Adults And Children Watch example essay topic

With crime and detective programmes, there are distinctive patterns which occur. In our survey, all of the younger people did watch these programmes. This shows us that they appeal to the younger generation. This could be for a number of reasons, but mainly because of the content; they are often exciting and deal with modern day issues, such as drugs. These appeal because they have action and issues close to the heart of many young people.

This can be further shown when we look at the responses to whether the programmes are realistic or not: 84% thought that they were, meaning that they have the added appeal of seeing what life dealing with crime is really about. Younger people all watched them as a diversion from everyday life. These results can be almost replicated where adults are concerned; only 11% of adults did not watch these kinds of programmes. However, the questionnaire shows that adults tend to watch the programmes for very different reasons to the younger people. As expected, some do watch them for the diversion from everyday life. However, they also watch them for personal relationships or discussion, i.e. talking to people.

The reason given is that they like to find out who has committed the crime. This can be explained because adults tend to use their brain more than children, and so they figure things out where as children only veg out. 11% of the adults also watched them to seek information, a similar reason to the previous one. The types of crime and detective programmes that adults and children watch also tell us a lot about them. Children tend to watch ones like The Bill, X-Files and Police, Camera, Action These are all quite short, not longer that an hour, and have lots of action in them. This means that children have a low boredom threshold and like lots of action.

These programmes are also the ones found to be less realistic by adults, which shows us that children certainly watch for diversion and not so much for surveillance. The adults, on the other hand, as well as watching these, also are inclined to watch programmes such as McCallum, Morse and Hetty Wainthropp. These are the ones deemed more realistic. This means that the adults watch the programmes which are more like real life, for surveillance.

They are also the longer, one hour programmes, showing that adults can watch for longer without having constant action. The attention that is paid to a plot of such programmes is very important because it tells us how interesting people find them. Taking time to watch them is also an important factor. With children, 84% follow the plot very closely, which shows us that they have more spare time, on the whole, compared to adults, as the majority only follow the plot reasonably well.

However, it is interesting to note that a very low percentage of both children and adults do not follow the plot closely most of the time. This clearly means that crime and detective programmes are gripping, and people obviously want to pay attention to them. Indeed, time is usually allocated to watch them. There is a different pattern emerging here, though. Adults are the group who make time to watch them, 66% in fact. This means that they are the ones who want to watch them, but they end up getting distracted, possibly by children, and dont pay as much attention as children to the plot.

Children also want to watch them, but only 56% make time to watch them. This means that because they follow the plot carefully, they are less fussy about what they watch, and pay careful attention to any programme. This can be shown further in the data regarding the time spent watching them per week. Children do not, as seen earlier make time specifically to watch the crime and detective programmes. They, on average, watch them three times a week. This is less than adults who watch them four times a week.

This is in line with the details that show adults make time to watch crime and detective programmes. One of the most striking things that can be drawn from this questionnaire is that families do not often watch programmes all together. This is due mainly to the fact that there is usually more than one television in the household. This can be used to say that families of old and young people have different tastes in general programmes, and are even divide in the sort of crime and detective programmes that they watch. However, we have shown that 75% of families fight over what to watch despite these luxuries.

This is due mainly to the fact that people prefer to watch in the living room than the kitchen, for example. This is probably due to the fact that people like to watch their television in maximum comfort. Despite all this, the average figure for families watching together is around once a week. This shows that families still have some common interests, proved by the questionnaire to be crime and detective programmes. There is a certain fascination associated with crime which draws people to watch it, for different reasons possibly, but nevertheless to watch it together. If in the small number of cases where families do watch the television together, it is interesting to note which member of the family decides what to watch.

Only 10% of the families said that the children chose what to watch. This means, therefore, that the parents choose what to watch in the vast majority of cases. If we refer back to the findings on who makes time to watch the crime and detective programmes, we can see that the parents are the ones who make time to watch the programmes, and they decide to watch it as a family. Also, the children dont specifically want to watch it, but they enjoy it; they are forced into liking it.

With regard to time spent watching television in general, the results are not at all surprising. Children, on average, watch four times as much television as their parents. This reinforces the earlier point that children have more free time to watch them. Also, as they watch far more, the genre of programmes will be far wider; they do not allocate time specifically to crime and detective programmes, instead channel-hopping. Adults watch less television, directing their concentration at crime and detective programmes as the questionnaire shows. There is a difference between the attention paid to a plot and the overall role of the television in the family.

It can either be primary, i.e. 100% concentration, secondary, doing something else as well, or tertiary, where it is just on in the background. For children, the television is mainly primary; they have more time to watch it and concentrate harder on it. They also do not have to run a family. The adults do however, and this is evident as the television is mainly a secondary activity, as they have to cook, iron or they talk.

This was also proved earlier when children concentrated far more than adults on the plot of crime and detective programmes. To conclude, I have found that children like watching them more than adults, and prefer the shorter programmes with plenty of action. They watch them for distraction. Adults, on the other hand, still enjoy watching them, but tend to go for the longer, more realistic programmes. Children pay lots of attention to the plot but do not make sure of seeing them as much as adults do, who although they want to watch them, end up getting distracted.

With viewing patterns, families do not often watch programmes together, and when they do, children do not have much of a say in what they watch. Children spend far more time in front of the television than adults do, due to their free time. They are also not as particular about what they watch. Lastly, children concentrate on the television in general far more than adults do, as they have less work to do. Some of these results are surprising, but all of them show us some very interesting things as well.