Middle childhood is a child’s developmental stage that significantly influences the adolescent and adult they will become. Children move into expanding environments and roles in this stage. They begin to spend considerable time at school and various activities and devote less time to their family. This stage allows children to experience more of the world surrounding them and develop their identity. Different factors such as media can impact the development of children during middle childhood. This paper evaluates the impact of watching television on cognitive, physical, and psychosocial development during middle childhood.
Watching television or movies for a prolonged period can change brain functioning during middle childhood. Cognitive development in middle childhood involves concrete ways of using logic (Tyler, 2020). Factors such as working memory, attention, metacognition, and critical thinking improve during this human developmental stage. Enhanced efficiency of working memory occurs during middle childhood due to increased processing speed and the capability to prevent inappropriate entering the memory. However, the children may be unable to filter irrelevant information they watch from television or movies, which adversely affects brain functioning (Ponti et al., 2017). The concentration children in middle childhood give to television programs or movies limits their ability to shift their attention between tasks. Watching television or movies can condition the brain to concentrate on one event at a time. The children’s metacognition is also hurt because they tend to believe what they see on television or in movies applies in real life. They become less realistic about their abilities to perform different tasks (Ponti et al., 2017). Equally, most content from movies or television limits the children’s ability to evaluate information to facilitate informed decisions.
During middle childhood, watching television or movies disrupts physical development, leading to undesirable outcomes. According to Tyler (2020), children in middle childhood tend to improve their capability to execute gross motor and fine motor skills. Children at this stage can better plan and coordinate physical activities that involve the use of large muscles. They tend to gain muscle strength and improved lung capacity to allow them to perform physical activities for a prolonged time. However, watching television or movies displaces the time the children are supposed to be engaging in physical activities to sedentary behavior (Kerai et al., 2022). Consequently, they spend less or no time playing, causing poor physical fitness among the children. Spending much time watching television or movies can contribute to overweight and obesity among children in middle childhood. Failure to engage in physical activities is one factor that contributes to obesity in children. Commercials that portray unhealthy foods as appealing and healthy can lead to greater consumption of such foodstuffs, leading to overweight and obesity.
Watching television or movies can negatively influence social development among children in middle childhood by promoting antisocial behaviors. Some television programs or movies have violent episodes that are unsuitable for middle childhood. Children at this stage are likely to perceive the violence as realistic or as the best way of approaching issues, making them aggressive (Kerai et al., 2022). As a result, those children who spend much of their time on television or watching movies can have trouble establishing and maintaining friendships. Television or movies also deprive the children of considerable time to socialize with family and friends. Their ability to have in-person interaction and grasp and understand other people’s emotions decreases. Therefore, the time children in middle childhood spend watching television programs or movies need to be regulated to alleviate possible adverse psychosocial outcomes such as antisocial behaviors.
Television or movies can positively influence a child in the middle childhood stage of development. Some television programs or movies can offer rich educational resources for the children to help them expand their vocabulary, develop character, promote social interaction, and increase empathy. For instance, television programs that show a simulation of empathy and emotions can encourage positive social behaviors among children (Kerai et al., 2022). They can also learn how to plan and coordinate activities from television programs or movies portraying children doing the same. Moreover, television programs and movies that portray physical activity and exercise as positive can motivate children to engage in the latter, leading to positive physical development. Therefore, regulating what children can watch on television or movies can guarantee beneficial outcomes.
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory
In the microsystem, parents and siblings would be the type of television programs or movies watched by children in middle childhood. They also influence the time spent on television or watching movies, positively or negatively impacting their development. Parents and teachers can communicate at the mesosystem level to ensure children watch educational television programs or movies. At the exosystem level, the content shown on different television programs can positively or negatively impact a child’s development. The family’s culture can influence a child’s development at the macrosystem level since it impacts their beliefs and perception about what they watch from television programs or movies. At the chronosystem level, the transition from early childhood to middle childhood can significantly influence the type of television programs or movies a child watches and the time devoted to the latter, affecting their development.
Conclusively, watching television or movies can have varying impacts on cognitive, physical, and psychosocial development in middle childhood. Spending much time on television or watching movies can lead to inefficient brain functioning due to the inability to filter irrelevant information. Additionally, they can have unhealthy physical development and cannot establish and maintain social interaction. Nevertheless, well-regulated television programs or movies with educational content can help children at this stage develop vocabulary and positive social behaviors and encourage them to engage in physical activities.
References
Kerai, S., Almas, A., Guhn, M., Forer, B., & Oberle, E. (2022). Screen time and developmental health: results from an early childhood study in Canada. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1-9.
Ponti, M., Bélanger, S., Grimes, R., Heard, J., Johnson, M., Moreau, E., Norris, M., Shaw, A., Stanwick, R., Van Lankveld, J., & Williams, R. 2017. Screen time and young children: Promoting health and development in a digital world. Paediatrics &Amp; Child Health, 22(8), 461-468.
Tyler, S. (2020). Human Behavior and the Social Environment I. University of Arkansas Libraries.