Copyright 2017
Johnie Cuison, PhD
drjohniecuison.blogspot.com
We are on the 17th year of the third millennium. It is our era of 24/7 cabled TV viewing of local and international shows, movies and animation. A development in home-entertainment where various studies have been made proving that TV viewing is not all beneficial, most specially to those young children at home watching non-stop cartoons, noontime shows and primetime tv. Research have reported that too much TV viewing affects children's well-being, values and learning.
When I was a kid, I am also an avid fan of cartoons, but in those days I have to wait for the scheduled day and time to watch it. It taught me discipline, it taught me patience. I am not saying that those days were better than what we have now, but I can affirm that most children today are hyperactive in an unlikable way. Cable television offers an array of different networks of cartoons for a child to choose. After watching some, I cannot help it but to compare. Cartoons being shown nowadays look different, if not presented as a dishwashing sponge, it would be some kind of a cockroach running, jumping and hitting one another or 3 unproportioned flying dolls with wide-open eyes that seem to be hypnotizing children. There are dozens of these types on cable television and the list goes on.
Noontime show is another issue. The antics and jokes are getting more malicious and double-meaning presented by men in dress. Some of the noontime contest encourages contestants to show their transformations from being a girl to becoming a boy and a contest about boys pride on his gender preference. Half a day a child could probably be hooked on these noontime programs.
At 6 PM primetime show follows. A viewer will find that local telenovelas are getting predictable and recycled. The dramatics of 'sampalan' seemed so vital to put an excitement in telenovela. The story of rich people versus the poor people, the rich always ends up as the contrabidas of the story, really? Palaging ganun? Lahat ng maykaya sa buhay mapang-alipin? I am not being insensitive here, pero nasaan na ba ang tunay na pag-asa sa buhay nating mga Filipino, kung panonood ng mga lokal na telenovela sa telebisyon ang ating pag-uusapan? Sapat na bang ipakita ang pagmamahal ng isang Filipino sa ospital, kung saan nakaratay ang isang mahal sa buhay na maysakit at walang maipambili ng gamot, kung kaya't ang bida ay natutong magnakaw o maghiganti? I have seen the same scene when I was 7 years old in an old classic Filipino film. Is the Filipino life hopeless?
One of my deep concern is this. At home, children who watched the most learned the most. Based on my 10-month research (December 2016 to September 2017), a Filipino child could possibly see an average of 1,000 acts of violence, 1,500 sexual preferences and gender issues and 3,000 product endorsements (commercials) in a months time watching television. Imagine the scenario about what influences your child's mind right inside your home. In Philosophy the Empiricists believe that, a child's mind is a 'tabula rasa" (a blank slate). In its original pristine state, a child's mind absorbs the information he sees and keeps it in his repertory grid. Children can easily learn by impression and that is a very sensitive way of their learning. Television stations, programs and artists have a social responsibility in bringing-up 'the next generation of thinking Filipinos.' I know commercialism has a big part in getting things done in show-business. How hard it is to solve the mystery of profit versus educating a child at home?
Copyright 2017
drjohniecuison.blogspot.com Writings 2017 #10
cuisonjohnie@gmail.com
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