My Reflection and letter

February 6, 2007

7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22108-0605　

Dear USA TODAY

I strongly agree that we are exposed to too many hours of TV, video games, computers and other media each day. It is effecting children such as their growth, weight and grades.

They have the expectation to be constantly entertained and, if the children are not entertained, they quickly lose interest. I remember when I was a child, the classes were boring for me and didn’t want to learn anything unless the class was entertaining.

In today’s society, it is a fact that television is highly desired in the life of most children and adults. Many people acquire information from television in real time and we should use this important media after examining the good points and bad points of television.

Sincerely,

My Reflection

When I first came to the United States, I was surprised to see how many TV channels were on television in the United States. In my country, we have 12 or fewer channels of television. You can get cable TV in my country but it is not as common. I was wondering why TV is so popular in this country and why there are so many channels to watch. I think there are far too many personally. I want to research how television and other media are effecting people in the United States, especially children, since my learning is focused in the filed of childhood education. I included ethos, logos, pathos, context, purpose and audience in my essay as I wrote.

I have researched this subject for a while on the internet, at school and by going to the library; I found that television is not the only media that effecting to children. Video games, computers and other media also appear to greatly effect children. In fact, it has become harder over the last ten years to keep children’s attention. The children’s expectation is to be constantly entertained and, if they are not entertained, they quickly lose interest. I remember when I was a child, I was not interested in anything. Classes were boring for me and I did not want to learn anything unless the class was entertaining. I am almost 24 years old and I am talking about quite a while ago. What do you think about the children now? I do not think children have changed; or if they have, they have become worse.

There were not many types of media in the old days. Children were playing outside instead of watching TV or they were playing games inside. From the research I looked at, computer use and watching television did not seem to affect grades, but more time playing video games and less time reading were linked to poorer grades. In the USA TODAY, it stated that “half of children have a video game player in their rooms; more than two-thirds have TV sets.” It is easy for them to play games which they are interested in and use their concentration there instead of studying. Interestingly, scores on intelligence tests have been steadily rising since the 1940s. These tests measure a child’s ability to shift and divide attention, but they also cover problem-solving and comprehension skills. They are smarter than their elders. I see a lot of children who instant-messaging, plugged into an iPod and doing homework at the same time. Some evidence suggests that these children’s brains might be changing so they juggle and concentrate better than their elders.

It is sad that children are this way because of the media we have now. They could be doing better if we had less media since they are more capable than before.　　　Sadly, Children are influenced easily by media and TV has had the most influence on them. Television effects their behavior and it may give them the wrong information about real life. “The Simpson” is the good example. It is a cartoon that has be on for years now. What if children believe that what they do is ok? I think that what they do is sometimes mean and very wrong and is made more for adult to watch and it is suppose to be funny to adults. In addition, violent video games and TV have been shown to encourage aggressive behavior. I have strong feelings against violent video games. Some of them are so real and these events could happen in the actual real life. I see a lot of news where people are killing people. The murderers are mostly individuals who really into violent video games and their reasons for killing are usually because they want to feel or see what it is like to kill a real person not only the people on the computer in violent video games. It makes me mad when I see some children pretending to shoot people and then laughing about it. I think it is awful.

I know that media is part of our lives now. The greatest charm of television is the synchronism of news. Thanks to television, news of a case that happened in a very far off country reaches instantly all over the world and the situation in that country comes to be seen by all of us through television. In addition, television spreads the standard language of a certain country, and it is advantageous in that it opens cultural knowledge. Unfortunately, I also found that television effects our health. People now have worse posture than they used to. This is from watching TV a lot, stresses from watching TV all day, and not having enough exercise. This leads to getting a stiff back, headaches, and backaches. This is not an issue for just an adult. This is an issue for children as well. In addition, people who watch TV more than two hours a day have a 23% risk of being overweight and also a 14% higher risk of getting diabetes compared to people who do not watch TV. These risks double as time watching TV doubles. If you watch TV four hours a day, you have a 46% risk of being overweight. People who watch TV are more likely to eat something while doing so, and they do not exercise as much. For children, it is possible that this may affect a child’s growth before they reach adulthood. Because of the lack of exercise, children develop muscles and sense of balance more slowly. In addition, it could lead to failure of their eyesight from watching a big screen for a long time. Eyes need to be relaxed once in a while, but watching TV for a long time makes the eyes tired.

My purpose of writing this letter is that I wanted to people to realize how much media we use each day and how bad it really is for us. Also, I wanted to tell people that media is not always bad but when we use media, we should know why we are using the media; purpose, is very important. We know that it is not good to watch television for a long time and it will effect your behavior, thoughts, lifestyles and health. In today’s society, it is a fact that television is highly desired in the life of children and adults. Many people acquire information from television in real time. We should use this important media with an understanding of the good points and bad points of television.

When I wrote my letter, I was thinking about my actual audience: instructor and blog readers. The ideal audience would be an editor，parents who have children and students themselves. I would deeply to get the attention from them so I tried to write with simple sentences and easy vocabulary. Also I needed to be careful with the words I use. I can not use words which might make them uncomfortable to read or not be able to understand. My sentences have to be clear and I must make sure that they understand what I mean.

On the whole, it was difficult to write in this letter everything I wanted to say and convey everything I wanted readers to understand. I hope that I can give them an opportunity to get interested in and think about it. I hope this may change their behavior and everyday lives.