Essay On Effects Of Media On Children

Ashley Mancera Smith

Mrs. Jakusz

English 11

13 March 2014

Investigating the Effects of Media On Children

“As policymakers - and as parents - we have a responsibility to examine the effects of media on our children, a responsibility this legislation can better enable us to fulfill. No one is looking out, in a systematic way, for cumulative impact of today's newer electronic media on our children.”, states Joseph Lieberman, former United States Senator. This quote portrays the effect of media on children accurately. Media has a immense outcome of how kids portray the world, and what they learn. Current media research has shown that exposure to media, especially on young children, may lead to a decline in social skills, a decline in academic capabilities, and an increase in child obesity.

Media has a huge impact on a child’s social skills. Television, for example, plays a large role in a child’s life, teaching them how to act, and showing them prosocial and antisocial behaviors, Barbara J. Wilson, Author of “Media and Children's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism” maintains that:

“So much public attention has been paid to potential negative effects of the media on children that parents and researchers alike have scarcely acknowledged the positive. Yet if television and movies can teach children antisocial behaviors such as aggression, then it makes sense that these same media can teach beneficial behaviors as well. The challenge is to differentiate the media messages that are potentially harmful from those that are positive or prosocial in nature.”

Children have clearly experienced a substantial amount of violence in media, especially TV, teaching children to act aggressively and antisocial, but media also can teach ...

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... a higher risk of being overweight at age 6. This indicates that a child’s eating habits should be monitored while they are watching TV and that children should be more active and exchange an hour of TV for an hour of physical activity to decrease the risk of obesity.

Moreover, media as a whole has a huge effect on children. Media is an influential source in a young child’s life, they learn from different types of media, they take what they see for example on TV, and that becomes how they view the world. Furthermore, children learn how to act from media they learn social skills whether it is negative or positive, they also achieve their academic approaches from various technology means, and may become obese if they are influenced too much. Media has an enormous part of a young child’s life, it teaches them many lessons and contributes to them as a whole.