Comments on: Television’s Effect on Children http://enableate.com/steve/2009/1369 make it happen Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:01:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: darwin http://enableate.com/steve/2009/1369#comment-19713 darwin Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:24:02 +0000 http://enableate.com/steve/2009/1369#comment-19713 Careful here, Steve; I agree with you that children are more shaped by their peers and parents, but it's usually through force of peer/social/emotional pressure rather than immediate threat of physical violence. If you start calling things like that 'coercion', all your arguments about the government having a monopoly on coercion are going to start falling apart- especially when I say the government has to protect kids against the coercive power of their peers. Careful here, Steve; I agree with you that children are more shaped by their peers and parents, but it’s usually through force of peer/social/emotional pressure rather than immediate threat of physical violence. If you start calling things like that ‘coercion’, all your arguments about the government having a monopoly on coercion are going to start falling apart- especially when I say the government has to protect kids against the coercive power of their peers.

]]> By: Michael http://enableate.com/steve/2009/1369#comment-19712 Michael Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:27:50 +0000 http://enableate.com/steve/2009/1369#comment-19712 <p>It's not coercion, but we know from psychological investigation that we certainly have a familiarity bias, we are less averse to things we have seen before. Additionally, one of the ways people learn how to behave is by watching other people, children especially. Force and consequences are not necessary for learning; this has been proven by the way we learn language, and this concept can probably be generalized to other areas of learning.</p> <p>So while I do not believe we should censor any kind of artistic expression, I do accept that television and film can affect behavioral development in both positive and negative ways, most notably in children. It is the parent's job to decide what is best for their child, not the government's.</p> It’s not coercion, but we know from psychological investigation that we certainly have a familiarity bias, we are less averse to things we have seen before. Additionally, one of the ways people learn how to behave is by watching other people, children especially. Force and consequences are not necessary for learning; this has been proven by the way we learn language, and this concept can probably be generalized to other areas of learning.

So while I do not believe we should censor any kind of artistic expression, I do accept that television and film can affect behavioral development in both positive and negative ways, most notably in children. It is the parent’s job to decide what is best for their child, not the government’s.

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