Medical expert of the article
New publications
Is it harmful for children to watch television?
Last reviewed: 08.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
If your child watches TV all the time, then of course it is harmful. But if you watch programs selectively, then you need to understand that television expands the child's knowledge of the world around him. In addition, most cartoons contain elements of the educational process.
I don't mean low-quality cartoons or those intended for older children. I mean cartoons created in the former Soviet Union, which are screen versions of Pushkin's and Bazhov's fairy tales, folk tales, etc. They are very consistent in terms of education. There is no violence, horror elements, or other things harmful to children. On the contrary, Hollywood cartoons like Tom and Jerry, in which the characters fight desperately (and without any particular consequences for each other), are probably not worth watching for small children who don't understand everything yet. These cartoons are created not so much for children as for adults, and are more like sitcoms, which is, by and large, alien to our mentality.
If you remember, there used to be wonderful programs - "Good night, kids" and "Visiting a fairy tale". So, some children, even without knowing the clock, asked their parents to turn on the TV at the right time to watch them.
Programs about nature and animals are very useful. Naturally, in this case we are not talking about one-year-olds or one-and-a-half-year-olds, but about two-year-olds.
While the child is small and does not yet know how to turn on the TV (although now some of them already know how to turn it on at the age of one and a half), you control the viewing of programs yourself and when the program is over, you can turn off the TV. True, in some families it is on all day, even if no one is watching it (just like that - for the background). Then, while cultivating in the child a critical, selective attitude to television programs, try to wean yourself off treating the TV as a background. Show the child by your own example that watching TV is not a passive activity, but an active one; that you turned it on not because you simply have nothing better to do. It is even better if you can watch interesting programs together with the baby and as you watch, explain to him those moments that he did not understand.
[ 1 ]