Impact of Media on Children

Dr. J. Nagaraj,
Asst. Professor, Dept. of Sociology,
Rani Anna Govt. College for Women

1. IMPACT OF MEDIA ON CHILDREN Dr. J. Nagaraj, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Rani Anna Govt. College for Women, Tirunelveli-8.

2. INTRODUCTION Social media is quickly evolving infront of our eyes and it is almost impossible to reject and it is almost impossible to reject and hide from this new form of media. Not only is it an important part of socialization within peer groups but now it is used to market and motivate people to become a part of a large community. Today ,young kids play with electronic devices like smartphones and tablets. Social media is an active part of your adolescent’s life. However, as a parent ,he/she need to know how social media effects on kids development. Young minds are mouldable and social media can mould the way your child thinks or behaves.

3. At this age, good and bad. Social media also has a darkside. Unfortunately the adverse effects seem to outnumber the positive ones. Social media is the rage today and bully on an individual media changes the way we perceive the world and interact with one another. In today’s age, no one remains reclusive. From the pings, chat windows to the pokes and emoticons, everything exists to bring people closer, to make the world more comfortable.

4. EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON CHILDREN

5. POSITIVE EFFECTS: Television is also a great medium that exposes children to different languages around the world. Allowing your children to watch news channel , with a little guidance will help them stay updated with the current affairs and names of significant people in the world. Television and Internet lets your travel around the world without you ever having to step out of your home. It takes your chid to different countries and educates them about various cultures in the world. With the right choice of programs, your chid can learn about people and their traditions, life styles and attitudes.

6. Educational programs in media can encourage children to try new things. Likewise , a documentary about famous scientists, artists and other public figures can also inspire them to do good deeds or achieve something big in life. Learn new things , exchange ideas and helps them to develop their networking skills. It helps in motivating children to get better at communication and encourages freedom of self-expression. Social media facilitates the development of technical expertise and practical understanding of technology in your child.

7. NEGATIVE EFFECTS: The vastness of social media ensures that there is no control on the scope of information . Such situations can lead to children bumping into obscence , harmful or graphic websites that may affect their thinking process. Cyber bullying is another growing trend among social media websites . Cyber bullying can have dangerous and potentially fatal effects . It claims many victims each year . Australia suffers from a large number of teen and other youth suicides due to cyber bullying.

8. Spending too much time can also affect your child negatively and often lead to social media addiction . Addiction can manifest various symptoms and may even affects your child’s physical health. Too much social media can affect your child’s ability to develop strong interpersonal relationships . Your child is mouldable , and the avalanche of information can overwhelm her. Watching certain programs may encourage irresponsible sexual behaviour and an increase in violent behaviour by children.

9. Excessive television watching contributes to the increased incidence of childhood obesity. Excessive television watching may have a deleterious effect on learning and academic performance. Watching certain programs may encourage irresponsible sexual behaviour. Television is an effective way of advertising products to children of various ages. Television exposes children to adult sexual behaviours in ways that portrays these actions as normal and risk free where these behaviours are frequent, everybody does it.

10. VULNERABLE GROUP OF CHILDREN ON MEDIA: The following groups of children may be more vulnerable to violence on television: Children from minority and immigrant groups. Emotionally disturbed children. Children with learning disabilities. Children who are abused by their parents and Children in families in distress. Under age children may accidentally or by design access pornographic sites.

11. COMMERCIAL ON CHILDREN:

12. The development stage of a child plays a role in the effect of commercials . Young children donot understand the concept of a sales pitch . They are told and may even assume that they are deprived if they donot have advertised products . Most preschool children donot understand the difference between a program designed to sell . A number of studies have documented that children under the age of eight years are developmentally unable to understand the difference between advertising and regular programming.

13. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Social learning theory originated with Bandura’s which suggests that children may learn aggression from viewing others . Modeling of behaviour was observed in Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiments . Bandura presented children with an aggressive model . The model played with ‘harmless’ tinker toys for a minute or but then progressed onto the Bobo Doll , the model lay the Bobo Doll down and was violent towards it ; punched its nose hit it with a mallet, tossed it in the air , and kicked it . In addition , verbal comments were made in relation . They then put the children in a room with a Bobo Doll to see if he/she would imitate the behaviour previously seen on the video.

14. The findings of this experiment suggests that children tended to model the behaviour they witnessed in the video . This has been often taken to imply that children may imitate aggressive behaviours witnessed in media . However , Bandura’s experiments have been criticized on several grounds . First it is difficult to generalize from aggression towards a bo-bo doll(which is intended to be hit) to person-on-person violence . Secondly ,it may be possible that the children were motivated simply to please the experimenter rather than to be aggressive . In otherwords , the children may have viewed the videos as instructions , rather than incentives to feel more aggressive.

15. Third , in a latter study(1965) Bandura include a condition in which the adult model was punished for hitting the bo-bo doll by himself being physically punished . Specifically the adult was pushed down in the video by the experimenter and hit with a newspaper while being be rated . This actual person-on-person violence actually decreased aggressive acts in the children , probably due to vicarious reinforcement. Nonetheless these last results indicate that even young children don’t automatically imitate aggression , but rather consider the context of aggression .

16. EDUCATION AND PARENTAL INVOLEMENT Parents have to take a stand when it comes to media . If you want to protect your children from the damaging effects of television , here is what you can do. The first step is to figure out what shows are appropriate for children . You will have to do some research to understand the content and the message that the show sends out to the audience. The content of the show must be appropriate for your child’s age. Pick shows with shorter duration . The longer they watch , the more the chances of them getting addicted. Encourage them to watch educational programs by watching them yourselves.

17. Donot allow your kids to watch television while they are eating . Ensure that you have dinner together , if possible , at the dinner table with no TV in the background. TV in bedrooms is a bad idea , especially for kids as prolonged exposure to screens can affect their sleeping habits. Don’t use TV as a babysitter when they want to do something without being disturbed by their kids. Don’t leave the TV turned on in the background when you are busy in the kitchen, doing the laundry or working from home . That will only draw the child’s attention to the idiot box. Chalk out specific TV times for kids for weekdays and weekends and stick to them.

18. That will prevent them from watching too much TV on any given day. Don’t make watching TV a fun family activity , instead of a means to pass the time . That will discourage your children to watching it when they are bored or alone at home.