The Role of Media in Children`s Life - Research Paper Example

 The Role of Media in Children`s Life Screen media has a particular and significant place in our day-to-day life. Everywhere we go, at home, at friends, in the shopping malls or in colleges a lot of different screens are used for different purposes. But not all of them are TV-sets in its ordinary meaning because with modern progressive computers, the Internet and tablets substituted television. They have done it because they been available to offer not only TV programs but also everything there is to watch, listen to and read or play. So nowadays television is not as popular and mighty as it was before the time of the Internet. However, along with other types of media it has the biggest and the most serious influence on children and adolescents. And after the analysis of the articles studying different factors and effects of media it is possible to claim children are influenced by the screen media more than by other types of media and their emotional and cognitive development depend greatly on the quantity and quality of the content they consume. Chan and McNeal analyzed the popularity of television in China, one of the biggest countries of the world where the number of children below 14 is more than 200 million. It was interesting for the authors to examine how the habits of the rural children differ from urban children in terms of media consumption in China. For all children television was the central media represented in the research which provided entertainment and marketing information. In this particular study the researchers revealed that the social behaviour of urban children who have access to more types of media, which includes printed media and Internet, is more varied and intensive. Children living in rural areas on the contrary spend more time in front of the screen and are less involved into social interaction. Another important aspect of media in two different areas is its influence on consumption. Children in rural area have fewer possibilities to consume advertisement because they have less access to the media in general and that is why their demands are seriously lower. Another aspect is the difference between girls and boys in media consumption with boys being more exposed to video games and television and girls giving their preference to the Internet and television (McNeal & Chan 78). Furstenberg in his study tries to examine a very specific and narrow aspect of children`s and adult`s consumption of media. His study is focused on the effect of divorce on children, and the issue that interests the author is the way how demonstration of divorce by media impacted children and their parents. The acceptance of divorce by media is the issue that is supposed to cause more divorces in America that in any European country. The researches suggests that the American family was born with modern views on marriage where divorce was devoid of social stigma and meant liberation that is why divorce was considered an acceptable solution of problems in relationships. Children of all ages even adult ones have negative emotional and social consequences from experiencing parents` divorce and media can on the one hand alleviate it by depicting divorce as normal and on the other it can serve as indirect reason of accepting divorce instead of making efforts of keeping the relationships. But in general Furstenberg does not see simple resolution and connection in cases of divorce and media and claims that journalists should be more involved into sociology when making reports about such important issues as divorce (Furstenberg, 13). The study of Mazurek and Wenstrup was directed on studying of the effect of media on children with autism. The researchers aimed to define how the peculiarities of media consumption can predict and influence the development of the disease in children. The results that they achieved in the course of the research revealed interesting patterns of behavior. Children with ASD spend significantly more time playing video games and watching TV than their peers. It is disturbing on the one hand and comprehensible on the other. Autism is connected with problematic social adaptation that is why that to all possible media (social networks, Internet, printed media) autists prefer the above mentioned types of entertainment. Moreover, children with autism often have serious problem of addiction to video games: they think of playing even when they are not playing, they find it hard to stop the game, and they prefer physical activity and communication to playing video games. These patterns are disturbing but Mazurek and Wentsrup claim that they can be used effectively when treating autism (1267). Browne et al. examined the influence of violent media on children. Though this topic is very popular for discussion there is little evidence regarding long-term effects of violent media on the level of aggressiveness in teenagers and older children. Short-term effects are well-studied and established: arousal, stress, fearful aggressive thoughts. The authors also claim that gender must also be considered when speaking about the effect of media violence because boys are much more influenced by it than girls. Long-term effects are much more complicated to link to the adult behavior that is why the authors concentrated on the short-term effects. And it is clear that even such consequences must be alarming to parents because artificial arousal of aggression in children and addiction to video games leads to desinthezation when children stop feeling emotions of others in case of violence having used to the blood and deaths on the screen. So obviously violent media has a very negative effect on children and the quantity of its consumption must be limited and controlled by parents (703). So television it is still one of the most total and global means of communication and receiving information all across the world, in every country on each continent. Overall the influence of TV on the brain health, behaviour and mental abilities can be described both as both bad and as good. A lot of specialists and researchers state that watching too much television, especially by children around five years old can lead to a damaged brain structures and brain disorder. For a full grown man’s brain it can limit almost down to zero his ability to focus and pay attention to anything. It is very accurately pointed that TV is an attention eater. How many times did you notice that in spite of the fact that there isn’t something interesting you are nevertheless watching television during waiting for your doctor’s appointment or in the subway? TV is still continues to be one of the most incredibly wide spread mechanisms of any media coverage including political propaganda and advertisement. But Internet and global communication breakthrough with new technologies like 3G and Wi-Fi successfully competed with TV in their struggle for the domination over the population’s activities. All this would not be so important if kids were not affected my media which to such an extent. Obviously, the generation of children that is growing today is exposed to the biggest amount of media content than any previous. People can only guess how this will influence their development: it can be either bad or good depending on the quantity and quality of consumed media. Media provide the best means of entertainment, however it increases consumerism even among children. Moreover, media have social impact changing the attitude of the society to divorce. Almost always excessive media exposure to violent video games and Television results in emotional and psychological problems in children. However, there is a chance that media can be the tool for treatment autism so it can play a positive role as well. Works Cited Browne, J. & Hamilton, K. “The Influence of Violent Media on Children and Adolescents: Public-Health Approach”, The Lancet, 365, 2005. Furstenberg, F. “Children and Family Change: Discourse Between Social Scientists and the Media”, Contemporary Sociology, 28 (1), 1999. McNeal, J. & Chan, K. “Children and Media in China: an Urban-Rural”, Journal of Social Marketing, 23 (2), 2006. Mazurek, M. & Wentsrup, C. “Television, Video Game and Social Media Use Among Children with ASD and Typically Developing Siblings”, Journal of Autism Development Disorder, 49, 2013. Read More