Children live in a world where much of their socialization comes from screen technology. They’ll feel some of their first emotions and develop their first non-familial attachments with their favorite characters through the screen.
We’ve reached a point in the United States where the majority of children’s social experiences no longer consist of face-to-face interactions. Developmental psychologists and media scholars contend that screen media plays a crucial role in development because children extract emotional lessons, correctly or incorrectly, and apply them in real life.
Consider this study: a group of elementary school children were shown a movie about earthquakes. The first group was shown the main plotline that was only about earthquakes and their consequences. The second group was shown that same plotline, but interlaced with a humorous subplot. The version of the film that that contained the humorous subplot interfered with the children’s ability to extract the lesson (the seriousness of earthquakes). No matter their age group, those children exposed to the humorous subplot viewed earthquakes as less severe. It reduced their ability to grasp events and emotions.
Don’t neglect your important role as a positive mediator in how screen media affects your child’s life. You are able to enhance the benefits and reduce the risks. Here are some solutions:
- Discuss the moral lessons of a plot. You can do this through dialogue, rehearsal and role-playing.
- Encourage critical thinking. Kids who were asked to think about the victim while watching a violent cartoon liked the aggressor less, and found the violence less justified.
- Coping strategies. Discuss special effects; explain how fantasy settings may look realistic but cannot occur in real life. In this way you can reduce children’s fright-reactions.
- News media. For parents with older children, news presents a harder challenge because it reflects events in the real world. However, parents can teach their children that news media tends to overemphasize violence and crime that occurs infrequently in the real world. But in the case of major catastrophes, research suggests reducing television exposure altogether, and having constructive conversations.
SOURCES
Wilson, Barbara J. (2008). Media and Children’s Aggression, Fear, and Altruism. The Future of Children, 18(1), 87-118. Retrieved July 18, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20053121