TOO COMMERCIALIZED TV SHOWS

I asked Onchong to sit beside me and watch the Korean soap opera, F4. He said, "Lolo, ayoko po ng show na 'yan kasi puro pabalita (Grandpa, I don't want to watch that tv show 'coz it has so many advertisements!"). An innocent complaint from a young boy, but it's very, very true! TV shows with so many sponsors' ads turn me off, too!

We live in a world full of advertisements. They bring into focus what we want and need in order to improve our physical well-being and appearance. However, not all our wants are our needs. Some advertisements appeal to us, some repulse us. They invade our thoughts and persuade us to feel that we want something, which we actually do not need.

In our early years here in the kingdom, we used to enjoy advertisements-free shows. Not anymore, loads and loads of commercials are now injected in between scenes, eating up the entire viewing time.

TELEVIEWING

Almost every home has at least one television set. Most of them are color sets. For low-income earning family, a black and white television set is more than enough.

Television has become one of the best means of reaching people from all walks of life. Its invention and innovation has globally triggered the development and enhancement of telecommunication technology. However, this positive view is now being countered by the facts that more and more negative factors are attributed to its use.

Nowadays, television shows offer greater disadvantages than advantages to the viewing public. Estimates of how much time people spend watching television vary from an average of 29 to 42 hours a week. Violent movies being aired tend to encourage unwholesome atmosphere. Children try to emulate cartoon heroes. They tend to copy almost everything they see. Although, there are a number of shows that are educational, they are outnumbered by shows that are not suited to their age. Television shows do not cater only to young children. Even adults, especially, housewives spend more time watching sitcoms, talk shows, variety shows, and soap operas. As a result, household chores are left unattended. Troubles erupt at home when things go wrong because of differences of opinion about a show. There are lots of disagreeable pattern because of television thing.

The latest theories revealed that ages from 2 to 6 years are the time that a child learns all his principles, behavior, and manners. What a child learns in his childhood will tell on his future. Television and videos are factors affecting a child’s upbringing. Today, our children hang with the television cartoons, and computer programs for hours. This has many effects that people do not recognize. Other social factors can be affected, too.

What should parents do if their child watches cartoons that run counter to the moral principles they are trying to building in their child? This is a thought-provoking question, isn’t it?

A piece of advice: Do not be so televicoholic!