They should not forget the enormous power they hold over the parents and children in any society. Public service and educational television should consider preventive measures to guide these parents to a healthier attitude toward TV viewing and child care. Many issues remain to be investigated. Finally, humans are information seekers by nature. Throughout the history of human evolution, we have developed cave paintings, ideographs and letters, parchment, books, printing machines, computers and the like.
Television is a new medium and one of the most effective means of transferring information.
A child's body grows with good nutrition and the mind develops with information. We pediatricians have to accept television as a new means for child care and develop deeper biological and cultural insights to such an end. Simply limiting broadcasting activity alone will not solve the problems arising from the negative aspects of television. We must make structural approaches of child ecology based on developmental behavioral science and sociocultural medical anthropology, as well as, through community administration and cooperation of the broadcasting institutions. We, pediatricians, have important responsibility for it.