours in front the television. However, the problem surges when this habit brings about social passivity, that is, not spending one’s leisure time by doing more active activities.

Parents need to be more involved.

(MADRID) - This tells us that something is wrong. It seems as if reading, discussions, family time, friend reunions, and studies are things of another world. This issue becomes somewhat critical when the ones to be affected are children that spend too much time in front of the television.

It is a serious issue for children to be spending one third of their awake-time outside of their respective T.V. child hours. The Auto-regulation Code of Content during child hours (5 pm - 8 pm) programmed by television networks and the Government has been infringed by all television networks.

According to an investigation conducted by the University of Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, adolescents that watch television three hours a day have a higher risk of turning the practice into a habit as an adult.

The Spanish Confederation of Organizations of Housewives, Consumers and Users alerts that child T.V. programs provided by different television networks are full of violence and sexist attitudes.

Advertising which is directed to children is a means of communication that must be cured to its maximum detail. Young audience is a substantial segment of the population, and its condition of vulnerability in front of all types of messages makes it necessary to cure child advertising to its maximum detail. Child advertising must not deceive nor manipulate; its message should instead be clear, since young audience can confuse reality with imaginary messages they perceive.

Dust brings mud. There is no space for inhibitions so long as the problematic source of the media’s hypnotic effect is not counteracted; so long as the livid T.V. screen substitutes parents.

According to Prof. Gianfranco Bettetini, violence moves imitation, thus violent behavior can be stimulated within young T.V. audience (Translated by Gianna A. Sanchez Moretti).

Author and journalist Clemente Ferrer Roselló, a prestigious Spanish advertising character, presents a fascinating personal and professional career fully devoted to the world of communication in its varied dimensions. He earned a PhD in Information Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, BA in Advertising from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona Master in Marketing from the School of Marketing Studies in Madrid.

He has been Associate Professor of Business Management at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Navarra and a contributor to the Madrid daily ABC. He also spent several years teaching, both in the Official School of Advertising as the School of Information Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid. In 1985 he was awarded the Gold Master, granted by the Senior Management Forum and AMPE Prize 1996 to the "long and brilliant career advertising."

You can write to Clemente at this address: clementeferrer3@gmail.com