An Argument against Television for Children

The effect of television on children is an endless debate that has been going on for years. Many studies have been conducted examining the effects of violent TV shows on the minds of young children. However, Seth Mullins, an experienced writer and parent, scrutinizes the impact that even harmless programming can have upon the ways that children think and feel. With both an emotional and logical argument, Mullins is able to convince parents that television is only depleting children’s minds by substituting digital images for their own inner ones and lulling their senses to sleep.

In order to convince parents of the negative effects of even harmless TV, Seth Mullins had to use rhetorical devices that would show his audience both the “evidence” supporting his argument as well emotions to display the horrors of television. So, throughout his article, Mullins used forms of both quantitative and qualitative exemplification to support his argument. For example, when opening his articles he writes, “Studies have shown that in the past few decades, a significant number of American children spent more time in front of a television set than in a classroom. Many of them were free to watch without supervision; in fact, nearly a quarter had sets in their own rooms.” With this form of exemplification, Mullins’ audience sees the numerical side of the argument that shows the general scope of the problem. To attack his audience’s emotions as well, Mullins employs a more emotional, qualitative form of exemplification that does not use numbers to make the argument, but words. In order to show parents the possible benefits of curbing television he says that if children were to step away from the screen their, “imaginations, reasoning abilities and spontaneity will flourish.” Although not numerical, Seth Mullins still gives his audience an example of what could happen if parents pull their child away from the screen.

Overall, I do believe Mullins was able to accomplish his purpose of showing parents the negative effects of even harmless television on children. The use of both qualitative and quantitative exemplification shows his audience a two-sided argument that fulfilled both their emotional and logical needs.