How Does Media Affect Children Psychologically - Essay Example

The issue regarding the effects of media on children has been in focus for decades. This mini-paper is going to discuss the positive and negative effects of media on children.Since young brains apt to learn what they see at a greater rate than elders when they watch good educational programs on media like television or the internet, they develop problem-solving, mathematical, reading and language proficiency. They learn to be social (Fisch, 2004, p. 191). Their interest in continuing to watch informative television shows increases as they grow older which helps them get higher grades in English, maths, and science and encourages them to read informative books.

They learn to do well in reading and develop language abilities as many shows include simplified speech, repetitions and elaborations of meanings of words. Negative media effects are that children face problems in maintaining a long attention span. They face difficulties in concentrating. They do not learn to think on their own. When watched in excess, television viewing becomes an undesirable activity. Excessively watching television shows other than educational ones gets them poor grades in academic achievement tests.

Thus, moderation is necessary. Violent media tends to be harmful in developing good behavior and makes children aggressive and violent (Tompkins, 2003). To sum up, the media has both positive and negative effects on children. The parents should feel the responsibility to keep a check on their children and teach them to watch any sort of media in moderation so as to reduce any bad effects media may cause on the developing brains.