response

Instructor Linda Rogers

English 130: Section 1

Summarizing, Paraphrasing and Quoting

18 February 2014

Summary

Unplug the Television, by Beth Brophy

According to statistics, the average hours that children and students spend watching TV and commercials is way beyond the number of hours they take studying and participating in extracurricular activities. Consequently, this has led to unhealthy lifestyles. According to Kesten, the central director of “Television is a great enabler” the solution lies not in completely unplugging the TV set, but limiting the number of hours children stay glued on the set. Further, he recommends that parents should encourage their children to participate in other fun activities besides TV (Brophy N. pag).

Paraphrasing

Unplug the Television, by Beth Brophy

In regards to a survey done in 1994 by the center for screen time Awareness, a normal kid spends 1680 hours watching TV. A school going kid spends 1500 hours watching TV. This, however, is not inclusive of the number of time that these kids take watching advertisements which averages to 20, 000 hours an year. All these hours as compared to the number of hours, spent studying is appalling (Brophy N. pag).

According to experts, TV has enabled children to live sedentary lives. This, consequently, has resulted into unhealthy lifestyles and adoption of bad behaviors. It is important for children to spend less time on TV and more time studying and participating in extracurricular activities.

In addition, Brent Bozell recommends that it is important to strike a balance between the number of hours that kids spend on TV versus the number of hours they spend on extracurricular activities. Shutting the TV completely, Brent remarks, does not resolve the problem. Instead, parents should incorporate children in fun activities that involve them or other trusted members of the society (for proper development). Though it is an onerous task, Brent has succeeded in implementing this to his children whose ages ranges from 9 to 28 (Brophy N. Peg).

Other than TV, there are other fun activities that a parent can involve his/her children in. This involves, taking a walk with them, practicing art, reading, learning new languages, joining clubs, organizing photo taking activities as well as solving passwords. Alternatively, children can be involved in community projects on weekends (Brophy N. Peg).

Moreover, Kesten advices that parents should brace themselves for reactions from their children. As an example, Kesten does not work from his computer until his children go to bed. It is encouraging that his children, now, do not even watch TV even on the recommended 2 hours (Brophy N. Peg).

Implication of TV watching for Children

The 21st century has seen numerous changes in technological advances. In particular, the advent of TV has completely revolutionized the way children spend their leisure time. According to Beth Brophy, “The average child watches 1,680 minutes of TV per week. The average student spends 1,500 hours watching TV versus 900 hours in school. And the number of 30-second commercials seen in a year by an average child is 20,000” (par 1).

However, this has not only had an impact on the number of hours they spend glued on the TV, but of more concern is the toll it is taking on this children’s health. It has become imperative for parents to change this trend to avert an imminent disaster. Parents have to take measures in order to regulate the number of hours their children stay on the TV. (Brophy par 3). According to Brent Bozell, president of parent’s television council, it is important to balance the number of hours children take watching TV and the time they take in studies and extracurricular activities. (Brophy par 3).

It is increasingly becoming important for parents not only to recommend other fun activities, but to also be actively involved in these activities. Some of these activities include; joining after school clubs, jogging, solving puzzles among others. (Brophy par 4)