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Media Influence on Young Children
 From the March 2001 Early Childhood newsletter.Everyone's heard the statistics: by the time a child is 18, he or she will have seen roughly 200,000 acts of violence on television. Everyone's read about the controversy surrounding various video games marketed to children that depict violent acts. But is it a serious problem? Do children who are exposed to violence on TV and other media really develop aggressive behavior as a result? David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, says yes. Dr. Walsh emphasizes that electronic media (including television, video games, movies, and computers) can have profound effects on young children because of the power of the media to set examples for children to follow. The Media as a Model Children copy naturally, says Dr. Walsh, who notes that research has shown that babies as young as 14 months will copy actions they see on a TV screen. He also notes that electronic media has tremendous power to influence society: "As electronic media has become more prevalent, it has developed the power to set cultural norms." Another example of the media's effect on children, Dr. Walsh points out, is that children develop heroes, such as professional athletes, while watching them on TV. They begin to copy their heroes' language, dress, and behavior. While no one would suggest that the childhood television staples "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and "Sesame Street" pose a danger to children's development, all too often, says Dr. Walsh, electronic media provides too many bad examples for children. "Violence is a dominant theme in electronic media because it gets attention. It is a recipe for business success in the media world." A byproduct of this recipe, says Dr. Walsh, is that children receive a steady diet of media violence and develop more aggressive behavior as a result. Limiting Media Exposure Since it would follow that the more electronic media a child is exposed to, the more violent acts they would see, Dr. Walsh emphasizes the need to limit this exposure. He advises parents and caregivers to consider both dosage and content when planning their children's TV or computer time. Some examples of good exposure include interactive computer programs that teach academic skills and the television programs noted above. But Dr. Walsh emphasizes that "a heavy dosage of good TV is still not good." In fact, Dr. Walsh recommends that children under 3 be limited to 2 hours of electronic media activity per week, in order to spend as much time as possible interacting with people and developing social skills. Children between the ages of 3 and 8 should be exposed to electronic media no more than 10 hours per week. Generally, the younger a child is, the less TV and computer time they need, according to Dr. Walsh. "There's not a [computer-based] counting program in the world that will take the place of sitting on a bed and counting socks with Mom or Dad." To learn more about the National Institute on Media and the Family and the resources they provide to parents, educators, and community leaders, click here.
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