Television

The television is a fact of modern life. It plays a major part of almost all households today.

Babysitter. Teacher. Friend. Parent. It’s television! And along with other media, it’s helping to raise the world’s children.

Get Media Smart provides a wealth of resources to learn and practice new ways of helping parents and their children interact with these powerful influences in their lives.

The television, out of all the popular media forms, illustrates the power of mass communication to inform, educate and influence the masses.

The television is no longer part of our culture, it is our culture. We, therefore, need to manage our children’s time wisely and ensure that what they are viewing they are supposed to be viewing.

We, as parents/guardians, must:

1. Choose wisely.
2. Control carefully.
3. Educate Properly.

Be in charge of Your TV

3 Steps to Critical Viewing for Parents and Children



1. Choose Wisely

TV Ratings Categories just for children:



Categories for a wider audience:




2. Control Carefully

Learn how to set your Parental Controls (digital & analog). There are many options of control:

• Restrict Purchasing
• Restrict Viewing by: Rating, Channel, Time, Title.

In addition, all TV’s13” or larger manufactured after January 2000 contain a V-Chip which work in conjunction with the TV ratings system to limit access to inappropriate content in your household. To access the functionalities of the V-Chip follow the instructions in your TV’s manual.

Setting your Parental Control!

It' s easy to set your Parental Control, simply follow the instructions in our Getting Started Guide.

Click here to download

File size: 1.4 Mb

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3. Education

Ultimately, it is important to discuss with your children what they see on TV and in all media. Here are the 3 important topics to discuss with your children:

• TV Programs have various points of view.


• TV has values and points. We must help our children understand these TV shows are not real.


• Interpretation of views on TV are seen differently by people. A wide variety of views will be taken away from the shows depending on the age, gender and life experiences of each person. We must watch and discuss the important issues portrayed by the shows. Question your children about what they are watching.