Much has been written about the excessive influence of the various types of media on children and teenagers, but this is a social problem that is still worryingly on the rise. The reason? Much of the problem lies in the content watched, rather than the time spent watching it. Today's youth, in particular, is exposed to a constant barrage of images, whether of the latest body-baring variety or of the glorification of gory violence. These images have a tremendous impact on young minds and despite experts' calls to curb the amount and type of TV watched, parents are doing nothing to do just that. Many seemingly innocent soaps may also affect children adversely. Popular family shows like “Sanawat Al-Dayae”, “Noor” and “Merna We Khalil” are the most popular of Turkish soaps catering to the Arab market and they are watched by children and adults alike, catering overwhelmingly to a family audience. Abdullah Toonsi is a five-year-old boy in Jeddah who recently saw a murder scene in an episode of one of these shows and has been unable to shake the image of that from his mind ever since. He gets nightmares and his mother claims that she feels helpless for not being to isolate her son from the whole environment. In fact, it is this lack of supervision that complicates matters. Not just limited to children, it is also often needed for teenagers who tend to venture into a variety of out-of-bound channels and programs just to see if they are allowed to over-step their boundaries. What is needed is parental supervision of the types of shows watched and the times at which they are watched. Ghada Hassan is a mother of five and she told Saudi Gazette that much of the problem lies with the fact that TV channels don't permit parental control authority. “Parental control is unheard of and Arabic channels lack censorship or viewing ratings, so the family doesn't have any control over what children view in their physical absence,” she said. A number of studies show that the content, rather than the amount of TV watched, has a direct correlation to their future academic success. However, watching less TV also seems to increase a teenager's likelihood of finishing university. “Having a television in the bedroom is likely to contribute to a lower grade in a subject, failure and even a dramatic change in the teenager's life, such as isolation and depression,” remarked Azza Abu Bakr, a sociologist at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. She added that the solution lies in parents' hands. It is wrong to allow teenagers to sit in front of the TV without supervision and without any intervention to censor certain scenes. However, these measures are not enough, because children and teenagers are exposed to a whole host of other mediums via which they have access to the same content. Studies by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reveal that as children grow older, too much time spent in front of TV screens interferes with other, more important, activities like sports, reading, homework, playing with friends and spending time with the family. The first two years of a person's life are considered a critical time for brain development, and electronic mediums, but TV in particular, can get in the way of exploring, playing, learning and interacting with parents, siblings and other people - all of which encourages learning and healthy physical, emotional and social development.
