Media Effects on Children Developmental Psychology June 18, 2011 Robert W. Case Website: http://makingsense.proboards.

com

The first half the 20th century, saw many technological, industrial, and scientific advancements. Out from among those advancements rose a primary source of entertainment, a source for news and commentary, and a means for which children and adults could engage or debate emerging cultural trends advancing within the fabric of society. That primary influence I am referring to is television. Television since its conception, has evolved in numerous and various ways. Television which at one time was confined to the family room in most American households is available in any and every room imaginable. In fact, 29% of children aged two to 3 years old have a television set in their bedroom. 43% age 4 to 6 have one in theirs (Rideout & Hamel, 2006). And it doesnt stop there. Within the past 20 years, television has become so portable, that a person can bring one with them in their car, their lunch bags, or even in their pockets. Whats even more interesting is that with the invention of the Apple I-phone and other multimedia telephone devices, television programming content can be accessed easily and with the simple slide of a finger on a compact touch screen. Despite the evolution of television and the massive growth of multimedia options available to us, a childs exposure to media is far more tremendous than any other time in history. While the primary purpose for mass media is to make money, the means for which to produce it has the potential to influence and affect a child for the better in some areas, and for the worse in others. When a child is of preschool age, he is in a sensitive state of cognitive advancement and discovery. A preschooler has the potential to perceive things, recognize, think, use his imagination, match language with objects and symbols, etc. When a child processes information he becomes capable of taking in information (encoding), stores it (storage), and from there, is able to retrieve the information attained (retrieval).

While a child is in that state of cognitive development, media has a very strong influence on him. While media produces an overwhelming amount of output, a growing child is in a state of input, absorbing what in this world surrounds him. One of the draws media has on a child is that it offers him an alternative reality that is unconventional and set apart from the reality he is actually experiencing. Those in charge of media output rely largely on imagination and creativity to attract viewers and charge advertisers according to the approximate viewership the program receives. In that, media offers its audience characters who can fly, perform magic to instantly get what one wants or needs, drive flashy cars, make animals talk, or make silly looking drawings come alive, and do all sorts of cool things that can only be seen when the television set is turned on, on a certain day, at a certain time, on a certain channel. After the show has ended, the magic is over until the next day if a show airs on a daily basis, or the following week if the show airs on a weekly basis. The thing that attracts children to the television set the most is program content. In examining six separate television programs currently running on Saturday mornings, I have noticed that the programming content has changed dramatically from when I was a child. When I was a child, childrens programming was far more visually stunning, violent, fun, and funny. Now, most of the cartoons that are on TV are child friendly, educational, and teach to a bigger degree, moral values. Yet while childrens programming is largely less violent than it was before, the television programming I assessed was both fun and funny. Out of the six television programs that I examined, two were predominantly comical, fun, and energetic (Phineas & Ferb/ Disneys The Emperors New School), two were visually stunning in the sense that they were computer animated, colorful, adventurous, and taught moral values (Turbo Dogs/ Shelldon), and two were more violent and contained questionable material

for preschool viewing audiences (Trollz/ Dragonball Z Kai). While all of the television programs have their own distinct natures, some of them possess a number of similarities. Most of the television programs observed possessed positive attitudes and behaviors in solving their problems. In one instance, I found one thing that I found stereotypical within the context of gender. A couple of shows did possess some occult-like characteristics, and most of the shows observed portrayed their villains as ugly or disfigured. What I did find within the more violent oriented cartoons was that they were mostly confined to one network. In viewing the TV listings, I noticed that WGN Saturday mornings have more graphic and violent oriented cartoons than the other networks. In fact, WGNs Saturday morning lineup consists largely of Japanimation, also known as anime and its target audience is of a post-preschool persuasion, yet preschoolers can easily access the content by a simple click of a button be it intentional or accidental. Violence in media is a concern that must be controlled responsibly by the parent. The effects of violence in childrens cartoons have been known to cause effects that are both problematic and damaging to a child who in his state of not being able to decipher reality from fantasy, might think its okay to react violently if a child cannot get his way, or another child stands in the way of this childs pursuits whatever that pursuit may be. As a couple of noted researchers observed; According to an information-processing perspective, repeated exposure to violence in the media encourages the learning of scripts or mental routines of aggression that then become activated when a child encounters ambiguous or challenging social situations. Exposure to media violence also can lead to desensitization. Surveys have

documented a link between heavy exposure to media violence and childrens acceptance or tolerance of aggression as a problem solving tactic. In addition, there is experimental evidence that exposure to fictional violence can reduce childrens willingness to intervene in real-life aggressive altercations. (Nabi/ Oliver 2009). Violence also has the potential to seep into a childs playtime activities and pretend play which can start out as harmless, can evolve into a harmful situation if, lets say, one of the children involved accidentally hurts another child while play fighting, and taking on the roles of the fictional characters they saw on TV. I have seen this occur many times in my lifetime, and on numerous occasions when my younger brothers were of a significantly young age. If both kids were play fighting, and one got hurt for real, the one who got hurt would try to hurt the other one to get even. In childrens television, stereotypes have the potential to be shaped within childrens programming. While racial and ethnic stereotypes have largely faded away due to political pressure, gender stereotypes, though more controlled, continue to be incorporated within childrens television. Although the male and female characters are evident in how they are presented by societal social characteristics (for example, girls have more feminine colors like pink, purple, and light colors), stereotypes do in fact exist. For example, in the program Phineas and Ferb, the sister character possesses traits such as nagging, whining, and fawning over the boy she likes. Even in the cartoon Trollz, many of the girls wear clothing that, some say, is a bit too skimpy for a television show (Common Sense Media). One of the main concerns researchers

have about sterotypes is that because of television children possess more stereotyped attitudes about other groups (Greenberg & Mastro 47, 277-280). The last thing regarding program content that I would like to discuss is the use of occult references within the shows observed. In Dragonball Z Kai, for example, the characters involved must use their powers, or more appropriately, their energies in order to defeat the evil villain. In the cartoon series Trollz, they all possess a glow and their own set of magical powers, and when they overcome their individual obstacles and combine their powers together; they can defeat the evil villain that they encounter. While the use of magic and witchcraft in cartoons and fantasy settings are widely accepted and largely seen as fictional fantasy unrelated and separated from reality, real-life witchcraft is an influential member of the occult, which has its influence within the New Age movement and consists of activity that God directly forbids (Deuteronomy 18:9-13, Galatians 5:19-20). Perhaps it is possible that because a child of preschool age is unable to tell between fantasy and reality, there is a likelier potential to plant seeds that could later on be nurtured by simply visiting a book store and seeing a real life magic section, or interacting with friends who either express interest in, or dabble with those energies themselves. Although the god of this world knows exactly what he is doing, there are many people in the entertainment industry who are completely unaware of the spiritual nature of the components they incorporate in their material. Yet when the concern is called out, it triggers an uncomfortable feeling whether pro or con because of the fact that many of these stories are make-believe and most people know it. For centuries, magic has been incorporated in age-old fairy tales and fantasies and because of their attractive influence to convey messages within society, some authors may have innocently embraced and utilized the genre within a strict make believe setting to convey spiritual Christian messages (i.e. Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles

of Narnia) and attract children to them. Perhaps the best way to handle this type of situation is to teach a child the difference between real magic and make believe fantasy. All of what has been described in this piece amounts to one primary goal: Making Money. Program content is essentially a vehicle to attract viewers to the advertisements that air within the programs commercial breaks. Advertisers spend millions of dollars targeting youth because children learn brand loyalty from commercials (Nabi Oliver 474). While observing childrens television programs, I noticed that most of the items that were advert ised consisted of breakfast cereals, restaurants like Mc Donalds and Chuck E Cheeses, that largely have a fun and playful environment for children, and/or include a toy when you buy a happy meal. I was however surprised that there were many PSAs and more adult oriented commercials targeted to parental authorities who may be concerned about their childs future. I was very surprised to learn that there were much fewer commercials advertising toys than I had expected. Advertisers are at a great advantage to target young children because of their cognitive limitations to see past the strategies and be enticed by the product. As one researcher noted: In essence, the researchers argued that young children should be strongly influenced by the appearance of advertisements and should be unaware of the underlying reality (the selling, persuasive function of advertisements). In a similar vein, other scholars have argued that younger children should be less likely to understand the purposes of advertising inasmuch as they have difficulty taking perspectives other than their own, which means they should have trouble comprehending that

the advertiser has goals and needs that differ profoundly from their own. (Jeffres 189). That said, it is an advertisers great advantage to use computer generated effects and generate appearances that will, in the imagination of a child, make playtime much more fun and exciting. In my observation of the advertisements that aired, there was at least one toy commercial that would fall under the category of misleading advertisement. It was a Hot Wheels commercial that advertised a toy car in relation to the new Green Lantern movie that is going to be released in movie theaters this summer. The commercial consisted of a green, glowing, computer generated race track that appears in the sky and moves in animation all over the screen with a really cool race car driving really fast on it. Of course, the car itself is nothing more than just a Hot Wheels car with some fancy, Green Lantern artwork on it. But nonetheless the commercial made that toy look appealing. And yet, this type of advertising is not only limited to toys. It also applies to food. As advertising for Mc Donalds Happy Meals, focus es more on the toys than on the burger, for example, the burger and the fries are in fact very tasty, and well liked by most kids to a degree that advertisers dont really need to advertise the food. However with the primary focus on the toy Mc Donalds is advertising, if Mc Donalds features a variety of toys within a certain set (like toys that promote a theatrical movie for example, and feature different characters) kids may want to collect all of them and in their pursuit to do so, their likelihood of becoming obese gradually increases. And although advertising has changed dramatically towards breakfast cereals since I was a kid, some of the cereals highlighted their nutrition in their advertising; while the more sugar based cereals (like Post Fruity Pebbles cereal) stressed taste saying that it was a tasty part of this complete breakfast.

There is no doubt that media has various effects on children, and that influence does in fact lead to outcomes that affect a child cognitively and physically whether it be for the better or worse. Yet despite its massive influence, its effects, and its abilities to trigger reactions out of children, it is manageable and a childs exposure to it must be properly and carefully regulated by a parent or caretaker. A child can only become obese if he has his way all the time. It is likelier for a child to develop an interest in the occult if parents do not teach them the difference between make-believe fantasy and involvement in real life occult practices. And while it is impossible to escape violence, a child must be taught that it is wrong. In the midst of a world that does things that God alone does not approve of, God nonetheless established a path to healthy living and physical, cognitive, and emotional peace and preservation. Yet it all rests on a persons ability to be responsible for ones self and to choose which influence he will be led by. And while a child is not stable enough to make those decisions, a parent must decide for him until he reaches the age where he can make stable decisions on his own.

Works Cited: Jeffres, Leo W. Mass Media Effects . Prospect Heights, Il: Waveland Press Inc., 1997. Mastro, Greenberg &. Handbook of Children, Media, and Development O. Boston: WileyBlackwell, 2008. Oliver, Rabin L. Nabi & Mary Beth. The SAGE Handbook of Media Processes and Effects . Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc., 2009. Rideout, V. & Hamel, E. The Media Family: Electronic Media in the lives of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, & Their Parents. Palo Alto, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006.

Web Source Cited:

No primary author, but various domestic reviewers, Accessed June 18, 2011 http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/Trollz.html