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<title> How TV affects children </title>
I have concentrated on the effect that television has on children, since I believe that they are the ones who are most vulnerable to what is on TV and get influenced by that a lot more than adults do. There are both pros and cons to the influence of TV in children's lives, but I think there are fewer pros than cons. I will start by telling about what I believe are the positive aspects of watching television as a child, and then go on with the negative sides to it, relying on my own experiences, and what I have been told by others.
I for one learned a lot from TV when I was younger. My English improved a lot as I watched American series and movies on TV. I also saw some educational and entertaining children's programs like, "Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter" or in English, "Five ants are more than four elephants", where you can learn to count and read. Other good programs based upon the books of our famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren are, "Pippi Longstocking" or "Madicken", which are perhaps not so educational but certainly amusing. They still show these programs nowadays as reruns, and other good programs as well. "Hjärnkontoret" or "The brain office" is a program for a bit older children, from 10 years old perhaps, where you can ask questions about almost anything you are curious about and get answers. They deal with all sorts of things, from what you do when you get lost in the woods to scientific projects.
	However there is a lot of junk on TV as well, and programs not made for children that many kids see anyway. Although I think it is up to the parents to control how long their children sit in front of the TV-set, and what they watch, so that they don't see programs with a lot of violent scenes or sex scenes for example. There have been cases where children have committed murder, claiming they didn't think the victim would die because they don't do that in television. Of course these are extreme cases but it is awful that these things happen at all, but as I said earlier I think it is up to the parent to try to prevent these things. They will have to talk to their children and tell them what they see on TV many times isn't true, that it is fiction, and what would happen in real life if someone hit another person for example. 
	Violence on TV influencing children is a subject discussed by many people. Even though I agree this is a problem we need to deal with, I think there are other problems that are equally important concerning children who watch too much television. Some of these problems are that they sit still too much, and they don't use their imagination actively or take part in games with other children, which lead to under stimulation physically, as well as mentally, and socially. The lack of physical activity can lead to overweight problems, which is one of the biggest threats to people's health nowadays in western society. Again I believe it is up to the parents to do something about this. They should get their children to take part in some kind of sport activities or games with other children instead of watching TV or playing games on the computer.
	I have talked a lot about the responsibilities of the parents so far concerning what their children see on TV, but of course the television companies have a big responsibility as well. They have to make sure that what they show as children's programs are suitable for children, and that programs that are not for children are showed at a time when most kids have gone to bed and will not be able to see them.
	To conclude I would like to say that childhood is a very short but important period of a persons life, and you can spend that time in a much better way than sitting in front of the TV, you have lots of time for that later on in life.
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