Media's Adverse Affect On Youth
...everyday. We witnessed live the terrible events of 9-11, and the news of the latest school shooting in Minnesota. We pray for the children kidnapped, and mourn when their bodies are found. We hear the latest trial news from child molestation cases. We live in a world where terrible violent acts occur every day, in all walks of life. Thanks to the media we hear and see these events as they occur. Violence is not only being brought into our homes by news anymore, it is being brought in by our entertainment. The television shows, cartoons, advertising, movies, computer and video games we use as entertainment are becoming more violent. This violence is being portrayed as fun entertainment and there is an increasing amount of violence that is being glorified rather than criticized. We are being exposed to more violence in today's media; with this increase in exposure to violence we are seeing an increase of negative effects in our children and adolescence.
To fully understand this we must first look at child development. Children from birth to six change and develop swiftly, the early experiences in their lives lay the foundation for later development. Child Development Scientists indicate that children are most susceptible to negative medial influences between the ages of birth to school age (Center on Media and Child Health, 2005). During this time of their lives they are establishing their personalities and social behavior.
Children between the ages of six and thirty months who viewed interactive educational programs like Dora the Explorer, Blues Clues, Arthur, and Dragon Tales had greater language development, while children viewing non-educational programming had a reduced vocabulary. In addition to increased lingual abilities, children who watched Blues Clues also scored higher on standardized tests (Center on Media and Child Health, 2005). This exemplifies...
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