It's no secret that most busy American mothers use the TV set as a
live-in babysitter. In some households the tube holds a child's attention
for the odd half hour or two while mom works on dinner； in others it
is the child's constant daytime companion. Is there any harm in this？

    Debate rages over the question， and periodically research is published
showing that TV reduces attention span， makes children jumpy or inclines
them to violence. In today's cartoon David Horsey makes fun of the claims
of "children's TV"， the special programming that supposedly uses entertainment
to help youngsters to learn to read and take their first steps in the
big ， diverse world outside their family. What do children really get
from this programming ？

    Horsey's suspicion is that children's programming chiefly turns kids
into TV addicts ， not into readers or happy mixers. The toddler in the
cartoon ， still at the age of pacifiers and stuffed animals， is held
spellbound by the figure on the screen. What is the stimulating message
of this creature specifically designed to fascinate small children？ "Can
you say TV？" The sooner the kid learns the word， the more effectively
he can remind —— or nag —— his mother to turn on the boob tube.

    A child hooked on TV is a viewer open to commercial messages， and
there are plenty of those targeting children of all ages. Thus， at the
very least， mom's search for peace and quiet sets the stage for her child's
transformation into an American consumer—— and， of course， soaks up
time that could be used for other ， perhaps more desirable ， transformations.

    社會(huì)熱點(diǎn)：電視對(duì)孩子成長(zhǎng)的危害

    在美國(guó)，很多忙碌的母親把電視當(dāng)成住在家里的保姆，這已不是什么秘密。

    在有些家庭中，當(dāng)媽媽做飯時(shí)電視會(huì)拴住孩子的注意力，有時(shí)是半小時(shí)甚至
兩小時(shí)。還有些家庭，電視就是孩子整天的伙伴。這種情況有什么害處嗎？

    對(duì)這一問(wèn)題的爭(zhēng)論十分激烈，相關(guān)研究也在定期發(fā)表，這些研究表明，電視
縮小了孩子們的興趣范圍，使孩子們變得心緒不寧，產(chǎn)生暴力傾向。在今天的漫
畫中，漫畫家戴維- 霍爾西嘲笑了“兒童電視節(jié)目”的自我標(biāo)榜，這種電視節(jié)目
據(jù)說(shuō)是用娛樂方式來(lái)幫助兒童學(xué)習(xí)認(rèn)字，幫助兒童向家庭之外的大千世界邁出第
一步。但是孩子們從這種節(jié)目中真正得到了什么呢？

    霍爾西認(rèn)為，兒童節(jié)目的主要功能是把兒童變成電視迷，而不是變成愛讀書
的人或是善于與不同的人相處的人。漫畫中剛學(xué)走步的孩子還處于叼奶嘴和玩毛
絨動(dòng)物玩具的年齡，可已經(jīng)被電視上的人物迷住了。而這個(gè)被設(shè)計(jì)成非常吸引小
孩子的形象正在啟發(fā)孩子什么呢？——“你會(huì)說(shuō)‘電視’這個(gè)詞嗎？”只要孩子
一學(xué)會(huì)這個(gè)詞，他就能更明確地提醒媽媽——更可能是糾纏媽媽——打開會(huì)把人
變蠢的電視。

    被電視拴住的孩子對(duì)商業(yè)廣告毫無(wú)限制地接受，而商業(yè)廣告中有很多針對(duì)所
有年齡段的孩子。因此，媽媽想通過(guò)電視讓孩子安靜下來(lái)的做法，其負(fù)面影響往
最小了說(shuō)，是為把孩子變成成天想著買東西的人打下了基礎(chǔ)——當(dāng)然，這還使孩
子把時(shí)間全耗費(fèi)在電視上了，而這些時(shí)間本可以用在對(duì)孩子成長(zhǎng)更有意義的事情
上。