Impact of Extended Video Viewing on Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Processes in Preadolescents

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an upsurge of attention regarding the cognitive, social, emotional, and the physiological dangers of video viewing from early childhood to adolescence. Several studies have been conducted related to the content of television messages and its impact on the development of children. The impact of media usage and its influence on developmental functions are carried out on small children, adolescents, and adults and there is paucity of such studies on preadolescents that is considered to be the most critical period in the development of an individual. Researchers believe that preadolescence is a sensitive period during which media has a maximal effect. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the detrimental impact of video viewing on preadolescents. The investigation specifically focused on difference between the performance of heavy viewers and light viewers. A questionnaire was used to assess children’s video viewing habits as well as to categorize them into heavy and light viewers. The selected extreme groups were tested on attention span, visual memory, creative imagination (cognitive processes), emotional quotient, emotional stability (affective processes), sleeping patterns, eating patterns, social relations, hyperactivity and obesity (behavioral processes). The data was analyzed using ANOVA, ‘t’ test and Chi square. A significant difference was found between the performance of heavy and light viewers. Results indicate that heavy viewers performed poor as compared to the light viewers on all the dimensions studied. In addition, sex differences were also explored. The results are consistent with the formulated hypotheses. It can be construed that prolonged video viewing can have crippling effects on the cognitive, affective and behavioral realms of mind.