MY VIEW

According to World Health Organization (WTO) children should spend only 1 hour and less on digital media per day. However, the statistics showed, that average pre-school child spend more than 2 hours per day on digital media. (Poulain, 2021) Although, it may seem, that media influence only children’s physical health because if they spend the time with media, they usually sit in front of computer or with their phone on sofa and do not move. The mental health issues are very serious as well. These problems can then occur especially in school, because the children suffer from hyperactivity, conduct problems, and inattention. Further, the overuse of media can influence children’s ability to communicate. (Poulain, 2021) This essay will focus on 3 main issues connected with children and media – violence in media and its impact on children, food advertisements and its impact on children’s health, and last but not least, on cyberbullying, which can have very dangerous and fatal consequences for children. 

 

The researches, which were focused on the influence of violence in TV and its impact on children began already in 1980s, when the National Institute of Mental Health identified three major effects. “Children may be less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, children may be more fearful of the world around them, and children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways towards others.” (Association, 2013) For example, two psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann and Leonard Eron did research in 1980s and found out, that children, who watch regularly violence in TV in elementary school tend to behave aggressively when they are teenagers. But it is not only the issue of violence portrayed in TV, but in video games as well. In 2010, psychologist Craig A. Anderson confirmed, that the violence shown in video games, such as “Call of Duty” or “Grand Theft Auto” significantly influence the behavior of children in their future. They tend to be more aggressive than the ones, who have never played violent video games. (Association, 2013)

 

Food commercial make up 50% of all the advertisements in TV during children’s movies or series. That means, that the more often the children watch TV, the more food advertisements he or she sees. Unfortunately, majority of this food commercial are for unhealthy snacks, candys, or fast foods. “Almost three out of every four foods advertised to children fall into the unhealthy categories that contribute to the obesity epidemic.” (Association, 2010) In this case, the media negatively influence the physical health of children, because already in the age between 2 – 7 years, children see 12 food commercials per day by average. (Association, 2010)

 

Last, but not least issue connected with media and its impact on children is definitely cyberbullying. Although, most of the social media platforms have age limitation, children just click and confirm that they are older that the age limitation, and the app is accessible for them immediately. As a result, the social media environment become very dangerous for young children and teenagers. Of course, that any kind of bullying can have bad consequences, but the cyberbullying may be damaging. “Cyberbullying can happen in a public digital space, like on social media post, it can also take the form of private messages,” (Gordon, 2021) and many other forms. There are four main categories of effects, which cyberbullying can have on children. Firstly, emotional effects, which means, that children can suffer from isolation, anger, or powerlessness, that can be explained as the issue of feeling safe for children. Second category deals with mental effects, for example children have problems with low self-esteem, they can lose interest in school, or have anxieties or depressions. Thirdly, it can affect their behavior. They start using drugs and drinking alcohol. And lastly, their physical health can be damaged, especially girls can have eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia. (Gordon, 2021)

 

To sum up everything, that has been already mentioned, the problem of the media and its impact on children is much greater than ever. Therefore, society must be well informed, because many parents today do not realize the impact of the media on their children, because they themselves have not experienced it. As was already mentioned, there are a lot of effects, obesity, tendencies to violent behavior, eating disorders, self-esteem problems, suicidal thoughts, academic problems, and many more. In this situation, parents who have to help their children are very important, explaining to them that the media can influence them both positively and negatively. And especially children must always know that their parents will always help them when they need to. Furthermore, a school should help in this situation, which should teach children how to think critically and how to verify information in order to distinguish hoaxes and misinformation from the true information.

 

Bibliography

Association, A. P. (2010). The impact of food advertising on childhood obesity . Načteno z apa.org: https://www.apa.org/topics/obesity/food-advertising-children

Association, A. P. (2013). Violence in the media: Psychologists study potential harmful effects. Načteno z apa.org: https://www.apa.org/topics/video-games/violence-harmful-effects

Gordon, S. (25. April 2021). The Real-Life Effects of cyberbullying on Children . Načteno z verywellfamily.com: https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-the-effects-of-cyberbullying-460558

Poulain, C. S. (3. March 2021). Associations of media use and early childhood development: cross-sectional findings from the LIFE Child study . Načteno z nature.com: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41390-021-01433-6