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.