Television advertising directed toward young children (aged two to five) should not be allowed.

Most of the children in the 21st century spend inevitably a lot of time watching TV screens as their parents are busy at work or home providing for the family. On the other hand it is evident that what we expose our children to at the early ages of 2 to 5 will have a deep and long-term influence on their minds and mental skills. That is why we need to be extra cautious about what we put on TV for this age group and for the very same reason displaying advertising programs directed toward children in their early ages should be strictly prohibited in order to avoid any harm to their delicate minds. According to recent studies, excessive TV watch time can be quite detrimental to a child brain functionality. One research conducted on a number of volunteers showed that while watching TV, brain cortex functionality is reduced to a level that is even lower than cerebral activity while sleeping. That is why we need to minimize their screen time just for educational purposes or when we have no other choice to keep children entertained. For that reason, adding any extra watch time seems unethical, specifically if it is for the sake of advertisement and selling products or services. One may argue that the fund from advertising can improve the quality of the programs for young people. However, we should keep in mind that the purpose of these programs should be education or entertainment only; and commercializing the content can mislead the original purpose and focus more on selling rather than teaching. Moreover, not all advertisements promote goods that are beneficial to the mind and body. We as grownups may be able to differentiate what is good or bad, but children will be easily tricked to crave anything that is displayed colorfully on the screen. Thirdly, watching commercials on TV will eventually encourage children to ask for more goods or services and it will be their parents that have to provide the necessary resources or money to buy new products in exactly a period when they are already burdened with other heavy expenses of child care from clothes to health and education. To recap, we need to minimize screen time for all children and prohibit the display of advertisements directed toward young children.