AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF TELEVISION VIEWING ON THE HABITS OF STUDENTS IN SELECT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ZARIA, KADUNA STATE

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Author

Presented To

Department of Arts

ABSTRACT
Access to the television set is prominent among young people. However, due to the influence of television, some of its programmes/contents have been linked to incidents of social vices such as open violence, illicit sex, drug abuse and other related immoral acts. The study therefore setsout to establish the effects of television viewing on habit formation among secondary school students in Zaria metropolis. The objectives of this study areto determine the level of secondary school studentsexposure to television viewing, identify the type of programmes/contents that secondary school students view on television and examine the perceptions of secondary school students on the effects of television viewing on their habits formation. The theoretical frameworks deployed for this study are the Cultivation theory of mass media by George Gerbner (1976) which propose that heavy viewers of television are thought to be cultivating attitudes that seem to believe that the world created by television is an accurate depiction of the real world, while Bandura‟s social learning theory/Modelling process (1977) reveals a clear connection between what is seen on the screen and what is enacted in real life through learning. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The instruments used to elicit data for this research were questionnaire, focus group discussion and key informant interview. The targeted population is students of Demonstration and Government Secondary Schools in Zaria metropolis with a sample sizeof 375 respondents. Findings of this study revealed that television viewing is prevalent among secondary school students in Zaria and they watch television daily for relaxation, enlightenment and entertainment purpose. It also discovered that the students prefer watching foreign television channels, films/movies more frequently than local ones which expose them to certain television contents that are alien to our norms and traditions which can be detrimental to their minds and cognitive development. Furthermore, the study established that exposure to viewing unsupervised and restricted television programmes that portray contents that are unsuitable for young minds have negative influence on the habits formation of secondary school students.The study recommends that parents and guardians should endeavour to control or minimize the access to television set and frequency of television viewing by their children. Theyshould be active in monitoring and scrutinizing the type of channels and programmes viewed by children, especially foreign television channels and programmes.