Blaming TV for parenting or social problems is just an excuse. TV is a mirror into our world as it is; that’s true. However, TV doesn’t cause anything to happen. Today’s families aren’t like they used to be on Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best. Heck, families like that didn’t generally exist then either. 

Television can be used to teach and programs like the ones on PBS are usually geared in that respect. Children of today have much larger vocabularies than the children of the 50’s or 60’s and much of this is due to television programs that they watch. It is the parent’s duty to see that the child doesn’t watch programs that are inappropriate. Parents are also responsible for what the older kids in the family watch and what is watched on TV after they have gone to bed. If there are no parents or older people responsible for what is watched on television then children and teens may see things that, if repeated often enough, may lead them to believe that something illegal is cool. Still, whatever trouble the child or teen may eventually get into was not caused by the television. It was caused because no one monitored an impressionable mind and that mind eventually wandered into forbidden territory.

The same can be said of any sort of parenting or social problem that a person might want to blame on television. Sometimes a program might plant a seed in the mind of a sociopath or a mind that is already challenged or damaged but it is possible; no, it is probable that the person who went astray would have gone astray without any help from TV.

In 100% of parenting problems there has to be either a parent or the lack of one. It is a parent’s job to help form the child given to him/her through birth or adoption. If the parent chooses to leave this child in front of the television any damage caused by inappropriate programming is solely the responsibility of the parent. Televisions have an on/off button. They can be disconnected from cable television providers. A V-chip can be activated to choose programming that is age appropriate. The parent makes the choice of television programming provider when he/she chooses a cable provider. Once again, the parent had to make the original choice.

Blaming the TV is just an excuse.