Children S Health News
Media and Children by Colleen Sheridan
Understanding the Impact of Media on Children and Teens
In a matter of seconds most children can mimic a TV character, sing and advertising jingle or give an example of something else they have learned from media. Whether it’s TV, radio or magazines, children are exposed to negative (and positive) media daily. Sometimes you can see the impact of media right away. When your child sees their favorite superhero fighting and then copies their moves during play is one way. Most of the time the impact is not as obvious and occurs as children see and hear negative messages. We live in a society were media is the norm and it is here to stay. Unfortunately some things children are learning from media are, the names of beers, striking a “sexy” pose or play fighting and name calling. It is up to the parents to make choices for young children about what is appropriate for viewing and what is not.
The average child in the United States spends 25 hours a week in front of the television. By age four or five (the height of the brains critical growth period for cognitive and language development) children are spending 25 hours a week watching television. Elementary aged children and teens average 28 hours a week in front of the television (six times the amount spent on homework). The typical American youth spends more hours watching television than any other activity other than sleeping.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 hours of “quality” programming a day. They also suggest that children under 2 years of age should not watch television at all and older children should not have televisions in their bedrooms. Over the past several decades a number of studies have shown that there are several ways the television can be harmful to children’s mental and physical health. When children watch television more frequently than recommended and parents do not help steer their viewing to more positive choices, the effects can be detrimental.
Poor School Performance
Most programs for children on television are non educational. Only a handful, teach children important skills such as math, science, reading or problem solving. Time spent watching TV is linked to poorer school performance and lower scores on standardized tests. Late night television watching tires children out so they can’t pay attention in school. Television hands out all the answers to children promoting passive learning and making it difficult for children to problem solve. Television is not interactive nor is it tailored to conversation making it a poor at teaching language skills. More effective reading skills rely on auditory language ability therefore if children learn to rely on visual skills they are essentially guessing what a word says by how it looks. Watching television also requires less mental effort than reading.
Heavy Viewing = Heavy Kids
There is a strong relationship between time spent in front of the television and being overweight, according to the American Medical Association. The well known “couch potato syndrome” is a result of too many calories (probably from junk food being eaten unconsciously) and not burning enough calories (sitting still, as opposed to running around playing). The television also gives women of all ages an unrealistic picture of how people look. While television promotes unhealthy eating (junk food and restaurant ads) it also tells people to diet and be thin all the while taking away from physical activity. The good news is that the effects are reversible! Studies show that overweight children who decrease their television viewing lose weight!
Television Violence Effects Children
Shows that are designed for children specifically are not always violence free. The Media in the Home survey found that 28% of all children’s shows contained four to five violent acts per show- a number that experts consider way too high. Several studies have shown that children who watch violent programs are likely to display violent, aggressive and anti-social behavior depending on the violence in the programming. It also causes poor sleep patterns in children which leads to daytime sleepiness. The emotional distress caused by violent shows can prevent children from getting adequate sleep and caused nightmares. These abnormal sleep patterns then cause daytime sleepiness which ultimately cause poor school performance.
The Negative Impact of Television: