Kids And Media

Kids and Media

"What's the big deal?" Cartman asks. "It doesn't hurt anybody." "Fu**-fu**ety-fu**-fu**-fu**" (South). Actually it does hurt somebody. Each and every day kids spend hours perched in front of the television, watching and playing everything that they can get their hands on. What they don't realize is that every passing moment that they sit in front of that magic box their brains are being implanted with unwanted information. Information that may be detrimental to their behavior and their lifestyle. Media is defined as including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, video games, and the computer. Children use these means of communication on a daily basis thus increasing the influence that media has on them. The average American child spends five hours and 29 minutes a day using media (Kiesewetter). That's one minute less than the daily minimum instructional time for Ohio secondary schools (Kiesewetter). There is something wrong with this picture. Children today are spending almost as much time sitting in front of the television as they spend going to school. Instead of learning that five plus five equals ten, they are learning ten not so nice ways to tell their brother or sister what they really think of them. Media has a great influence on kids today and plays a huge roll in their behavior, their lifestyle, and the type of person that they become.

The first type of media and most widely used is the television. When children turn on that television they sometimes get an unexpected education. The television can be a very powerful influence in developing ideals and shaping behavior. Unfortunately most of today's television is very violent so the more television a child watches the more susceptible that child is to pick up those tendencies. A child's mind is like a sponge. It absorbs anything and everything that it comes into contact with. That is why TV violence is such a problem for kids. Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts (Torr 11). Instead of with words like most kids are customarily taught. Parents can drill the ideals of non-violence into their kids heads all they want, but the moment that child turns on the television and sees that power ranger kicking that bad guy in the head, all bets are off. Children are naturally going to identify with certain characters. And, after a while, that child is going to start to imitate the violence, and that's where many of the problems start. As a child grows older they are going to keep the ideals that have been instilled in them. Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed (Torr 11). If they grew up watching violent TV programs then they are much more likely to live a violent life. But, at the same time, its not only violence that is the problem with television these days. Horrible language and strong sexual references also come up very often on the TV. These vices are also imitated by young kids. The more bad language a child hears on television the more likely they are to use those specific words. There are certain programs that are so filled with swear words that every other word has to be beeped out. Kids are learning these words and believe that it is okay to use them on a daily basis because that's what their favorite TV characters are doing. I know from personal experience that I learned some new swear words from shows such as South Park or Bevis and Butthead. Kids continue to use these words as they grow up so by the time they are adults, that language is so in-grained in their vocabulary that these words come as second nature to them. Also kids are becoming more and more familiar with sex at a very young age because of certain TV programs. According to a recent study performed by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2001, over two-thirds of TV shows, including 84 percent of sitcoms, now contain sexual content (Steyer 47). That's an average exposure to more that 14,000 sexual references each year, and that's just on the television (Steyer 47). This exposure is causing young adults to become sexually active at a much younger age, which in turn brings in the complications that come with having sex. For example teen pregnancy or STD's. These certain television programs are harming our youth and the longer we sit back and let kids watch hours upon hours of TV the more it is going to greatly influence their lives.

Not only do the television programs influence kids today but also the television advertisements. Day in and day out kids see and hear hundreds of advertisements for many different types of products. The most common of course being fast food ads. After every commercial thinking to themselves, "Wow I could really go for some chicken nuggets." These advertisements are only adding to the problem of childhood obesity. America today is the most obese it has ever been and it is partly due to the fact that these fast food restaurants make their foods look so appealing in radio and TV spots. In 2004, 17.1 percent of American children and teen's ages 2 to 19 were obese and an additional 16.5 percent were at risk of becoming obese. (Murdock). If child obesity continues to grow at the current rate, 20 percent of children and adolescents will be obese by 2010 (Murdock) Children