Television and
the malfunctioning of the human brain
When allowed to unfold like a flower, a child’s mind develops spontaneously, according to its inner nature. As a child matures, if there are no outside influences restricting his growth, his development generally follows a predetermined pattern. From birth through age 7, he is busy learning motor functions and developing the “action” part of the brain. Between 7 and 14, the personality develops with all its emotional intensity, and after age 14 until around 21, the young person develops his intellectual skills to analyze and understand reality. Whenever a small child smells baking bread, pets a cat, or touches wet leaves, neurological pathways are formed that will lead to higher thinking. When he scoops up sand, or plays on a seesaw, the formations of scientific understanding are beginning. His creative intellect awakens as he plays “pretend” and makes things.
What happens when a child watches TV - regardless of what program - rather than playing, is that the brain connections that he will need to be a morally responsible adult do not get formed. Regular television viewing actually causes brain damage by inhibiting the formation of the nerve pathways in the brain. If the child has not started developing these neurological connections between the lower parts of the brain and the higher thinking part of the brain by the age of seven, it will be very difficult to develop these pathways later. The absence of these pathways means that the animal brain operates without the input of the higher thinking brain. This means that the person cannot analyze or control his behavior. One symptom of too much television is hyperactivity, and a handicapped ability to focus or concentrate. Many common problems of today’s society, from the inability to read effectively to unrestrained aggression in young people can be linked to the brain damage caused by habitual television viewing.
As parents, it is wise to eliminate or limit our children’s exposure to television and other electronic media that causes the brain to shut down. The television retards the growth of their intelligence by restricting their awareness to a two-dimensional reality. It also damages their eyesight and exposes them to low levels of radiation. Video and computer games are perhaps even more harmful, as they cause over-stimulation of the nervous system and teach aggressive behavior, while cutting the child off from human relationships. The child who is accustomed to all these forms of media in his everyday life loses his ability to play creatively and does not develop socially. When there are no electronic gadgets to distract him, he becomes bored and unmanageable. His attention span is the same length as a television commercial, and, worst of all, he doesn’t know how to formulate ideas. When he plays, he simply repeats what he has seen on television. If the programs he has been watching contained violent, racist or chauvinist material, then these elements will be incorporated into his play. This perverted ability to think and dream has a serious and dangerous effect on the individual personality, and ultimately, on the entire society.
Within 30 seconds of watching television, reactions are slowed, and creative thinking is cut off, as the viewer “zones out.” The human brain starts producing alpha waves, which are the brain waves characteristic of an unconscious or comatose state. Everything we see in this life is forever stored in our subconscious mind and forms our personalities. But the bombardment of the mind by rapidly changing TV images causes the information to enter straight into our subconscious without giving us time to mentally process the image. The loud noises and flashing pictures in some programs like Pokeman and MTV can even cause seizures in children. This is known as TV epilepsy. TV overload paralyzes both the adult and child’s brain functions, but it is especially harmful for small children, as their brains are still forming.
Adults are also not immune to the dangerous effects of TV. Watching TV causes us to enter a passive, vegetative mental state where we are simply absorbing information without understanding, allowing ourselves to be hypnotized. Once we are in such a state, it becomes easy for our opinions to be manipulated and controlled. TV commercials awaken our desires for certain foods and products.
Nowadays, popular culture, which decides what society’s values are, is learned through television viewing. The TV creates a false reality for the mind to function in. It shows you a Coca-Cola, or a car, and tells you this is what you need to attain happiness. It tells you that to be thin is to be successful. It shows you the forest fire and you don’t feel the heat. It shows you the action in the middle of a war zone, yet you don’t risk getting shot. Rather than visit each other, people watch dramas about imaginary people’s lives. Rather than making right the wrongs of the world, people watch films about wars in space that set their hearts racing. Even children’s programs as innocent seeming as “Arthur” or “Sesame Street” are promoting a hidden secular agenda. It is very easy to get lost in these illusions. TV has created a global culture of mindlessness, where people live out their lives, primarily concerned with satisfying their primitive urges through food, shopping, and status seeking. Let us not forsake our ability to contemplate reality and to dream, or else we will be destroyed along with them.
SUGGESTED ALTERNATE ACTIVITIES
In order to develop a fully functioning brain, growing children need to engage in a variety of physical activities that stimulate their senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
Parents can provide a nurturing environment for their children’s intellectual development by going out in nature, and encouraging free play in which the children are imagining situations, or using their hands to make things. We can tell our kids stories that teach a moral lesson, or tell them about when we were children. This is far more beneficial to the child’s imagination than simply reading picture books. We can let them explore the cupboards and drawers, even if this means the house gets a bit untidy. Afterwards, we can just play the Clean-up Game with them. Kids need to play outside, and view the full spectrum of daylight colors.
Children need to hear living human beings talking, singing, or reciting Qur’an. They learn from imitating what the older people do around the house. Most importantly, children need to be played with in ways that involve human touch. For example, the Messenger of Allah carried his grandson, Hasan ibn Ali on his shoulders, pretending to be a horse. We learn who we are only by relating with others.
So it is important to make eye contact with our children, play with them, talk to them and listen to them. These actions not only make the child feel loved, but stimulate the development of the mind. The more respect we give our child’s in-born intelligence, the better chance that he has to grow up to be an intelligent, respectable, and fully developed human being, with the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood that he will need as a Muslim living in today’s confusing world.
By Maria Hussain