Many argue that children are both physically and intellectually inactive while watching television. Huston et al support the argument, with studies to it back up, that "children are continuously making judgements about the comprehensibility and interest of the content and thinking about the credibility, context, and applicability of what they are viewing.?Huston et al, pg.15) It is true that children are not actively interacting with the television, as they would be if they were in school with a teacher. They show that there have been significant efforts to overcome this by attempting to have kids interact with the television through certain segments of show such as Sesame Street and Mister Rodgers?Neighborhood. .
Another argument that has been repeatedly disputed is that television reduces the attention spans of children. One study proposed that programs containing short segments that have a rapid pace, as the ones shown on Sesame Street, might lead children to be easily distracted, to lose interest in a topic quickly, and thus have a short attention span. (Huston pg.17) It is shown that this is not supported by evidence.On the contrary, heavy viewers of Sesame Street are rated as being slightly better prepared for school and as having a more positive attitude toward school than infrequent viewers.?(Huston pg. 18) Another experimental study, showed that children who were exposed to rapid segments compared to long ones did not show any differences is several attention tests. (Huston pg.18).
Huston not only dispelled myths about the negative connotations of television, but expose studies that show the incredible positive effects it can have on children. Most of these studies are conducted on the program Sesame Street.
It is hard to find out any one that was not raised by watching Sesame Street. It is by far the most widely watched educational children show in the history of television.