Negative Effects of Media on Children - Research Paper Example

? Negative Effects of Media on children School Negative Effects of Media on Children There has been a rapid technological development since the industrial revolution of the 19th century. First radio, then TV, then computer, and then Internet, there has been an increase in the range of creations one after another. All of these have been made use of to spread knowledge and awareness. TV has been the biggest source of entertainment and advertisement since its introduction in the society. Media has served the interests of people of all ages. Children happen to be the prime audiences of media. Young generation particularly the children view the TV and use the Internet more than people of any other age-group because of a number of reasons. “The average American child watches an estimate between 25,000 to 40,000 television commercials per year. In the UK, it is about 10,000” (Shah, 2010). Elders have such activities as higher studies and work that put constraints upon the time for which they can view TV or use the Internet for non-work purposes. Children have ample time to give to media. “By age 18 years, the average child has spent the equivalent of more than 2 years of his or her life watching television” (Tuberose.com, n.d.). Multinational companies have used this fact as a means to exploit the children for personal gains. While children have benefited from the media in some ways, the potential negative consequences of media on children far outweigh the positive ones. Presence of three or more risk factors increases the likelihood of occurrence of the negative consequences, (Kirsh, 2010, p. 240) and the number of risk factors in media for children is far more than just three. Media has made children the “passive zombie-viewers” (Fisch cited in Bryant and Oliver, 2009, p. 402). This paper discusses the negative effects of media on the children. Media has destroyed the children physically, psychologically and morally. Media has altered children’s eating habits for the worse and has exposed them to the risk of a lot of diseases. In the past, children used to consume more organic food than they do today. Children used to be much more prudent in their use of money in the past than they are now. “Sure, they bought penny candy and an occasional soft drink, but retailers did not think of them as customers per se. They were more often perceived as "Mrs. Bohuslov's kids" who just happened to buy something while they were in the store. Children had money, but it was for saving, not spending” (McNeal, 2011). Today, children happen to be the biggest consumers of the fast food of all kinds. A vast majority of children have made such food items as burgers, pizzas, pastries, chocolates, and soft drinks a necessary part of their meals. Change in the quality of foods they consume can be fundamentally attributed to media. “$15-17 billion is spent by companies advertising to children in the US. Over $4 billion was spent in 2009 by the fast food industry alone” (Shah, 2010). Most of the fast food commercials are broadcast during the cartoon movies and other TV programs that are meant for the children. Another reason why children should be considered the intended audience of these commercials is the fact that a vast majority of such commercials involve child stars. Little children can be seen eating and enjoying the chocolates, biscuits, cupcakes as well as the KFC and McDonalds’ burgers. Children viewing these commercials gain inspiration from the ones that are performing in them. As a result of consuming the fast foods, children are becoming overweight and obese. Unlike the past, there is a considerable population of children that are obese and have acquired many illnesses and diseases consequently. For example, diabetes was considered to be the disease only in adults in the past. These days, it is not uncommon for a child to have diabetes and blood pressure. Bad eating habits acquired in the tender age of childhood remain with an individual throughout the life. “Experts believe if the current trends continue by 2015 approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese” (News Medical, 2011). Hence, sooner or later, the individual becomes overweight or obese and acquires all the illnesses and diseases with these conditions. Today’s children are not only physically unfit, but are also lavish spenders. The nudity projected in the TV programs and video games have potential negative effects upon the children. Although there are rules in many countries that limit children’s access to the nude stuff and pornography (Moyer-Guse and Riddle, 2009, p. 54), yet the children are never completely protected. One way or the other, they find access to such things. One of the most common means employed by children to view the prohibited stuff is the Internet. Again, parents can block the porn websites for their children, but this method is not quite effective as a child can access nude pictures anyway simply by typing letters like “sex” and “nude” on the search bar of the search engine and pressing enter. No strategy whatsoever can completely block a child’s access to the material that they should principally not be seeing. Video games are another source of dangerous entertainment for the children of all ages. A lot of video games based on sex and violence are available today. While many of them are banned today, there is no doubt in the fact that they had been originally made for the children as not many adults find interest in video games when they have access to the real material. Such video games are so violent and full of porn and nudity that there is no way a child play them and not be inspired from them in negative ways. The same inspiration has caused a manifold increase in the number of teenage pregnancies and the cases of sexually transmitted diseases as AIDS. Besides, violent video games make children aggressive (Tompkins, 2003). Media is one of the biggest and most fundamental promoters of homosexuality. Homosexuals were always there even before the TV and computer were introduced into the society, yet they had never exposed their sexual identities as overtly as they do today. “[Same-sex marriage] was mainstream to some degree, but now that they've deigned it worthy of the show, it is interwoven into the fabric of popular culture” (Richmond cited in Robinson, 2008). While many people may not see homosexuality as a bad practice, no parent would deny that it is bad. No parent would like to see his/her son or daughter getting engaged in sexual relationship with an individual from the same gender. It is potentially upsetting and devastating for the parents to see their children growing up as gays or lesbians. There has been an increase in the number of homosexuals with the passage of time since the invention of TV, computer and the Internet. More importantly, people have become more overt about their homosexual identity. [A] place where gays have [been] actually encouraged to tell all is in the increasingly popular medium of daytime talk shows. Talk show hosts encourage public voyeurism, on-camera fights and vivid descriptions of those whose identities differ from the norm. All this increases their ratings and makes more money for the producers of the show, and they do succeed where others have failed by giving voice to those who are otherwise systematically silence. (Anderson, Fakhfakh, and Kondylis, 1999). In the past, homosexuality was considered as a taboo and a heinous practice. Today, media has brainwashed people to the extent that many countries have passed laws in favor of the homosexuals. Today, people can get married as gays or lesbians and live in the society like a normal citizen would. In this way, media has both directly encouraged the children to choose whatever sexual identity they feel like, and indirectly by making them live in a society where gays and lesbians live in the neighborhood, if not in the very homes of the children. This has many negative consequences both for the children and the society as a whole. A lot of countries that have approved of the gay and lesbian marriages are already suffering from a negative population growth rate. In a society where straight couples are not making many children, allowing the people to cohabit as homosexuals will only aggravate the situation and the time is not far, when such societies would perish not only because of the negative population growth rate but also because of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases that occur because of homosexual practices. Excessive viewing of TV and use of Internet has made the children laggard. Children spend hours and hours viewing TV, playing video games, and surfing the net. This has become a routine. “Junk food, sedentary lifestyles and the 'electronic babysitters' of TV and computers are blamed for creating these couch potato children” (Hope, 2007). Consequently, children’s involvement in the physical activities has become very limited. They are neither used to doing physical activities, nor are very fond of them as there are hundreds of interesting activities to be done online. The laziness has become so overwhelming that it has proven a potential threat to life in many cases. Lazy children assume great risk of accidents when they go out. “[C]hildren who view 4 hours of television daily are 4.3 times more likely to be hospitalized for injury than are children who watch no television” (Tuberose.com, n.d.). Children carry this laziness as they grow up. They carry the same laziness in the workplace and prove incompetent. Media has altered the children’s psychology for the worse. Media negatively affects the development of cognitive skills in the children (Kirkoria, Wartella, and Anderson, 2008, p. 44). Three prime effects of viewing violence on the TV are decreased sensitivity and increased immunity among children towards others’ sufferings and pains, increased fear among the children of the world, and increased aggression in children towards others (APA Online cited in Richard, 2011). Children have developed a virtual world in which they spend more time than they do in the real world. This has deprived the children of the real life experiences that are necessary for the healthy psychological and physical development. “Common sense would suggest that television exposure replaces time that could be spent engaging in other developmentally enriching activities and tasks that foster cognitive, behavioral and motor development” (news.com.au, 2010). Media makes some children lifelong criminals. Since the introduction of Internet in the society, a lot of children have taken and forwarded their nude photos to their friends and on the porn websites. Some of these children have been punished and imprisoned for their act. Media not only provided them with a means to do the act originally, but also later played a role in keeping their act alive by broadcasting those photos in the news and in TV programs. “The photographer and the parents could be blamed for the taking of the photos, but any subsequent embarrassment, humiliation and other suffering caused by the widespread publication of these nude child photos lies squarely on the shoulders of the irresponsible media newshounds” (protectionists.org, 2008). Concluding, media has affected the children in a variety of ways. Children have become the prime targets of the multinational companies. Advertisements and commercials are made specifically for the children. Children have become the biggest consumers of junk food as a result of which, they have not only become overweight and obese, but have also acquired such diseases as diabetes and blood pressure. Nudity projected on screen provoke sexual concerns in the children before the right age. Children indulge in sexual practices even before they are able to understand its significance or feel responsible for their activities. Media encourages children to choose whatever sexual identity they want to irrespective of their cultural norms or teachings of their religion. Children have become lazy in general. Spending hours and hours watching TV and/or using the Internet has made children more used to living in the virtual world than the real world. Media has affected the healthy cognitive and psychological development of the children. References: Anderson, P. B., Fakhfakh, A., and Kondylis, M. A. (1999, July 1). Attitudes Toward The Media's Portrayals of Gays and Lesbians. Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality. 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.ejhs.org/volume2/anderson/body.htm. Bryant, J., and Oliver, M. B. (2009). Media effects: advances in theory and research. NY: Routledge. Hope, J. (2007, Sep. 17). Lazy children 'are storing up problems in later life'. Mail Online. 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What is Obesity? Retrieved from http://www.news- medical.net/health/What-is-Obesity.aspx. protectionists.org. (2008, June 3). Media responsible for publication of photos of child nudity. Retrieved from http://www.protectionists.org/2008/news200806artgallerymedia.htm. Richard, E. (2011). The Evils in Television. Retrieved from http://themoorings.org/life/separation/television/psych1.html. Robinson, B. A. (2008). Gay, lesbian, & bisexual milestones in the media. Retrieved from http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_medi.htm. Shah, A. (2010, Nov. 21). Children as Consumers. Global Issues. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/237/children-as-consumers. Tompkins, A. (2003, Dec. 14). The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children. AllPsych Journal. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/journal/violentmedia.html. Tuberose.com. (n.d.). Television Programming. Retrieved from http://tuberose.com/Television_Programming.html. Read More