‘Parents want regulatory body for TV programmes’

With children spending more and more time in front of the idiot box, parents want new laws to check the depiction of sex and violence in the programmes, a survey has revealed.

About 63 per cent parents who have young children want a regulatory authority to curb sex and violence in TV programmes, particularly those telecast in the prime time slot, a new survey has revealed.

With children these days spending more and more time in front of the idiot box, their parents want new laws to check the depiction of sex and violence in the programmes, the survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said.

According to the survey conducted on over 2,000 children of different age groups and 3,000 parents in Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Cochin, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun, almost ten per cent violence among children and adolescents was because of the “glorification” of violence in TV programmes.

Almost 90 per cent of the parents said they are “very worried” that TV programmes are getting worse every year because of derogatory language and adult themes especially on those telecast during the 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. slot, Secretary General ASSOCHAM, D.S. Rawat said.

Eighty-six per cent of them want the government to take stern measures in this regard, Mr. Rawat added.

Children in the age group of 6 and 17 spend an average of five hours daily before TV sets, the survey says.

Conducted by the Social Development Foundation of the ASSOCHAM, the survey has also found that spending long hours before TV leads to obesity as well as aggression and violent tendencies.

About 71 per cent parents are worried about the effect of vulgarity and 58 per cent about violence depicted in reality shows, Mr. Rawat said, adding that almost 54 per cent adolescents prefer watching “something different” on TV in the absence of their parents.

The survey has found that children under eight years of age cannot differentiate between reality and fantasy shown in TV programmes and over a period of time start searching for solutions to all their problems in violence, he said.

About 56 per cent children in the age group of four to six years want to spend time before the TV rather than their friends and 76 per cent parents believe that the growing trend of disrespect for parents among the four to eight year age group was because of the television.

An interesting fact that emerged from the survey was that 52 per cent kids have TV sets in their rooms and about 56 per cent Indian homes have three or more TV sets.