Personal TV unhealthy for teens

Teens who have TV sets in their bedrooms indulge in less physical activity, poor eating habits, perform bad academically and do not devote quality time to family. Though TV as a medium of mass communication teaches, educates and entertains the youngsters, it also inculcates unhealthy habits among them. Teens who have their personal TV sets in their bedrooms get freedom to watch TV for prolonged hours and this makes them laid-back and lazy. They indulge in less physical activities like exercising and also take out less time for their studies and family. To analyse the effect of a personal TV on personal, social and behavioural characteristics of teenagers, American researchers studied 781 teenagers, aged around 17 years, belonging to different backgrounds. Out of the 781 teens, around two-third had a personal TV in their bedrooms. Their behavioural pattern showed they watched more TV, ate lesser fruits and vegetables and were less likely to sit for family meals than those who don't have TV sets in their rooms. The girls who had a personal TV exercised lesser and the boys scored lower than average grades at the school as compared to their peers who did not have a TV in their bedroom. The research found that people tend to shift their old TV sets into their children's rooms on buying a new family TV. Parents should keep television sets out of their children's rooms, as a first step in helping to decrease TV viewing time and subsequent poor behaviour associated with increased television watching. .